Individual differences and undergraduate academic success: the roles of personality, intelligence, and application

The roles of intelligence and motivation in predicting academic success are well established. Evidence is, however, mixed concerning the role of personality traits in predicting such success. The current study attempted to overcome various methodological limitations associated with many previous studies to examine the potency of the traits of the ‘five factor model of personality’ in predicting academic success up to 3 years later, both directly and when controlling for intelligence and ‘application’ (used as a proxy for motivation). Only two traits yielded significant zero-order correlations with eventual undergraduate success, with both Openness to experience and Agreeableness being positively associated with Final Grades. Openness to experience explained unique variance in Final Grades even when predicting in the company of intellect and application measures. The impact of Agreeableness on Final Grades was wholly mediated by the main application measure; namely, not missing seminars. Less than one fifth of Final Grade variance was explained by all the individual difference variables in combination. Several practical, theoretical, and future research implications are explored.