Self-Perception of ABM Students towards Their Academic, Social and Emotional College Preparedness

This study assessed the self-perception of the selected Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) students on their academic, social and their emotional college preparedness. The students’ demographic profile was also tested for significant difference in the three constructs of the college preparedness. Through a self-made questionnaire in a 4-scale Likert style, data were gathered from the 255 randomly selected ABM students of one private higher education institution in Batangas Province in the Philippines. Self-perception showed a college-prepared student academically, socially and emotionally. However, there are various constructs of their academic and social-emotional preparedness that need further improvements. The statistical test of significance indicated that the various constructs of academic, social and emotional preparedness have no difference by age, type of school, family income and order of birth. A significant difference was shown in the respondents’ sex and social preparedness but not on academic and emotional preparedness. Similarly, there was significant difference in the various constructs of academic, social and emotional preparedness in terms of the students’ GWA in high school. For this, high schools should develop collaborative teaching and learning strategies focus on reading and writing. In addition, colleges and universities may provide pertinent course information through their websites to guide the students on the various details of their chosen undergraduate courses. Indeed, to prepare students for college alone is insufficient; a college-ready student should complete a degree with a life-ready perspectives.


Introduction
The shift from high school to college can be a struggle even to high-achieving students due to lack of preparedness. According to Boden (2011), students entering college usually perceived their academic, social and emotional preparedness with feelings of insecurity and confusion. In a more challenging situation, uncertainties occur because undergraduate students enter their first year of college at different level of preparedness (DeAngelo & Franke, 2016). In most of the cases, lack of preparedness led to withdrawal or dropping out from college. It is important then to know what college readiness is. According to Wignall (2020), it involves a set of skills, knowledge and behaviors that every high school student must achieve upon graduation. Grundmeyer (2012) adds that skills and knowledge makes students college-ready without remedial classwork.
The issue on college preparedness has been tossed to the higher education. As White (2016) posits that higher education don't consider themselves responsible. The fact that in the US alone more than 1/3 of the college undergraduates never finish their degree. For Wignall (2020), there are common core subjects to develop a college-ready students such as math, language arts and science. These subjects prepare students with college-ready skills such as writing and speaking. Conley (2008) suggests that schools make use of the big four: cognitive strategies, content knowledge, self-management skills, and knowledge about postsecondary education in order to help students gain success in their college. Meanwhile, Duncheon (2015) summarized the college readiness in three broad categories which include cognitive academic factors, non-cognitive academic factors and campus integration factors.
According to a study cited by Levin (2019), high school students enter college unprepared. The US national survey conducted by the nonprofit YouthTruth revealed that only 45 percent of students were positive about their college readiness. In another study conducted by Jawad (2017), students perceived a limited ability to adjust to social demands.
The identified key trends were: high school students want an explicit explanation on the 'why' of learning and its application in real-life situations and high school students want exposure to non-academic life skills. However, scenarios differ by country.
In the Philippines for instance, the introduction of the K to 12 programs promised a more prepared student for college. As per the Commission on Higher Education Memorandum Order 20, Series of 2013, high school students are expected to connect to the local, national

Models on college and career preparedness
The current study is deeply rooted on the model of college readiness postulated by Conley & French (2014

Figure 1
Conley's model of college and career readiness Source: Conley & French (2014) The other conceptual background the current study was founded is the new foundation of readiness authored by Prince, Saveri & Swanson (2017). The model pointed that the social-emotional skills as the core of future readiness. These skills are necessary for the career readiness of the students.

Figure 2
The new foundation for readiness Source: Knowledge Works Foundation (2017)  Prince, Saveri & Swanson (2017) identified the core social-emotional skills as selfdiscovery, individual awareness and social awareness. The deep self-knowledge pertains to the ability of the person to discover his own personal and professional strengths, weaknesses, passion and emotional patterns. Meanwhile, individual awareness refers to the ability to recognize own emotions and the triggers that create them. Lastly, the social awareness pertains to building social relations for learning, collaboration and innovation. All these are associated with specific skills, qualities and characteristics.
The current study assessed the college readiness in three areas of academic, social and emotional aspects. These are anchored on the Conley's model of college and career readiness (academic) and the new foundation for readiness (social and emotional).

Assessment of college readiness
According to Conley (2007), academic preparedness refers to 'academic knowledge and skills that students need to succeed in doing college-level work.' If students are collegeready, they make the right decision on their future career before they enter college (Jaime, 2017 capitalized on writing skills which most of the college students in business struggle. Another important academic skill is reading. As to Umali (2013), student's attitudes towards reading may also influence and affect their reading comprehension performance.
In a study conducted by Ridenour (2015), it was emphasized that qualities needed to enter college is psychological in nature. For this, Felton (2016) argues that 'while test scores Most of the students believe that good character traits and behavior are essential qualities and go beyond academic skills which include self-management, discovery of self and mind-set. Relatively, Jawad (2017) examined the students' perception on college preparedness which found that cognitive skills and academic behavior are two factors to adjust to their college life. However, the ability of the students to adjust to the social demands of culture in higher education is found limited. As to the social demands, Sulaiman as the skills to develop his full potential in college and beyond. For example, resilience develops students' ability to handle life's challenges and still find ways to survive. In addition, emotional preparedness encompasses soft skills, including communication, confidence, humility, empathy and maturity. Stoltzfus (2015) found in a study that students who feel less emotionally ready for college compared to other students are likely to have lower grades and other depressing experiences on their campus. Another concept of emotional preparedness was highlighted by Florence (2017) Kinzie et al. (2007) found that female students participate more often than the male students in educationally focused activities and programs. However, it was found that the type of school or university has no relationship with gender differences in engagement. In terms of the social-emotional preparedness, For Khattab (2015), the higher aspirations and higher school achievement of the students are the predictors of future educational behavior. This explains a difference in the academic performance of students in various programs. Dauz (n.d.) found that there is a significant difference in the academic performance of ABM and non-ABM senior high school graduates where the former has higher academic performance than the latter. It was also evident that there is a positive correlation between the academic performance in high school and the academic performance in college. In terms of order of birth, Dominguez (2015) found that the first generation students perceive that their families are thinking that their work is more important than going to college. Moreover, a significant difference was found in academic preparation, where the first generation students were found to have lesser academic preparation.

Methodology
This study utilized the descriptive method of research to evaluate the academic, social and emotional preparedness of the 255 first year college students pursuing Accountancy, Business and Management in one of the universities in Batangas City, Philippines.

Sample size
The sample size of 255 comprised the 91% of the total 280 first year students during the second semester academic year 2018-2019. The student-respondents were randomly chosen during the actual data gathering. Whoever present during the actual survey became part of the study. The demographic profile of the student-respondents (Appendix A) in terms of sex, age, general weighted average (GWA), type of school, order of birth and monthly family income showed that they are mostly last born female, graduate of a private school with a GWA of 90 to 94 and an average monthly income of PhP21,000 to PhP30,000.

Data Gathering Process
After thorough reading of literatures, the researcher designed a questionnaire. The first part comprised the profile of the respondents while the second part focused on the selfevaluation of the academic, social and emotional preparedness in entering college. The questionnaire was a checklist form in a 4-scale Likert style. The questionnaire was validated by ten faculty members in the Accountancy, Business and Management track. Their suggestions and recommendations were incorporated to improve the questionnaire.
The survey was conducted with the approval of the dean. The researcher personally handover the questionnaire to the student-respondents during their respective classes. The students were given 15 to 20 minutes to answer and retrieval thereafter.
Frequency and percentage were used to determine the number of responses for each item and was summarized accordingly in tabular form. Weighted Mean was used to evaluate the level of academic, social and emotional preparedness using the average score of the students in the Likert scale. Independent t-test and One-way analysis of variance were used to determine the significant difference on academic, social and emotional preparedness of the students when they are grouped according to the student-respondent's demographic profile.
The statistical process aimed to prove that academic, social and emotional preparedness of  Although students are expected to be proficient on numerical, leadership, communication and interpersonal skills, they need also to show proficiency on various study habits and skills.

Results and Discussion
While Palafox, Lorenzo & Palafox (2018) perceived that ABM students are most proficient in entrepreneurial skill than numerical skills, the results of the current study showed otherwise. On a positive note, the students showed strong self-awareness as they recognized their academic strengths. However, there seems to be contrast with the identified potential weakness in reading and writing. While students are recognizing that the strand is their area of strength, their lack of vital skills in accounting and business particularly reading and writing is a critical issue to be addressed. While Nasrullah & Khan (2015) affirmed the importance of time management in improving academic performance, Umali (2013) and Huy (2015) embarked on reading and writing. Umali (2013) further stressed the teachers skills in reading is a significant factor in the learning process of the students. Meanwhile, Huy (2015) identified the deficiency of vocabulary words as the main problem in the writing of the students.  weighted mean on appropriate school system. These factors coincide with the study of Hernandez (2011) and Jawad (2017).
The study points on the factors associated with the family, peers and school community as the bases for the students' preparedness. As emphasized by Felton (2016) that relationship skills help students to graduate, the students' self-perception, although shows prepared, calls for a big space for improvement. Although the students recognized their family as a big factor in their preparedness, the role of peers and school environment is equally important in shaping their academic progression. As As White (2016) posited that higher education don't consider themselves responsible, the schools even don't provide sufficient experience to make students wellprepared for college. Similarly, the observation of Jawad (2017) that the ability of the students to adjust to the social demands of culture in higher education is found limited could remain true in this case. This comes the suggestion of Sulaiman et al. (2016) on the value of teamwork as an essential soft skill. In this sense, both the college and the school have high responsibility in preparing student who are ready with college and career. This shared responsibility involve a higher dose of academic and non-academic activities and programs in order for students to take space in the school community and the society as a whole.
The students' emotional preparedness, as summarized in Table 4  There are several areas of concern on the emotional development of these students.
Although they have rated themselves prepared for the emotional constructs of college life, the amount of academic and non-academic pressures in the college level might overthrow their drive to succeed in their chosen path. For example, the lowest rated variables on selfadvocacy and self-management point out a lack of strong focus among the students. There are numerous distractions and pressures that can be associated to it but the mere lack of focus can result to non-commitment and non-engagement. However, the students' strong adherence to their goalthat is finished their studiesshowed another strong contradiction on the results. In addition, the students association of their emotional strength to their peers reflected by their assessment of the working in teams and role of peers in their self-esteem,

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Volume 1, Issue 2 · December 2020 · ISSN 2719-0633 (PRINT) 2719-0641 (ONLINE) can be both positive and negative depending on the nature of and the social environment they are in. As Stoltzfus (2015) found that emotionally unprepared students have lower grades, the results of the current study show otherwise. To this, the observation of Rowe et al. (2016) that teachers' goal-setting helps improve the student's academic commitment will have strong impact. distribution leans to a modest family income with 34.9% of the student-respondents earning an average of PhP21,000 to PhP30,000 monthly. This is followed by 21.6% with an average monthly earnings of PhP 16,000 to PhP 20,000. Some 17.6% earns only PhP11,000 to PhP15,000 monthly. The lowest percentages are at the extremes with 15.7% earning the highest of PhP31,000 and above while 10.2% earns PhP10,000 and below. While these students were born with an average monthly income, it is remarkably that majority of them studied in private schools where costs of education is extremely high.
In terms of the measure of significant difference,  (2019), Kinzie et al. (2007), Venkatesan (2020) and Khattab (2015). (2019), female students have strong social readiness than male students of ABM which also affirms that of Kinzie et al. (2007) that female students have more social participation than male students. In addition, the GWA of the students clearly predicted their level of preparedness as emphasized by Khattab (2015). The statistical results also coincide with the study of Heo (2018)  Through self-perception of the 255 randomly selected first year ABM students, the academic, social and emotional college preparedness were quantitatively assessed. A selfmade questionnaire in a 4-scale Likert style was used to gather the data. Based on the evaluation, the students were college-prepared academically, socially and emotionally.

Similar to Cuy & Salinas
However, there are various constructs of their academic and social-emotional preparedness that need to be improved.
The statistical test of difference showed that the demographic profile in terms of age, type of school, family income and order of birth registered no significant difference in the various constructs of academic, social and emotional preparedness. There was a significant difference shown in the respondents' sex and social preparedness but not on academic and emotional preparedness. Similarly, there was significant difference in the various constructs of academic, social and emotional preparedness in terms of the students' GWA in high school. The hypothesis was partially rejected in terms of GWA and sex and accepted in terms of age, type of school, family income and order of birth.
The fact that the high school performance is a good predictor of college-ready students, the role of high school is indeed very vital in their academic success. However, it should be a shared responsibility of the school and the college. For this, strategies should be utilized while students are still in their high school concurrent with the college preparedness program for first year students. This can also be linked to the college website containing the pertinent course information such as the curriculum guide, college preparation checklist, important presentations, learning activities and evaluation tool that can be used as feedback for the success of the college preparation program. In the teaching and learning, collaborative learning strategies may be utilized combining male and female students in a group work with strong focus on developing writing and reading skills. The value of academic and nonacademic advising may also thresh out student difficulties. Departmental focus should be on providing academic and non-academic organizations for the students to join to improve their social preparedness.
As the current study posed a big question mark on the real preparedness of the students in their college and future career, the program management as well as high school administration need to be more accountable on developing a future ready individual. To prepare them for college alone is insufficient to give them a better career after their academic journey. A college-ready student should complete a degree with a life-ready perspectives.