| dc.description.abstract | Compulsory schools usually specify a cutoff date for school entry. In Norway, this cutoff date is December 31st. This implies there could be roughly 12 months in the age gap between the oldest and the youngest individuals in a class. Previous research on the relationship between birth month and academic achievement at primary and secondary schools suggests that early- born individuals outperform their older peers. This master thesis analyzes data from a particular university in Norway to determine whether this relationship between the birth quarter and academic achievement exists in higher education. According to our findings, academic achievement was not positively correlated with an early birth quarter. The results suggested that the effect was more significant for boys than girls, and there was a slight correlation between the birth quarter and academic achievement for males born at the end of the year. Moreover, our analysis revealed inconsistent results when segregating birth quarters by study programs. Our models had little explanatory power and did not provide significant evidence that the birth quarter impacts academic achievement in higher education. | |