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This study aims to examine the educational outcomes of college students by admission types, with a focus on the impact of COVID-19. For this purpose, we conducted a comparative analysis of academic progress and influencing factors among students admitted before and after the onset of the pandemic. Data from 1,074 students enrolled in 2018 and 1,136 students enrolled in 2020 were used. The results of a multi-group latent growth model analysis are as follows. First, irrespective of the admission year, students from both the 2018 and 2020 panels exhibited improvements in grades over the span of three semesters. Nonetheless, the 2020 group displayed a higher initial value and slope of academic progress compared to the 2018 panel. Second, among students admitted in 2018, those under regular-admission exhibited higher initial GPA compared to their early-admission counterparts. However, no such distinction by admission type was observed among students admitted in 2020. Furthermore, solely the 2020 panel demonstrated a positive impact of competency and extracurricular mileage on their initial GPAs. Finally, we provide a summary and discuss the implications of the study results.
Lee et al. (Wed,) studied this question.