Genes can partly decide which university you are attending: Study

LONDON: Scientists have shown for the first time that DNA plays an important role in the decision of young adults to choose a university, which university they choose to participate in and to what extent.

Researchers at King & # 39; s College London, UK, found that genetic factors accounted for 57% of the differences between A-level exam results and 46% of differences between the results of the tests. ;university.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, also revealed that genetics accounted for 51% of the difference between the choice of young people to attend a university and 57% of the difference in quality of the university. chosen university.

"We showed for the first time that the influence of genetics on academic achievement continued in higher education," said Emily Smith-Woolley of King's College London.

"Our results also show that the appetite of young adults to choose to pursue higher education is partly influenced by their DNA," Smith-Woolley said.

The researchers also found that common environmental factors – such as families and schools – influenced the choice of going to university, accounting for 36% of the differences among students.

In a previous study, researchers also found that shared environments accounted for almost 40% of the differences between students' choice of a bachelor's degree or a bachelor's degree.

However, common environmental influences seem to be steadily losing importance for academic success.

While the shared environment accounts for up to 20% of the differences in results in high school, the researchers found that the influence of the shared environment decreased for achieve objectives and was negligible for university studies.

"Unlike high school, where students tend to share their educational experiences, the university offers young people more opportunities to be independent and to advocate their interests. according to their natural abilities and abilities, "said Ziada Ayorech of King's College London.

"The unique environments of students – such as new friends and new experiences – seem to explain the differences between academic results and the role of the shared environment becomes less important," Ayorech said.

Differences in the quality of selected universities were strongly influenced by genetics (47%) even after taking into account the bachelor's degree, suggesting that factors other than abilities play an important role in the choice of universities.

The results were based on the study of 3,000 pairs of twins from the United Kingdom as well as 3,000 genotyped individuals.

The comparison of identical and non-identical pairs of twins allows researchers to determine the overall impact of genetics on the difference of individuals between measures such as test results.

If the test scores of identical twins are more similar than those of non-identical twins, this means that the difference between pairs of twins is due to genetic factors, the researchers explained.

Studies on twins do not identify specific genetic variations related to school performance, they said.

The researchers were able to demonstrate a weak genetic effect on academic success by simply using the DNA of individuals.

They used "genome-wide polygenic scores," which add the effects of thousands of DNA variants that were previously linked to the success of studies in genetic studies large scope.