Personality and Academic Performance During Years Two and Three of a Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum

To evaluate academic success among students with different dominant personality styles as determined by DiSC (dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness) assessment via a comparison of grade point average (GPA) during the 3-year didactic portion of a PharmD curriculum.

This was a prospective evaluation of students admitted to the PharmD program as part of the graduating classes of 2019-2022 who provided written informed consent, completed an online DiSC assessment, and forwarded their personality style results to study investigators. Participant demographics were collected upon enrollment and individual course grades, semester, and cumulative GPA, and any academic standards penalties imposed were collected at the end of each semester.

The overall participation rate for the student cohort studied was 96%. No significant differences were seen when evaluating the primary objective by comparing GPA of each of the 4 individual dominant personality styles. However, significant differences were found when evaluating the secondary objective comparing conscientiousness vs all other dominant personality styles regarding both individual semester and cumulative GPA. Students with conscientiousness as a dominant personality style also had significantly higher pharmacotherapeutics-focused systems-based therapy cumulative GPA during the second and third years of the PharmD didactic curriculum.

Students with a dominant personality style of conscientiousness on DiSC assessment performed significantly better within the more clinically focused systems-based therapy courses in a PharmD curriculum. This ultimately culminated in higher cumulative GPA at the end of both the second and third professional years in those with a dominant personality style of conscientiousness.