The Relationship between Competitiveness and Academic Performance Among Undergraduate Students

Among those who tend to get higher grades, a common motivator is the plan to attend graduate school. Some undergraduates without plans for graduate school also have excellent academic performance. The present study will focus on internal motivations; more specifically, evaluating the relationship between competitiveness and academic performance. Studies have demonstrated a link between competitive personality traits and higher academic performance. These findings have generally obtained data from a diverse demographic. Those studies have not separated out those whose motivations may have been due to plans for future graduate studies. There are numerous aspects of competitiveness that may contribute to higher academic performance for undergraduates not planning graduate school enrollment. Competition is most commonly about comparing self to others. It is suggested that more competitive individuals have a desire to be better than others, this is a strong motivator for better grades. Therefore, it is hypothesized that among undergraduate students who have no immediate plans to attend graduate study, those who have strong competitive personality traits will have higher levels of academic performance. To evaluate the hypothesis, this study will measure the attitude of competitiveness with the revised competitiveness index and the academic performance with the disclosed grade point average. Participants will be asked to disclose their academic goal to determine planning to attend the graduate study. The hypothesis will be supported if the relationship between competitiveness and GPA is stronger for those with no plans to attend graduate study than the same relationship for those with graduate school plans