Research on the value of getting involved

It turns out that this advice is more than just conventional wisdom. Becoming more engaged in your education and campus life can actually help to ensure your personal success.

In 1991, Penn State Professor Patrick Terenzini and his colleague Ernest Pascarella, a professor at the University of Illinois, published a landmark study in higher education titled How College Affects Students. Their research included significant evidence that getting involved in campus life activities leads to building stronger on-campus friendships and actually seems to increase the likelihood that students will persist and complete their undergraduate education. Here is an excerpt from that research.