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Nationally, about 80% of two-year college (TYC) students intend to obtain a bachelor's degree; however, only 13% successfully do so. Recently, Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined the Complete College America movement to increase the completion rates of TYC students in the state of Michigan. Here, we use institutional data from Michigan State University (MSU) to explore TYC transfer students pathways through an undergraduate STEM program. We define TYC transfer students as one who transferred at least one credit from any TYC to MSU; 30% of students sitting in a STEM class are TYC transfer students at MSU. In this paper, we describe the assorted degree pathways that TYC transfer students take to complete a bachelor's degree in STEM programs. We also investigate how these pathways change for different race/ethnicity markers 

This study examines the correlation of physics conceptual inventory pretest scores with post-instruction achievement measures (post-test scores, test averages, and course grades). The correlation for demographic groups in the minority in the physics classes studied (women, underrepresented racial/enthic students, first generation college students, and rural students) were compared with their majority peers. Three conceptual inventories were examined: the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE) (N = 2450), the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) (N = 2373) and the CSEM (N1 = 1796, N2 = 2537). While many of the correlations were similar, for some of the demographic groups, the correlations were substantially different. There was little consistency in the differences measured. In most cases where the correlations differed, the correlation for the group in the minority was the smaller. As such, pretest scores may not predict course performance for some minority demographic groups as accurately as they predict outcomes for majority students. The pattern of correlation differences did not appear to be related to the size of the pretest score. If pretest scores are used for instructional decisions that have academic consequences, instructors should be aware of these potential inaccuracies and ensure the pretest used is equally valid for all students.