Major Choice Research Articles

Perceived returns and regrets among college graduates

ABSTRACT We contribute to the higher education returns discourse by examining perceptions among college graduates. Using 2021 U.S. Survey of Household Economics of Decisionmaking data, we observe that over 80% of degree holders perceive that they received positive financial returns from college, while only 7% of college degree holders regret their decision to go to university. However, 39% regret their major choice, and 24% regret their institution choice. Logistic regression reveals perceptions and regrets vary with field of study, gender, type of institution attended, student debt load, and age.

Persepsi Negatif Mahasiswa Jurusan Pendidikan Mengenai Profesi Menjadi Guru

The key to educational success lies in the role of the teacher. The presence of teachers who have good qualifications and professionalism is crucial to achieve this goal. One of the important steps to becoming a professional teacher is to complete a Bachelor of Education program. But not all students who take education study programs have an interest in becoming teachers. This is due to a bad perception of the teaching profession. This study aims to determine the emergence of negative perceptions of students majoring in education about the teaching profession. The type of research used in this study is descriptive qualitative, data collection techniques through interviews with seven students selected using purposive sampling, and meeting research criteria. The results showed that the selection of accounting education majors was influenced by various factors, including fear of not passing the selection to enter the dream study program, as well as extrinsic motivation, namely from teachers. The role of teachers in influencing students' choice of majors and careers is crucial. However, negative stigma against the teaching profession, especially related to low salaries, may make some participants hesitant to choose the teaching profession. However, some participants still open the opportunity to become a teacher as a last resort, especially if there is no other option to go to

How Psychological Capital Impacts Career Growth of University Students? The Role of Academic Major Choice

This study aimed to investigate whether and how university students with high psychological capital (PsyCap) experience more career growth. Based on self-determination theory, we examined the mediating role of self-concordance in choosing majors and the moderating role of career values in this relationship. Results from a two-wave lagged study of 705 Chinese university students over one year provided support for our model. We found that students’ PsyCap upon university entrance was positively related to their career growth one year later through the mediating role of self-concordance in choosing majors; extrinsic career values (external compensation and work-life balance values) mitigated the positive effect of self-concordance in choosing majors on career growth, as well as the indirect effect. We contribute by identifying PsyCap as an antecedent of career growth of university students and by revealing its influence mechanisms in a career choice scenario. Practical implications of the study are also discussed.

Wojna jako katalizator niwelowania kryzysu tożsamości w Ukrainie – pozytywna dynamika i przygotowanie do wyzwań

The full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war consolidated Ukrainian society. The choice of the absolute majority in favor of the European and Euro-Atlantic future allows us to conclude that the Ukrainians have completed the formation of a political nation. At the same time, the war created grounds for the Ukrainians to overcome the existing rifts in the socio-cultural sphere, but did not remove them completely. The main task of the authorities, scientists and civil society in these conditions is to concentrate on the development and implementation of such policies that will help to avoid the deepening of existing rifts to the extent of toxic polarization and prevent Ukrainians from finally overcoming the dichotomy in the issue of national and cultural identity.

A modified social force model for pedestrian-bicycle mixed flows and its application on evaluating the conflict risk in shared roads

As sustainable modes of transport, walking and cycling are the major choices for short trips. The mixed flow of pedestrians and bicycles is often observed on the roads, but its dynamics and conflict risks have not been well investigated. As commonly observed, pedestrians walk along the road boundaries in the pedestrian-bicycle shared roads. When two or more bicycles share the road, the rear bicycle may choose to either follow or overtake the preceding bicycle under specific criteria. To better reproduce this phenomenon, this study proposed a modified social model. Specifically, self-driving force, force from boundaries, force from other pedestrians and force from bicycles were considered in simulating pedestrian movement. Additionally, the modeling of bicycle movement explicitly takes into account the behavior force for following or overtaking the preceding bicycle. YOLO v5 object detection and DeepSORT multi-object tracking algorithms were applied to extract pedestrian and bicycle trajectories captured by the camera on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Then the model was calibrated using a genetic algorithm to minimize the discrepancy between the simulated and observed trajectories. Under both unidirectional and bidirectional flow scenarios, the proposed model demonstrates good accuracy in reproducing individual movements and lane-formation phenomena for bidirectional pedestrian-bicycle mixed flows. Furthermore, the calibrated model was applied to evaluate the conflict risk of pedestrians and bicycles in a straight road and an intersection on campus. The safety assessment results indicate that lower density and fewer bicycles in the mixed flow can effectively reduce the risk of conflicts. This study can help understand interactions of pedestrians and cyclists in mixed flow conditions and provide theoretical support for the planning and safety evaluation of pedestrian-bicycle shared roads.

Strategy Is Only Partly an Illusion: “Relative Foresight” as an Objective Standard for Evaluating Foreign Policy Competence

Abstract Foreign policymakers must grapple with complexity, uncertainty, and subjectivity. These challenges raise the possibility that “strategy is an illusion”: that there is no reliable method for assessing skill at managing international politics. By contrast, we show that researchers can objectively evaluate a critical component of foreign policy competence using a standard we call “relative foresight,” defined as decision-makers’ ability to anticipate consequences of their choices as compared to alternative views based on similar information. Relative foresight can be measured without relying on value judgments or subjective probabilities. By contrast, other common frameworks for gauging foreign policy competence, such as comparing leaders’ behavior to the rational actor model or assessing procedural rationality, almost always leave room for reasonable disagreement. We demonstrate that relative foresight provides a useful tool for evaluating major foreign policy choices through case studies of Barack Obama’s decisions regarding the Afghan Surge and the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound. Our framework has broad implications for research on normative, prescriptive, and descriptive dimensions of foreign policy analysis.

Perceived Employability Variations Across Specializations Subjects in the Faculty of Education at Tribhuvan University

This study explores the level of perceived employability among education students, examining the multifaceted dimensions of skills and competencies crucial for success in the professional realm. Employability extends beyond technical proficiency, encompassing a range of attributes contributing to adaptability and effectiveness. Perceived employability, a subjective assessment of one's ability to secure and maintain employment, plays a pivotal role in shaping individuals' career approaches. A quantitative and exploratory approach was employed, utilising a cross-sectional survey and questionnaire within the context of Nepal's Faculty of Education at Tribhuvan University. The study involved 271 final-year students, employing proportional random sampling and statistical analyses. While education students express high confidence in various employability dimensions, a nuanced categorisation reveals a dual nature of 'presence' and 'consolidation' levels across competencies. Furthermore, specialisation subjects significantly influence perceived employability, with science majors showing higher levels. The study underscores the imperative for a comprehensive understanding of employability factors, emphasising the substantial impact of major subject choice on education students' confidence and readiness for future careers. The findings provide insights for academic institutions, policymakers, and students to enhance strategies for bridging the gap between education and employability in the Nepalese context.

Women’s Colleges and Economics Major Choice: Evidence from Wellesley College Applicants

Many observers argue that diversity in Economics and STEM fields is critical, not simply because of egalitarian goals, but because who is in a field may shape what is studied by it. If increasing the rate of majoring in mathematically intensive fields among women is a worthy goal, then understanding whether women’s colleges causally affect that choice is important. Among all admitted applicants to Wellesley College, enrollees are 7.2 percentage points (94 percent) more likely to receive an Economics degree than non-enrollees (a plausible lower bound given negative selection into enrollment on math skills and major preferences). Overall, 3.2 percentage points – or 44 percent of the difference between enrollees and non-enrollees – is explained by college exposure to women instructors and students, consistent with a wider role for women’s colleges in increasing women’s participation in Economics. HIGHLIGHTS In US colleges, men are more than twice as likely as women to major in Economics. Enrollees are twice as likely as non-enrollees to major in Economics. The difference is a plausible lower bound given patterns of selection on observed variables. Over 40 percent of the difference is explained by the gender of students and faculty.

Examining changes in adolescents' high school math and science motivational beliefs and their relations to parental STEM support and STEM major choice at the intersectionality of gender and college generation status.

Drawing on the situated expectancy-value, dimensional comparison theories, and the intersectionality approach, this article examined the changes in adolescents' math and science motivational beliefs, the parental and college correlates of those beliefs, and the differences at the intersection of gender and college generation status (i.e., female and male first- and continuing-generation college students). Findings based on the nationally representative high-school longitudinal study data (N = 12,070; Mage = 14 years; 54% female students; 28% first-generation college students; and 14% Latinx, 9% Black, 10% Asian, and 57% White) suggest that although adolescents' math and science ability self-concepts declined during high school, their science interest remained stable, and their math and science utility values increased. Adolescents' motivational beliefs in ninth grade and the changes from ninth to 11th grade positively predicted whether they declared a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college major. Parents' ninth-grade STEM support was more consistently associated with adolescents' concurrent beliefs compared to the changes in their beliefs. Finally, we found that female first-generation college students, who were more likely to be Latinx and Black students, tended to have lower math and science motivational beliefs, received less parental STEM support, and were less likely to choose a STEM major than their peers. The findings of this study indicate adolescents' math and science motivational development in high school matters for their college majors and that certain understudied groups, including female first-generation college students, may experience acute marginalization in STEM and warrant further attention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Epidemiological features of 1,332 cases of hip fracture in Shanghai, China (2015–2020)

PurposeThis study aimed to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of hip fracture in all age groups in Shanghai, and to evaluate the hospitalization cost of patients with hip fracture.MethodsA total of 1,332 hip fracture patients admitted to a tertiary general hospital between January 2015 and May 2020 in Shanghai were included. Age, sex, diagnosis, cause of injury and site, fracture type, comorbidities, length of stay, treatment, outcomes (at discharge) and hospitalization expenses were recorded. The epidemiological characteristics of hip fracture were analyzed by using SPSS 26.0 software.ResultsThe average age of hip fracture was 77.24 ± 12.66 years, and 69.0% of the patients were female. Overall, 886 patients had femoral neck fracture, and 446 patients suffered from intertrochanteric fracture. Most of the fractures caused by falls at the same level and falls from a height occurred in those aged 81–90 years; and traffic accident injuries mostly took place in patients aged 50–60. Among the 1,302 hip fracture patients who underwent surgical treatment, hip replacement was the major choice for femoral neck fracture, accounting for 49.2%. Internal fixation was the main treatment choice for intertrochanteric fracture, making up 97.8%. The median length of hospital stay lasted 8 days and at cost of hospitalization was ¥49,138.18 RMB.ConclusionThis epidemiological study found that patients with hip fracture had certain distribution characteristics in age, sex, type of fracture, injury season, cause of injury, mode of operation, length of stay, cost, and so on. Proper medical management, social preventive measures, and prevention of falls are needed to reduce the risk of hip fracture and the socioeconomic burden.

Recent progress of cotton fabric based on bio‐inspired modification for oil/water separation

AbstractWith the continuous development of the industry, oil spill accidents occur frequently. Oil/water separation materials are considered to be a major choice for the treatment of oily wastewater due to their flexible operation and low cost. Cotton fabrics are low‐cost and environmentally friendly, which are used as substrates to prepare oil/water separation materials with quite competitive in the market. A large number of oil/water separation cotton fabrics with excellent properties have been frequently reported in recent decades. On the other hand, since the service life of these oil/water separation cotton fabrics is closely related to the thin layer covered on the surface, so in order to improve the practical applicability, substances such as dopamine and plant polyphenols that improve the adhesion of the thin layer to the surface of the material are introduced into the preparation process of these materials. On this basis, the research progress of super‐hydrophobic cotton fabrics, super‐hydrophilic/underwater super‐oleophobic cotton fabrics, super durable oil/water separation cotton fabrics and intelligent response to oil/water separation fabric in recent years are reviewed, as well as their applications in the field of oil/water separation.

Educational choice, initial wage and wage growth

We study the effects of expected initial wages, expected wage growth, and observed and unobserved heterogeneity in the choice of college major in a sample of American college graduates. We propose a three-stage empirical model that relates future earnings to individual choices. In the first stage, starting from revealed choices, observed wages, and life-cycle wage profiles, we estimate the expectation on initial wages and wage growth from the individual point of view, where the panel structure of the data allows us to produce estimates corrected for self-selection bias. We find substantial differences in expected real wages and expected real wage growth between majors and that both characteristics of life cycle earnings influence major choice. Our parametric models show a strong correlation between salary trends and major choice, whereas semiparametric models yield less reliable results. We interpret our results as being consistent with agents being rational and as a validation for our estimation strategy based on counterfactual imputation.

Assessing the effects of gender stereotype in STEM in a Brazilian university

PurposeIn Brazil, over 4.7 million women enrolled in university in the year 2017. However, Brazilian women have been consistently overrepresented in humanities and care majors and underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Given that observed gender differences in math-intensive fields have lasting effects on gender inequality in the labor market, and that observed gender variations do not necessarily associate with differences in innate ability, in this paper we explore the paths of societal gender bias and gender differences in a Brazilian university.Design/methodology/approachWe conduct a social experiment at a University in Southeastern Brazil, applying the gender-STEM Implicit Association Test.FindingsWe found that women in STEM are less likely to show gender-STEM implicit stereotypes, compared to women in humanities. The results indicate a negative correlation between implicit gender stereotyping and the choice of math-intensive majors by women.Originality/valueThe stereotype-congruent results are indicative of the gender bias in Brazilian society, and suggest that stereotypes created at early stages in life are directly related to future outcomes that reinforce gender disparities in Brazil, which can be observed in career choices.

Determinants of Intra-major Specialization and Career Decisions Among Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Students

Biomedical engineering is a broad and interdisciplinary field that prepares graduates for a variety of careers across multiple career sectors. Given this breadth, undergraduate degree programs often have formal or informal opportunities for students to further specialize within the biomedical engineering major to develop skills in subdisciplines of biomedical engineering. While previous work has explored factors that influence student decision-making of engineering major choice, including the role of gender, limited work has explored factors that influence intra-major specialization in biomedical engineering. The present study sought to expand on existing research to understand factors that influence biomedical engineering students’ choice of intra-major specializations and how, if at all, these factors are related to gender. Grounded in social cognitive career theory, the present study leveraged quantitative surveys from undergraduate biomedical engineering students to understand factors influencing intra-major specialization choice, including the impact that students viewed on their career plans. Participants rated multiple factors as important in their intra-major specialization decisions, with professors/classes rated as the most important influence and alumni as the lowest. Similarly, participants rated multiple outcome expectations of their specialization, although income was rated lower than other factors. Participants most commonly indicated interest in pursuing careers in industry and medicine. We found some differences in intra-major specialization, outcome expectations, and career interests by gender, with women students indicating a higher influence of professors/classes and higher expectations for their track decision to provide a career with a good income. Further understanding of how undergraduate students select specializations in engineering coursework will inform curriculum design and student advising.

Majors unleashed: unravelling students’ personality profiles across academic disciplines

AbstractThis study utilized Latent Profile Analysis to examine the correlation between personality and academic major choice among 1825 Greek university students, using the Five Factor Model (FFM) at the facet level. Four distinct personality profiles—resilients, overcontrollers, undercontrollers, and ordinaries—were identified. Female students predominantly chose Humanities, aligning with the overcontrollers profile while males leaned towards Sciences and Health Sciencesassociated with ordinaries, undercontrollers, and resilients profiles. Additionally, major choice varied, with Humanities and Sciences often linked to ordinaries, Health Sciences to resilients, and Economics/Information and Communication Technology to undercontrollers. This study emphasizes personalized interventions based on individual personality profiles for informed academic major choices.

Examining factors influencing students to leave science classes in Cambodia: a two-level hierarchical linear modeling

Cambodian upper secondary education is divided into two tracks: science and social science. Students make their track selection in grade 10 and begin their enrollment in grade 11. The enrollment in the science track has witnessed a steep decline from 96% in 2014 to 34% in 2020, while the enrollment in the social science track has seen a remarkable surge from 4% in 2014 to 66% in 2020. This tendency poses a significant challenge to the government’s endeavors aimed at promoting workforces in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This survey study aimed to examine factors influencing students to leave science-track classes. The survey was administered to 696 grade-12 students from 20 upper secondary schools. The two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used for data analysis. The findings revealed that at the individual level, age, ease of national examination, high passing rates, preference for good grades, expense on private tutoring, STEM major choices at the territory level, attitudes toward science, parental advice, and family income significantly influenced students’ decision to opt for social science track over science track. At the school level, school location was a significant predictor of track choices. The findings were discussed with practical implications to improve enrollment in the science track at Cambodian upper secondary schools.

Disturbing the Quiet Life? Competition and CEO Incentives

ABSTRACT Although it is well understood that product market competition acts as a disciplining mechanism that reduces inefficiencies, our understanding of the implications for firms’ incentive design choices is still limited. We use a comprehensive new measure of competition and examine its effect on four major choices: CEO equity portfolio incentives, annual bonus plan incentives, choice of performance measures, and difficulty of financial performance targets. We find that competition reduces firm profits and total CEO compensation, including equity grants, which then also weakens portfolio incentives. Firms respond by adjusting annual bonus plans to restore incentives. Specifically, we find that competition goes together with stronger bonus plan incentives, more challenging annual performance targets, and a greater emphasis on long-term performance measures. Finally, we show that competition increases performance relative to annual bonus targets, which we interpret as evidence that CEOs work harder but get paid less in highly competitive environments. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classifications: M41; M52.

A novel approach for constructing privacy‐aware architecture utilizing Shannon's entropy

SummaryThe right to privacy refers to an individual's decision about how personal information can be gathered, utilized, and disseminated. Individual consent and openness are the most important foundations for gaining consumers' confidence, and this pushes businesses to use privacy‐enhancing techniques while developing systems. The purpose of a privacy‐aware design is to safeguard data in such a manner that it does not expand an adversary's current understanding of an individual beyond what would be permitted. When these data pieces are coupled with the plethora of source data accessible outside the system to identify a user, this becomes crucial. Individual privacy is protected by privacy rules all around the globe, but they are often complicated and ambiguous, making their translation into practical and technologically privacy‐friendly structures difficult. The main contribution of this article is that we use Shannon's entropy (SE) to construct an objective measure that may guide our major technical design choices. And for privacy‐aware architecture, simplifying the state‐of‐the‐art security approaches given in the literature.

Phytoestrogen: A protective shield for post-menopausal symptoms and breast cancer risk

Menopause is a physiological unavoidable condition in women’s life which leads to vasomotor, psychological, urogenital and chronic diseases collectively termed as post-menopausal symptoms (PMS). Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is conventional line of treatment for treating PMS in which estrogens replacement is major choice for better therapeutic efficacy against symptoms like hot flushes, osteoporosis, hormonal balances, insomnia, obesity etc. However, estrogen is reported risk factor for breast cancer. The review discusses Ayurveda based strategies for management of PMS with phytoestrogen herbs, diet, lifestyle modification, de-addiction measures, yoga, aroma therapies etc. supported by evidence-based documentation.Herbs namely Dhanyaka (Coriander sativum), Manjishtha (Rubia cordifolia L), Chandana (Santalum album L), Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L. Dunal), Jatamansi (Nardostachys jatamansi DC), Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus L), Kumari (Aloe vera L), Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra L), Haridra (Curcuma longa L), Triphala (Combination of fruits of Haritaki, Bibhitak, Amalaki in the proportion 1:2:4), Gokshura (Tribulus terrestris L), Arjuna (Terminalia Arjuna L.), Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia L.), Ela (Elettaria cardamomum L), Narikela (Coccus nucifera L), Masha (Phaseolus vulgaris L), Mudga (Vigna radiata L). Shunthi (Zinziber officinale Roxb), Methika (Trigonella foenumgraecum L), Tila (Sesamum indicum L) are the natural sources of phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogen don’t exert side effects like synthetic estrogen molecules. These herbs are useful for management of various symptoms of PMS. Having anti-cancer potential against breast carcinoma these are useful for prevention of risk of breast cancer.

Investigation of University Entrance Scores and Choice of Majors on Academic Achievement of First Year Students

Higher education has an important role in shaping one's career and future. In this context, university entrance scores and choice of majors are considered as crucial factors that can affect the academic achievement of first-year students.This research needs to be conducted to see whether there is an influence between entrance scores and choice of major on the academic achievement of first-year students. Based on the data and results of the analysis, it shows that there is no positive relationship between high university entrance scores and the academic achievement of first-year students. In addition, students who choose majors according to their interests and abilities have no significant effect on their academic achievement.