PRECOLLEGIATE CURRICULA, UNIVERSITY CHARACTERISTICS, AND FIELD PERSISTENCE AMONG SCIENCE MAJORS

Abstract

ABSTRACTFew studies have attempted to examine simultaneously how student and university characteristics are associated with the persistence of women and men in the sciences. The present study took advantage of a unique data set containing the records of individual students on the SAT (1979‐1982) and their corresponding records on the GRE (1985‐1990), including the questionnaires that accompany each test. Information on the students' undergraduate institutions from the College Board Annual Survey of Colleges was then added to these records. The data set included 48,492 non‐Latino White students with English as their best language who indicated an interest in computer, engineering, mathematical or physical (CEMP) science fields in one or more responses to four questions about their intended major field of study. Two transition points were studied: from intended college major as high school seniors to actual undergraduate major (Stage I), and from actual undergraduate major to intended graduate school major (Stage II). Persistence was defined as staying within the broad category of CEMP sciences.The descriptive findings showed net losses from the CEMP pool of students at both transition points and greater field switching for women — both into CEMP sciences and out of CEMP sciences. For men at Stage I, 35% of those with a CEMP field as a first choice for major switched to a non‐CEMP field, but new recruits into CEMP undergraduate majors reduced the net loss to only 12%. For women at Stage I, 50% of those with a CEMP field as a first choice for major switched to a non‐CEMP field, but new recruits into CEMP undergraduate majors reduced the net loss to only 8%. For men at Stage II, 19% of CEMP undergraduate majors switched to a non‐CEMP field for graduate study, but recruits into CEMP for intended graduate work reduced the net loss to 15%. For women at Stage II, 31 % of CEMP undergraduate majors switched to a non‐CEMP field for graduate study, but recruits into CEMP fields for intended graduate work reduced the net loss to 24%.The predictive findings for both transitions, using logistic regression with random coefficients, showed that student and university characteristics (entered jointly) were associated with field persistence for the majority of fields. Significant gender differences in field persistence remained for most, but not all, fields after controlling for student and university characteristics. The higher the percentage of women enrolled in the institution as a whole, the lower the field persistence for both men and women in the majority of fields at Stage I after controlling for other variables.