Differences in self-descriptive patterns of adults who dropped out of high school completion courses and those who completed their courses were examined using the Adjective Check List (ACL) to measure adult personality attributes. Subjects (N=142) were asked to endorse those adjectives which best described themselves and to skip those which did not. At the end of 10 weeks, 29 students had dropped their studies while 113 either completed or were still active in the program. Stepwise discriminant analysis yielded 35 ACL variables which predicted group membership. In general, persisting students endorsed more positive adjectives while dropouts used many more adjectives in describing themselves. Results suggest that, at the time of enrollment, the self-concept as described by personally endorsed adjectives can differentiate those students with high attrition risk from those likely to persist. (Author/HLM)