Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Like Your Classes, Know Your Professors? Predictors Of Talented College Students’ Science And Technology Careers, James Lee, Christina Stow

Faculty Publications

In the US, there is great loss of academically talented college-level science and technology students as many decide not to follow through with their initial career choices. Following research that has implicated personal relationships in career decision-making, we study the effects of college course experiences, relationships with professors, and individual characteristics on career plans of 58 talented university students by analyzing interview data gathered in 1999. Among other things, we find that students who dropped out have few positive science course experiences and no relationships with faculty. Life sciences students report that they do not like science courses, but they …