Female mentoring success was investigated as an undergraduate intervention utilizing career development practices to reduce dysfunctional career thinking and STEM major retention in first year freshmen females within a living-learning community. Repeated measures MANOVAs and canonical correlations in the causal comparative research design evaluated mentoring’s influence on first year females. Male voluntary participants (n = 126) formulated the comparison group, and female voluntary participants (n = 75) filled the treatment group. Repeated measure multivariate analyses of variances compared differences between the interaction of mentoring and gender over time on dysfunctional career thinking using two assessments: Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) and Career Decision Scale (CDS) and their five subscales (decision-making confusion, commitment anxiety, external conflict, certainty and indecision). Canonical correlations analyzed the effect participation rates had on student change scores on the CTI and CDS, indicating mentoring intervention effects on reducing dysfunctional career thinking and decidedness. Conclusions included: (a) females had higher levels of dysfunctional career thinking than males; (b) overtime both groups decreased dysfunctional thoughts, and solidifying their STEM career choices; (c) females had reduced levels of career decidedness compared to males; (d) both groups increased certainty overtime, solidifying their STEM career choice, and (e) when the STEM career choice was made, female certainty was more solidified than males. The study adds to the career development research within STEM at the undergraduate level providing colleges and universities with a structured first year female mentoring program in STEM. The iv GEMS model may be ideal for colleges and universities utilizing living-learning communities to increase underrepresented female retention and those without STEM career planning courses.

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Obtainment of a college education has been a prevalent issue in America for decades. Much research has been performed to support the claim that college access is important in high school. A recent report from the US Department of Education indicates that only 59% of students graduate from high school, and only 29% of high school graduates successfully complete college. Failure of students to enroll in college and the tendency of students to enroll but fail to complete college can be attributed to a lack of college readiness resources. This begs the following question: is high school too late to begin thinking about college? The purpose of this study is to explore the affect of attending a college awareness program for middle school students during the summer prior to entering high school and the impact it has on students’ use of social capital in high school and expectations for attending college. A multiple case study was employed to examine how students use social capital in their freshman year of high school as a result of attending a college awareness program. Three themes emerged from this study: 1) students expand existing networks to meet their needs, 2) students’ college awareness precedes taking action, and 3) the family plays a role in college readiness.

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