Perceptions of Brilliance, Intelligence, Ability, and Interest: Understanding First-year Students’ Inclinations Towards STEM Pathways

Higher education institutions provide critical opportunities for students to acquire the skills necessary to enter the STEM workforce and serve as vital partners in the STEM educational-occupational pipeline. It is important that colleges and universities ensure that all undergraduates interested in STEM professions have the opportunity to see themselves as potential STEM candidates. However, a perception exists that STEM is not open to all students interested in STEM domains. In particular, undergraduates may be under the impression that entrance into STEM pathways is contingent on fixed intelligence or innate brilliance in order to succeed at the postsecondary level. Due to these perceptions, first-year students may prematurely exclude themselves from STEM participation due to a misalignment between their self-perceptions and the attributes they believe are required for STEM attainment. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether relationships existed among students’ concepts of innate intelligence and disciplinary brilliance and students’ self-perceptions of their ability and interest to major in STEM. First-year students’ perceptions from a predominately non-STEM sample were measured and compared across four STEM domains: Life Sciences (biology/chemistry), Physical Sciences (math/physics), Applied Physical Sciences (computer science/engineering), and Health Sciences (premed/medical sciences). Comparative single-group structural equation models are presented, in addition to findings of whether students’ gender identity influenced their overall perceptions of STEM undergraduate pathways.