The problem of this study is to determine a profile of the typical industrial arts major at North Texas State University, based on scores made on the American College Testing Program Battery, and to compare this profile with profiles of four other local subgroups. ACT scores representing nine categories of student information were analyzed from a total sampling of 286 North Texas State University students of the Industrial Arts Department, School of Business Administration, School of Education, and College of Arts and Sciences. Data were from tests administered during regular ACT testing sessions in 1966-67.

Thesis (Ed. Spec.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Field study. Includes bibliographical references.

This study sought to determine if different factors had influenced females and males to select engineering/science-related studies at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS). The data were collected in the fall semester in 1997 at TAMS located on the University of North Texas campus from a survey of factors reported in the literature that had influenced students to enroll in engineering/science-related curriculum.

This dissertation examines the strategies that students use for navigating their way through college and the steps they take in preparation for college graduation. I wrote this dissertation because I wanted to understand how students go from being freshmen not long out of high school to young adults prepared (or not prepared) to enter the workforce or attend graduate or professional school. Past research has found that as high school students, many young people are generally directionless when it comes to learning about different career paths (Schneider and Stevenson 2006). Moreover, in the U.S., there is very little structural support for helping students navigate the transition from student to worker. While universities may offer programs that can aid students in finding jobs or applying to graduate schools, it is largely up to students to seek these programs out. This dissertation therefore investigates the question, "How much do college students plan for their post-college lives?" To accomplish my research goals, I focus on two areas in which students may demonstrate planfulness: choosing a college major and planning for post-graduation careers or schooling. I seek to answer three general questions. First, what reasons do students give for attending college? Second, how planful are students when selecting their college majors? Third, how planful are students in preparing for their future educational and occupational goals? To answer these questions, I collected my own data using a mixed methodology research design that included in-depth interviews with 31 students and a survey of nearly 500 college seniors at a large, northeastern university. This study adds to the literature on the transition to adulthood by studying the school-to-work transition. It also contributes to the sociology of education literature by shedding light on how college students make decisions about college majors. The survey shows that many students simultaneously hold both utilitarian and liberal arts philosophies toward higher education. The majority of survey respondents reported that they were motivated to attend college because of both the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards that a college education offers. Meanwhile, the in-depth interviews suggest that parental expectations, which were also commonly cited by survey respondents as reasons for attending college, are very powerful influences in students' decisions to attend college. Regarding college major choices, the survey results suggest that students find school experience more influential than the prospects of a potential career. In total, about two-thirds of respondents gave "present-oriented" rather than "future-oriented" reasons for choosing their majors. When looking at individual reasons for selecting a major, I found that passion for or interest in a subject was by far the reason cited most often as most important. The in-depth interview data provide further insight into the relationship between college majors and post-graduation plans. These interviews show that it is common for students to set post-graduation goals after they have chosen a college major. This was true regardless of whether students were present or future-oriented when making their initial college major decision. It was not unusual for students to select a major because of an interest in a particular occupation, but later decide that they no longer wanted to pursue that profession. Thus, I find that students can be future-oriented when selecting a major as freshmen or sophomores yet uncertain about their short-term post-graduation goals during their senior year. I also look at other ways that students can demonstrate planfulness, including seeking advice from others and participating in "development activities", which are activities that allow students to explore their interests. The survey shows that students vary in how often they seek advice from professors, advisors, and parents. On the other hand, most survey respondents participated in at least one development activity. The survey shows that social class was associated with these planfulness indicators. Both household income and parental education predicted the frequency with which students sought advice from their parents about choosing majors and making post-graduation plans. Family background was also associated with participating in activities that might help students explore their interests. Respondents from families with higher household incomes participated in more career-related activities than respondents from families with lower household incomes. Meanwhile, respondents with college-educated parents participated in more academic research activities than their classmates without college-educated parents. In my last analysis, I return to my qualitative research and introduce a typology of student planfulness that can be used to describe the different approaches students use in preparing for life after college graduation. In my conclusion, I suggest future areas of research that could extend our knowledge of student planfulness. I also provide policy recommendations that address how universities could help students make well-informed decisions about college majors, career goals, and plans for graduate study. / Sociology

"The purpose of this study is to gather information concerning some factors which may have operated to influence science majors in North Texas State College toward science careers."--4.

"This study attempts to review informatively the status of graduates from the School of Business Administration in that period in which students have first been graduates with a major in accounting."--1.

A college degree is not a homogenous investment across fields of study (Arcidiacono, 2004; Zhang & Thomas, 2005). Even after accounting for selection, STEM degrees pay substantially more than other fields (Altonji et al., 2012) and earnings disparities across majors have increased substantially over time (Altonji et al., 2014). Even though STEM degrees yield greater labor market returns, the number of STEM graduates and professionals remains low and the disparities in STEM attrition are alarming. As a result, STEM education has been elevated as a national priority in the U.S. and considered to be in high demand in the global economy. Yet, there is a lack of consensus on how to boost STEM graduation. My dissertation is motivated by the need to improve the number and composition of STEM graduates and to evaluate policies that can mitigate STEM attrition. In my dissertation I focus on the effect of college grades and grading policies on STEM graduation. College grades are important determinants of course and major choices and research suggests that grades have differing effects for STEM minorities and non-minorities. Moreover, disparities in grades between STEM (low-grading departments) and non-STEM (high-grading departments) due to grade inflation and compression of grades near the top affect sorting into majors, making grades less informative and distorting major choices (Bar et al. 2012). In my first essay, I examine the possible differential effect of college grades on STEM attrition gap by gender and race. Non-grade explanations such as pre-college factors, instructor gender and race and peer effects are also examined as potential determinants of STEM attrition gaps. However, I focus on grades because there is evidence that grades affect sorting into majors, and grades may have differing effects for minorities and non-minorities. This review uncovers evidence supporting the importance of institutional grading policies to shape student’s major and course choices. Despite the fact that institutional grading policies have been studied at some extent, none of these studies have addressed the differential effect of these policies on those who might be more sensitive to grades (i.e., women and racial minorities). In the second essay, I explore what factors explain the gender and race disparities in STEM attrition. This study utilize Florida’s Education Data Warehouse to conduct a reweighted Oaxaca decomposition of racial and gender differences in STEM attrition, with a particular focus on how STEM- intending students respond to college grades in introductory courses. The decomposition results show that women mainly leave STEM by switching into non-STEM fields, particularly due to non-STEM college factors such as grades and credits attempted in lower-division courses. In contrast, racial minorities mainly leave STEM by dropping out of college towards graduation, and they differentially leave STEM due to their lower high school preparation in STEM and consequently lower grades in lower-division STEM courses during their first two years of enrollment. In the third essay (which is also my job market paper) I examine the effect of changing the grading scale from whole-letter grades to plus/minus grades on STEM graduation/major choice. In this study, I examine the effect of changing the grading scale from whole-letter grades to plus/minus grades on STEM graduation/major choice. I use administrative data from the Florida Department of Education that combines students’ pre-college characteristics with students’ enrollment and transcript records. I rely on a difference in differences framework that compares STEM graduation/major choice rates during the early 2000s versus the late 1990s for students whose grading differentials between STEM and non-STEM courses were reduced versus students whose grades were not differentially affected. I find significant effects of changing the grading scale on reducing grading differentials and improving STEM graduation/major choice. These results represent the first direct, quasi-experimental evidence regarding the effect of changing the grading scale.

The purpose of this study is to gather information related to the characteristics of two groups of undergraduate non-science majors; namely, those students who once considered science as a career and subsequently changed to a non-science major and those who have never considered a career in science. It is frequently observed that children in the elementary school have an intense interest in science. One of the principal concerns of this study is how and for what reasons has the interest in science changed between elementary school and college? It is also the purpose of this study to gather information related to the attitudes of these college students toward the science courses they have had in high school and toward their science teachers. In attempting to arrive at an answer, the group who once considered a science career and those who have never considered an occupational choice in a field of science will be compared in the following areas: 1. General information such as sex, age, size of high school attended, rank within their graduating classes, college classification and military experiences. 2. Occupations and hobbies of parents. 3. Experiences which may influence attitudes toward science such as elementary school science, high school science courses, high school science teachers, attitudes toward science requirements, high school courses liked most, high school courses liked least, and membership in science clubs. 4. College science courses completed. 5. Extent of the interviewees' present interest in science, Finally, the circumstances surrounding the tentative choice of a science career by those who once considered such a career will be discussed.

The bibliography will comprise books, current magazines, annuals, and bulletins available in the North Texas State College Library. Some publications from other libraries in the area will also be included; namely, the Texas Woman's University Library, Denton; the Dallas Public Library; the Fort Worth Public Library; and Southwestern Medical College Library, Dallas. The bibliography is intended primarily for freshmen majoring in art, although the publications will be of value also to those students minoring in art.

Based on the findings, this study posits some implications for China's overseas education policy and suggests future study directions, as well as identifies its own limitations. / Findings of this study show that mainland Chinese senior secondary students' choice of major for overseas higher education can be explained better by human capital theory. Students are more inclined to choose the major that has higher expected rate of return to overseas higher education. The choice of major is in fact a behavior looking for higher investment return, or for better overseas employment prospects which would increase the probability of capturing the expected rate of return to overseas higher education. / Over the last 50 years, overseas higher education in the world has developed rapidly. Existing literature shows that overseas higher education can promote the economic development of developing countries, and overseas higher education graduates of different majors may have different roles in economic development. / The study employs multinomial logistic regression in the statistical analysis of the data. Major findings of the study are as follows: (1) Two economic factors---senior secondary students' expected rate of return to overseas higher education, and perceived overseas employment prospects---significantly affect students' choice of major for overseas higher education; while other two factors---students' perceived domestic employment prospects, and consumption preferences---have no significant effect on students' choice of major. (2) The choice between each pair of majors are either significantly affected by students' expected rate of return to overseas higher education or perceived overseas employment prospects to overseas higher education, except for the pair of Engineering vs. Business Administration. (3) The interaction effect between students' expected rate of return to overseas higher education and family location, and the interaction effect between students' academic ability and family income, significantly affect students' choice of major for overseas higher education. (4) Some information factors also significantly affect students' choice of major. (5) Students' gender, academic ability, family income, parents' education, and family location also significantly affect their choices of major. / The study is based on the data set of a research project entitled "Seeking Higher Education Abroad: Student Choices and Reasons in China", funded by the Research Grants Council in Hong Kong and conducted by Professor Hung Fan-sing of The Chinese University of Hong Kong as the Principal Investigator. The data consists of the results of a questionnaire survey successfully conducted in early 2007 to 12,961 senior secondary students in seven cities in mainland China. / This study employs human capital theory to analyze mainland Chinese senior secondary students' choice of major for studying higher education abroad, and the main factors affecting their choices. / 劉揚. / Advisers: Fan-sing Hung; Yue-ping Chung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 1865. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-157). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Liu Yang.