What Matters in Transition to University? Exploring STEM-gifted Students University Adjustment

This quantitative study, conducted in a rapidly developing post-Soviet country with a strong emphasis on the education of gifted students and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, adds to the body of knowledge on gifted students’ adjustment to postsecondary education and research on the development of giftedness in STEM tertiary education. Using Baker & Siryk’s multidimensional model of students’ adjustment as a guiding framework, the study surveyed students who graduated from top-tier STEM-focused schools for academically gifted students and are now in their first year of university to determine their adjustment levels and profiles. The results revealed that participants reported a positive transition to university life overall. Latent profile analysis identified three distinct adjustment profiles: (1) integrated, with average to high adjustment scores in all dimensions; (2) social, with high institutional and social adjustment but low academic adjustment; and (3) disengaged, with low institutional and social adjustment. Multinomial regression revealed that students with higher parental education, residing off campus, higher International English Language Testing System (IELTS) scores at entry, and lower university GPA were more likely to belong to profiles with lower adjustment to university. These findings are discussed, and implications for supportive institutional characteristics that catalyze gifted students’ success in the context of STEM tertiary education are provided.