Lower Level Prerequisites and Student Performance in Intermediate Business Courses: Does It Matter Where Students Take Their Principles Courses?

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence suggests that those students who take their lower level business principles courses at junior or community colleges are less prepared for success in intermediate business courses than their classmates who take them at a 4-year institution. Using data on student performance in four typical intermediate business courses—Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Intermediate Business Statistics, and Intermediate Financial Accounting I—the authors found that average student performance in these courses is essentially completely determined by the underlying academic quality of the student, as measured by grade point average. Where they take their lower level prerequisite courses, and what letter grade they earn in those courses, do not generally play a significant role.