Do you think we are a match? The predictive power of matching activities for prospective students of an international business program

Giving non-binding matching advice can support prospective students to make their study choice among the numerous alternatives worldwide. Our study of 491 undergraduate students of an international business program reveals that matching advice based on high school grades and a motivation letter is predictive for the first-year study success, but with significant differences between national and international students. International students with negative matching advice underperform in the first semester, but the differences with internationals with positive and negative advice completely disappear in semester 2. The differences between national stu-dents with positive and negative advice are smaller but remain stable. Overall the differences are largest for quantitative courses that are not business-related, such as statistics, and smallest for non-financial business courses, such as organizational behavior. The findings have implications for student selection and educational management of international business programs.