The college choice decision of graduate students.

This is a study of the factors that influence prospective graduate student decisions on which college to attend for graduate studies. It's based on two general hypotheses. First, the relative importance of some factors will differ for younger and older students due to the effects of life stage. Second, selecting a school to attend is a multistage decision process affected by a variety of factors involving the student's characteristics, family and work considerations, information gathering, college actions, and college/program characteristics. These hypotheses were derived from literature describing the college choice process of undergraduate and graduate students, and life stage and adult development theory. The study is based on 2,834 graduate students admitted to the University of Michigan for Fall 1986. Data sources included university records and a survey instrument to which 38% of the sample responded. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine: (1) decision factors associated with age; (2) factors associated with the decision to enroll or not to enroll at Michigan; and (3) the primary dimensions of student decisions and their relative simultaneous effects on the final enrollment decision. The study found that younger students were more geographically mobile than older students and therefore considered a larger and more geographically dispersed set of institutions. Younger students also placed greater importance than older students on social aspects of campus life. In contrast, older students placed greater importance on spouse- and work-related considerations. Multivariate results suggest that student enrollment decisions are affected by residency status and the importance of and preferred school on factors related to: (1) academic characteristics of the institution and its programs; (2) work; (3) financial aid; (4) spouse considerations; and (5) social aspects of campus life. The findings of this study have practical implications for the policies and practices of institutions as well as implications for further research. There is a need for more theoretical and descriptive studies on the college choice decision process of graduate students. There is also a need to broaden life stage theory as it is applied to higher education to include history- and event-graded as well as age-graded developmental change.Ph.D.Adult educationEducationHigher educationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/129129/2/9332097.pd