Vocational identity, field of study and college choice

Abstract

In the past, the issue of college choice has been studied as a matter of determining the characteristics of students and institutions that affect decisions regarding the selection of a university or college. Forty years of research in this area demonstrates the importance of understanding college choice among institutional planners, educational psychologists, and the consumers of higher education. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of field of study in college choice behavior. The Chapman (1993) multistage model of college choice provided the theoretical framework for the examination of college choice among students selecting the field of agriculture. Data were collected from students enrolled in The University of Arizona College of Agriculture between 1997 and 1999. Qualitative and quantitative techniques were utilized to examine the influence of field of study in college choice. The roles of information quality and accuracy, information sources, information types, timing of contact, individual attributes, and institutional characteristics were shown to be unrelated to field of study. This study showed that the field of study of agriculture does not influence college choice. Student recruitment efforts, whether they be discipline-, department-, college-, or university based, presuming that field of study influences the college choices of prospective students should be modified to reflect this finding. Further, the additional variable, field of study, does not enhance the Chapman model of college choice.