Students' psychological type and success in different engineering programs

Abstract

A longitudinal study of a seven-year cohort of engineering students at The University of Western Ontario aims to document student academic success in the university engineering program and subsequent satisfaction in the engineering profession in terms of personality type as reported by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Results for the full seven-year cohort show that success in first year is more probable, certainly for the weaker students, if their personality type is I-TJ. Also, in a cross-cultural comparison with a similar group of American students the Canadian cohort of entry students is significantly more l-P. The graduation data for the first five years of the cohort show that successful graduation in engineering is also associated with I-TJ personality types and that graduation within four years is correlated with INTJ types. Data is also presented regarding student's choice of engineering discipline in terms of their MBTI type.