2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This work-in-progress paper examines the early implementation of the Casper Situational Judgment Test (SJT) in undergraduate engineering admissions and explores its potential relationship to student success and engagement. Beginning in the 2024–25 admissions cycle, a large Canadian engineering faculty introduced Casper as a required non-cognitive assessment alongside traditional academic measures. This study reports implementation learnings from the first cycle of use and presents early outcome data from applicants and first-year entrants.

The project aims to address three intersecting research questions: (1) How do Casper registrations align with application patterns, including applicants who register but do not apply, and what insights can be drawn about applicant decision-making? (2) How does Casper relate to applicant acceptance rates and applicants’ selection decisions? (3) What are the early associations between Casper scores and first-year outcomes, including academic performance, teamwork, and engagement in co-curricular activities?

Across the 2024–25 admissions cycle, 7,107 reservations were made, with 6,842 applicants completing the test. Internal consistency reliability was strong (Cronbach’s α = 0.84), aligning with accepted psychometric standards. Applicant acceptability was also favorable: average satisfaction with the test experience was 5.3/7, and 79% reported Casper allowed them to demonstrate their personal strengths. Applicant sentiment analysis revealed 32% positive and 52% neutral perceptions towards Casper through open response voluntary comments. These results mirror patterns observed in Canadian health sciences programs (where Casper has been used for the last decade), suggesting comparable perceptions of fairness and value across applicant groups.

The study’s next phase will involve linking Casper scores with first-year academic, professionalism and communication engagement data, including performance in teamwork-focused courses and participation in student societies. These analyses will link student performance in the aspects that Casper probes for (e.g. social reasoning, empathy, and ethical judgment) to the progress of meaningful student outcomes in first year engineering education.

This work-in-progress study contributes to ongoing conversations about holistic and equitable engineering admissions by offering an early case study of SJT implementation. It also highlights methodological considerations and collaborative practices essential for building longitudinal evidence of predictive validity in admissions tools. Future work will extend this research with multi-year cohorts and explore implications for fairness in engineering pathways.