Marketing majors’ satisfaction with their college experience: Implications for strategic planning in marketing departments

This study examines the criteria marketing majors used in selecting a college, their evaluation of and satisfaction with their chosen college, and the extent to which mar-keting majors differ from other business majors on these issues. Results indicate that marketing majors are satisfied with their college experience overall, but that they are less satisfied than other business majors on some dimensions. Recommendations are offered to enhance strategic planning in marketing departments. With the proliferation of information about colleges available to high school students and the increased competition and use of marketing to reach them, higher education has originated its share of creative concepts to encourage enroll-ment. Marketing devices such as options for students to design their own curriculum, co-operative education programs, and guaranteed employment after graduation are all aimed at attracting students. However, suppliers of educational services need to know what criteria will influence their buyers ’ choices, what serv-ices might be falling short of expectations, and what overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction stu-dents have regarding their educational experi-ences. Consumer researchers have acknowledged that characteristics of a product (in this case, a school) will influence differentially the outcome of a decision and future satisfaction or dissatis-faction. Several attempts have been made to identify key decision attributes using a variety of different models in various decision context