Effects of radiography program admissions practices on student retention.

This study examined the admissions practices of 24-month radiography programs to determine the extent to which the practices affect retention rates. Survey data from 327 programs representing 6,443 radiography program matriculants, 5,191 graduates, and 1,252 withdrawals showed that retention rates were significantly (p < or = 0.05) higher in programs that used a competitive admission process than in those that did not. Also, it was observed that the use of selective grade point average and reference letters in the competitive admission process was significant (p < or = 0.05) in predicting increased retention rates in a radiography program.