In winter 1979, a study was conducted at C. S. Mott Community College (MCC) to determine the salient characteristics of successful students. Students in 63 upper-level courses took the Nelson-Denny Reading Test, Form A, and also completed a demographic questionnaire. The mean total reading score for all students had a grade equivalent of 13.1, with raw scores ranging from 6 through 162. The age range of the students was 17 to 67 years, with a mean of 26.45 years, a mode of 20 years, and a standard deviation of 8.2. As age and total reading score were positively correlated, the age category was further investigated, revealing: (1) students over 22 years of age had higher reading scores than those between 17 and 22 years of age; (2) students over 30 had a higher mean reading score than both other categories and also tended to have more varied scores; and (3) nearly 28% of the "successful" students at MCC were over 30 years old, 71.56% were female, and only 40.54% considered it likely that they would pursue further education. (LAL)