Emotional intelligence and academic success: examining the transition from high school to university

The transition from high school to university was used as the context for examining the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. During the first month of classes 372 first-year full-time students at a small Ontario university completed the short form of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i:Short). At the end of the academic year the EQ-i:Short data was matched with the student's academic record. Predicting academic success from emotional intelligence variables produced divergent results depending on how the former variable was operationalized. When EQ-i:Short variables were compared in groups who had achieved very different levels of academic success (highly successful students who achieved a first-year university GPA of 80% or better versus relatively unsuccessful students who received a first-year GPA of 59% or less) academic success was strongly associated with several dimensions of emotional intelligence. Results are discussed in the context of the importance of emotional and social competency during the transition from high school to university.