Understanding The College Choice Process Of Students Enrolled In An Early College High School

The purpose of this case study was to understand the college choice process of students enrolled in an early college high school program. The program studied enrolled first-generation students beginning in 9th grade in courses that counted towards both high school and college credits. The goal of the program was to have students graduate from high school with an associate degree. I conducted individual interviews with 9 seniors enrolled in the program to better understand how they chose what they wanted to do after high school, as well as to understand in what ways participation in the program and attending college courses influenced their decisions. Additionally, I explored the ways that students saw their identity influencing their choices for ongoing education. After I completed and transcribed the interviews, I engaged with the data by reading it repeatedly to explore patterns and themes within student responses. I coded those themes and then also utilized documents that I analyzed to support or challenge what I had heard. I then took those codes and made connections to the research questions I asked to describe the findings of this study. The findings of this study indicate the important role that personal relationships play in the college choice process, with participants sharing how relationships with faculty, staff, and peers influenced their success in the program as well as their belief in their ability to succeed in continued educational endeavors. Additionally, students shared the importance of taking college course on a college campus for their understanding of how college works, and for increasing their confidence in their ability to succeed in college. Placing this program on a college campus also enabled students to participate in extracurricular activities and utilize resources on campus. These findings indicate the important ways that communities and higher education institutions can work together to increase access to higher education for students who have traditionally been underrepresented in higher education. In addition, these findings indicate important factors to consider when designing these educational opportunities.

An easy-to-read handbook for freshmen and seniors alike, "Applying to College" will help students develop a personal college-entrance strategy. 96 p.

This report discusses enrollment planning by colleges and universities as it concerns the understanding of why students choose to attend one particular college over another. First, the past responses of colleges to enrollment-threatening changes are presented. Next, an explanation is given of why knowledge of student college choice behavior is important for enrollment planning, student marketing, and recruitment. Then, the conceptual foundations for the study of college choice behavior (psychology, sociology, economics) are discussed, followed by an explanation of why it is important to understand what determines enrollment fluctuations, such as an increasing job market or economic recession. Micro-level studies of college choice behavior, which are used to estimate the effects of institutional and student characteristics on the probability that a particular individual will choose a particular college, are examined. Finally, information related to the following questions is presented and discussed: (1) "what factors are important to students of nontraditional age in making college decisions?" (2) "what are the phases of the college choice process?" (3) "what factors are important in creating a desire to attend college?" (4) "why is the college search and application phase so important?" and (5) "how can an institution more effectively manage enrollment in the selection and attendance phase?" Contains an index and 227 references. (GLR).

Cut through the noise and make better college and career choices This book is about addressing the college-choosing problem. The rankings, metrics, analytics, college visits, and advice that we use today to help us make these decisions are out of step with the progress individual students are trying to make. They don't give students and families the information and context they need to make such a high-stakes decision about whether and where to get an education. Choosing College strips away the noise to help you understand why you’re going to school. What's driving you? What are you trying to accomplish? Once you know why, the book will help you make better choices. The research in this book illustrates that choosing a school is complicated. By constructing more than 200 mini-documentaries of how students chose different postsecondary educational experiences, the authors explore the motivations for how and why people make the decisions that they do at a much deeper, causal level. By the end, you’ll know why you’re going and what you’re really chasing. The book: Identifies the five different Jobs for which students hire postsecondary education Allows you to see your true options for what’s next Offers guidance for how to successfully choose your pathway Illuminates how colleges and entrepreneurs can build better experiences for each Job The authors help readers understand not what job students want out of college, but what "Job" students are hiring college to do for them.

Examines the everyday experiences of high school seniors as they choose their colleges and demonstrates that college choice is a more complex social and organizational reality than has been previously understood.

The most crucial choice a high school graduate makes is whether to attend college or to go to work. Here is the most sophisticated study of the complexities behind that decision. Based on a unique data set of nearly 23,000 seniors from more than 1,300 high schools who were tracked over several years, the book treats the following questions in detail: Who goes to college? Does low family income prevent some young people from enrolling, or does scholarship aid offset financial need? How important are scholastic aptitude scores, high school class rank, race, and socioeconomic background in determining college applications and admissions? Do test scores predict success in higher education? Using the data from the National Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972, the authors present a set of interrelated analyses of student and institutional behavior, each focused on a particular aspect of the process of choosing and being chosen by a college. Among their interesting findings: most high school graduates would be admitted to some four-year college of average quality, were they to apply; applicants do not necessarily prefer the highest-quality school; high school class rank and SAT scores are equally important in college admissions; federal scholarship aid has had only a small effect on enrollments at four-year colleges but a much stronger effect on attendance at two-year colleges; the attention paid to SAT scores in admissions is commensurate with the power of the scores in predicting persistence to a degree. This clearly written book is an important source of information on a perpetually interesting topic.

Going to College tells the powerful story of how high school students make choices about postsecondary education. Drawing on their unprecedented nine-year study of high school students, the authors explore how students and their parents negotiate these important decisions. Family background, finances, education, information—all influence students' plans after high school and the career paths they pursue, as do the more subtle messages delivered by parents and counselors which shape adolescents' self-expectations. For high school guidance counselors, college admissions counselors, parents and teachers, and public policy makers, this book is a valuable resource that explains the decision-making process and helps adults to help students make appropriate choices. The authors identify predisposition, search, and choice as the three stages in the student decision-making process. Predisposition refers to the plans students develop for education or work after they graduate from high school. The search stage involves students discovering and evaluating a variety of colleges and universities. In the choice stage, students choose a school to attend from among a list of institutions that are being seriously considered. Understanding exactly how students move through the predisposition, search, and choice stages of the college decision-making process can help students and parents prepare themselves for this process and consider a wider array of options. For education professionals, understanding this process can lead to new initiatives to guide students and families effectively—by providing better incentives for college savings, for example, or devising more effective early information programs about postsecondary education. Going to College is the first book to seriously study over an extended period the decisions that have a pervasive and lasting impact on individual careers, livelihoods, and lifestyles. The authors conclude with important recommendations for improving academic support, exploring various financial options, providing early encouragement—in other words, for recognizing the factors that influence students' decisions, and knowing when to pay attention to them.