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The effects that admission criteria may have for under-represented groups are an important concern for programs seeking to improve access to post-secondary education. Using data from a large preservice teacher education program in the Canadian province of Ontario, we demonstrate two approaches to evaluating the effects of admission criteria. The first approach uses survival analysis to compare the effects of minimum admission criteria for determining the admissibility of applicants. The second approach compares the actual admission decisions with the decisions that would have been made using eight alternative sets of rules with varying emphases on academic preparation, ratings of applicants' essays and applicants' demographic information. Both approaches offer insights into the roles of specific admission criteria in addressing under-representation.

Previous studies have examined patterns of withdrawal from initial teacher education (ITE) programs and have found that pre-service teachers are more likely to withdraw if they are male or older than the typical pre-service teacher. This study presents case studies based on semi-structured interviews with older male pre-service teachers who withdrew from a large one-year post-Bachelor's ITE program. To better understand the experiences of these pre-service teachers and the reasons they withdrew, we present each case as a unique narrative before examining the similarities and differences in their expectations and why they withdrew from the program. We discuss possible interpretations of and approaches to preventing withdrawal for stakeholders of ITE programs.