Investigating Differences between Rural and Non-rural Students

Graduation date: 2017Rural students have lagged behind non-rural students in matriculation into higher\ud education, as well as in completion of four-year degrees. The current studies sought\ud to investigate academic readiness, academic performance, and psychological\ud differences between rural and non-rural students at Oregon State University. Rural\ud and non-rural students were compared during spring term of the 2014-2015 academic\ud year, as well as during the fall term of the 2015-2016 academic year. No significant\ud differences were observed between rural and non-rural students' levels of academic\ud readiness prior to entering Oregon State University, nor their academic performance\ud in introductory-level psychology courses. The only psychological difference observed\ud between rural and non-rural students concerned grit; a measure of one's ability to\ud persist through hardship in completion of a goal. Implications of these findings on\ud future research and interventions are discussed