College academic performance in science-related programs and senior high school strands: A basis for higher education admission policy

In compliance with RA 10931(the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) allows State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in the Philippines to admit students regardless of their senior high school track and strand taken, through CMO 105, Series of 2017. This would cause future problems because the nature of these graduates' high school studies would be disregarded when evaluating applicants for a certain bachelor's degree. This study was conducted to determine if a specific Senior High School strand produces high-achieving students in science-related programs. Using a causal-comparative research design, it engaged sixty-one (61) undergraduate students enrolled in Two Philippine State Universities offer Science-related courses: Bachelor of Science in Biology, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, and Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. One-way ANOVA was done to find if there is a significant difference among the academic performance of the respondents grouped by their senior high school strands. Dunn’s Test for Multiple Comparisons was used as post-hoc analysis. The ANOVA test showed a significant difference between academic performance in science-related programs and senior high school strands p = 0.015, while no significance was found in sex and annual household income. Conducting post-hoc analysis using Dunn’s Test for Multiple Comparisons showed that STEM graduates have a statistically significant academic performance between ABM, GAS, HUMSS, Home Economics, and ICT graduates. The findings show significant implications in the admission of students in college, especially in science-related programs. Strands in senior high school must be considered and that short-bridging programs may be conducted for non-STEM graduates enrolled in science-related programs.