What influences a student's choice of career path?
A student's choice of career path is influenced by several things at once, and they operate at more than one level. They include the individual student, the people around them, the schools and programs they move through, and the conditions in their community.
Influences worth understanding in your own students
- Exposure. Whether a student has encountered the field at all, through a class, a relative's job, a site visit, or a summer job.
- People who said something at the right moment. A teacher, counselor, coach, employer, or family member who encouraged a student toward a field, or steered them away from it.
- How students see themselves. Whether a student can picture themselves doing the work and belonging among the people who do it.
- Practical conditions. What the program costs, when classes meet, how far away it is, whether the student can keep working while enrolled, and how soon the work pays.
- What the student believes about the field. What they think the job involves, pays, and leads to, which may or may not be accurate.
These influences work together. A student who is interested in a field may still not enroll if the schedule conflicts with the job that supports their family. A student with no early interest may enroll because someone they trust showed them what the work looks like.
Why does it matter whether students can picture themselves in the work?
Whether students can picture themselves in the work matters because the way they see themselves can shape whether they treat a field as a real option. It can also shape whether they stay with it once they start. A student who thinks "people like me don't do that" isn't likely to apply, even when the program would serve them well.
In a longitudinal study of students from groups historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), quality mentorship and research experience in the junior and senior years were positively related to students' science identity, their sense of being capable in science, and the value they placed on it. Science identity and values continued to predict persistence on a STEM career path up to four years after graduation. That study covers one group of college students in one set of fields, so it can't predict what will happen in your program. It does support paying attention to identity as well as interest. For a program, that means giving students real chances to do the work, contact with people who do it, and mentors who connect what students are doing now to who they want to become.
How can a program reach students who have never met anyone in the field?
A program can reach students who have never met anyone in the field by bringing the field to them before they have to decide. You can do that through the schools, community organizations, and employers students already know. If your first contact with a student is an enrollment form, you're reaching only the students who've already chosen you.
Depending on your community, that might include site visits and job shadowing with local employers, practitioners who speak in classrooms or lead a hands-on project, and summer or short introductory courses. It can also include information families can use, such as cost, class times, pay, and where the work leads. Employers can contribute much of this, and What can an employer actually contribute besides money? covers what to ask them for.
Think about who delivers the message, too: meeting someone who shares a student's background or language, or took a similar path, can make the work easier to imagine.
How do we find out how our own students chose their path?
You can find out how your own students chose their path by asking them directly and early, in a way that also tells you what nearly kept them away. Questions on an intake form or a first-term survey can ask how students heard about the program, who encouraged them, and what almost stopped them from enrolling. Focus groups with current students can tell you why those things mattered.
Then look at your enrollment records for who isn't there, compare your students with the community you serve, and ask whose perspective is missing. Designing those questions so they produce answers a program can act on, and interpreting them alongside your enrollment data, is part of the work an evaluator does with a program.
Staying on a path is a separate question, covered in Students start our program and don't finish. Why?, and Should we spend our effort recruiting more students or keeping the ones we have? covers how to decide where to put your effort.
The Grantibly perspective
Angelika's perspective
My sabbatical work focuses on the social and psychological factors that help students succeed, including belonging, identity, self-efficacy, agency, and motivation, and on the relationships and environments that shape those experiences. One question students can ask themselves matters a great deal here: who do I see myself becoming?
There's a difference between simply attending and actively recognizing, "I'm a student; this is something I do." Students can take part in their own identity development through the stories they tell about themselves and the actions they practice. Mentors and programs can support that by naming what students' actions represent, offering meaningful ways to participate and contribute, and connecting what students are doing now to who they want to become.
