Choice of Science Careers Among College Men: An Analysis of Selected Problems. Final Report.

The report deals with conditions determining choice of natural science careers among American college men. Most data come from questionnaires returned to the National Opinion Research Center by a representative sample of 33,782 June, 1961, college graduates. Of 21,687 men, 1,894 reported preferring science careers as freshmen. In most of the analysis, the dependent variable is senior year career choice among science freshmen (about half persisted in science). Selected problems concern effects of social background on commitment to science; the relation between economic and intellectual career goals in choosing science; persistence in science among socially active students, students in selective private colleges, and able students attending very selective colleges and consequently receiving lower grades. Results of the analyses are used to construct a causal model of career choice of science in college. Trends in choice of science and engineering from 1954 through 1967 are analyzed, and explanations proposed. (NTIS)