Motivation, Success, and Transition to University

Abstract

The transition from high school to university is simultaneously a challenge and a threat due either to the access constraints to higher education, and also to the gap between the two education cycles. One should ask a central question: Will the highly motivated students (those with positive self-concept, positive self-esteem, and stable and controllable internal attributions to their performance) be more fitted to university? Will they achieve higher academic scores? In order to answer these questions several studies were made using a sample of 649 high school students (for the evaluation of the relation between motivation and success) and 62 undergraduate students (for a test-retest study). The more relevant and significant findings are discussed in this paper, such as the significant correlations between academic self-concept and academic success and the positive intra-subject change in self-concept.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17575/rpsicol.v20i2.389