Curricular choices and performance of students in the College of Agriculture at Texas A & M University

The purpose of this study was to collect and analyze data that can be used in counseling students and prospective students about curricular choices in the College of Agriculture at Texas A&M University. Specific objectives designed to accomplish the purpose were: 1. To identify factors which influenced students to major in agriculture at Texas A&M University. 2. To identify factors associated with stability in choice of curricula. 3. To compare the scholastic aptitude of students who changed curricula with those who did not change. 4. To compare the academic performance of students who changed curricula with those who did not change. 5. To develop a list of recommendations that may be used for counseling students and prospective students about choices of curricula in the College of Agriculture. Procedure: Data were obtained from student files in the Office of the Associate Dean for Instruction in the College of Agriculture, permanent records in the Registrar's Office, and an open-end questionnaire mailed to each student. Scholastic aptitude test scores were available on 80.8 percent of the 401 students in the sample and questionnaires were returned by 85.8 percent. Data collected were tabulated, grouped, and tested for significance by the appropriate chi-square test, analysis of variance or analysis of covariance.