Statistical and data sciences major discovers trend in college student success

Jonathan (Jonny) Swiatkowski ’25, a statistical & data sciences major and economics minor, went into his I.S. project at The College of Wooster knowing he was actively contributing to databases on college student health. His project, which researched student success at Wooster, emphasized two key elements: student engagement and level of outgoingness with campus organizations and events. This survey-based data opens the door for more student health studies in the future, something that Swiatkowski is directly working on post-graduation. 

“Actually taking data from students themselves, instead of generic information the school has, made the study a lot more personal.”  

—Jonny Swiatkowski ’25 

MY I.S. 

Swiatkowski: I was collecting data on different mental well-being scores and people’s academic success through questioning students about their social activities. I asked questions such as “what do you do on campus,” “do you feel well with yourself,” or “do you think that life is satisfying?” From there, I was able to run different regression analysis models, trying to predict how successful students would be and what categories they would fall into. The Full Success model had a 72% accuracy in predicting how successful a student would be, which represents a statistically high accuracy percentage. We found that students were more successful if they were more outgoing and more involved on campus. Those students who went to all the career fairs, the STEM Zone, worked together, and socialized with their study groups in the library—those students were the most successful and felt the best, according to the research. 

EMPOWERED IN MY FIELD 

Swiatkowski: Conducting research is huge for a data scientist. Everything I do revolves around research. This is my first time running my own survey, so I had to plan for disparities, unexplained biases, and all that information.  

SUPPORTIVE SCOT COMMUNITY 

Swiatkowski: I had a great support system while completing this process. I worked with numerous offices and departments on campus to generate questions for my survey. My friends from the soccer team, my roommates, and my parents were also a great support system, reading through my text and encouraging me to continue. 

MY TAKEAWAYS 

Swiatkowski: I.S. taught me what a long project is like. In life, most things take long periods of time and lots of focus, and this project simulated what work in real life is, which will be helpful with my job. 

CELEBRATION! 

Swiatkowski: I spent my I.S. Monday celebrating with all my friends and fellow seniors. It was a memorable and enjoyable day spent together as a class. 

WHAT’S NEXT 

Swiatkowski: I have a job at a large healthcare company back in my hometown of Buffalo, New York. Among other analyses, I’ll be building models and performing revenue and cost analyses for their revenue team, supporting the company’s growth and their ability to provide care in a difficult industry. I’m excited to go into a field where I feel that I can help people.

Posted in Independent Study on June 18, 2025.