139 Evaluation of Grit and Resilience in Pre-Professional Animal Science Students

Abstract The desire for a career in veterinary medicine is the single largest draw for students entering animal science programs each year. Currently, at the University of Arkansas, 61% of the freshman animal science class is following the pre-professional degree plan, which focuses on preparing students for admission to veterinary school. However, gaining admission to veterinary school is extremely competitive, as well as emotionally and physically taxing. Grit, which is the ability to persevere and achieve long-term goals, and resilience, which is the ability to bounce back after adversity, are important characteristics for student success. The purpose of this study was to determine if undergraduate students majoring in animal science with a pre-professional concentration had more grit and/or more resilience compared to non-pre-professional undergraduate animal science students. We also sought to determine whether an increase in academic maturity would result in an increased presence of these character traits, specifically in the pre-professional students. A total of 267 undergraduate animal science students (74 freshmen, 49 sophomores, 70 juniors and 74 seniors) were surveyed. Students were placed into comparison groups based on self-identified degree plan as well as current academic class. Survey instruments utilized were a 7-item short grit survey and a 25-item resilience survey. Both of these surveys recorded student responses on a 5-point Likert scale. Regarding grit, 1 indicated most “gritty” and 5 indicated least “gritty.” Regarding resilience, 1 indicated least resilient and 5 indicated most resilient. Data analysis was performed using the MIXED procedure of SAS with student serving as the experimental unit and significance set at P ≤ 0.05. Survey results demonstrated increased (P ≤ 0.01) grit among pre-professional animal science students compared to their peers, with the pre-professional average grit score at 2.2 and the peer average at 2.5 across all other groups. On the contrary, the survey results did not demonstrate increased resilience (P = 0.41) in pre-professional animal science students compared to their peers. Additionally, academic maturity did not produce appreciable differences (P ≥ 0.46) in the presence of overall grit and resilience in pre-professional students. Further research is required to define the association between these character traits and continued participation in the pre-professional degree plan and, ultimately, admi