CIS Enrollment Decline: Examining Pre-College Factors

Anecdotal and direct enrollment evidence indicates there is a declining interest in Computer Information Systems (CIS) as a major. The authors believe one of the significant contributors to this decline is the lack of availability of accurate information about this area to high school students when they are making choices about future careers and appropriate colleges. The authors tested this proposition by surveying freshmen in their introductory computers course to determine their differential knowledge of the various computer career fields. In addition, the authors collected data concerning the information that a student used to select a college, select a major, their initial college major and the source of that information. The results of this survey provide initial guidance on some remediation activities that CIS programs may undertake to increase the number of students pursuing a CIS major