Fields of Study, College Selectivity, and Student Inequalities in Higher Education

Davies, Scott; Guppy, Neil

doi:10.1093/sf/75.4.1417

Cited by 313 publications

(253 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…It is argued that parents' interests are channelled to their children who are likely to choose subjects close to such interests (Dryler, 1998;Davies and Guppy, 1997;Jonsson, 1999;Hansen, 1997;Werfhorst, Sullivan and Cheung, 2002). Moreover, this literature also suggests that children choose subjects that correspond closely to their parents' position in the economic and cultural hierarchy.There is some support for the notion that parental characteristics influence the choice of A-level in the present study.The influence of parental background characteristics was found to be mediated through both fathers' and mothers' characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Curriculum Choice at A-level: Why is Business Studies More Popular than Economics?

Bachan

Barrow

2006

International Review of Economics Education

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This paper uses A-level Information System (ALIS) data to quantify the determinants of the choice between Economics and Business Studies at A-level. These subjects are often perceived as close curriculum options and possible substitutes in the UK. Subject choice is modelled using an underlying latent variable approach. On the basis of a series of counterfactual exercises an overall average grade differential, a measure of their comparative difficulty, is estimated to be 1.3 (old) UCAS points, equivalent to approximately two-thirds of a letter grade, in favour of Business Studies.The estimating equation suggests that a unit increase in the grade differential increases the probability of selecting Business Studies over Economics by approximately 12 percentage points.There is evidence that females are less likely to choose Economics over Business Studies and the more able students, in terms of their average GCSE score and mathematical ability, are more likely to select Economics.There is also some evidence of parental background characteristics and ethnicity exerting significant effects on the choice between these two subjects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling Curriculum Choice at A-level: Why is Business Studies More Popular than Economics?

Bachan

Barrow

2006

International Review of Economics Education

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“…This is a composite ranging from 0 to 3, derived from whether at age 14 the respondent's family subscribed to magazines, subscribed to newspapers, or owned a library card. This measure has been shown to predict various educational outcomes (Davies and Guppy, 1997).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whatever Happened to Yesterday's Rebels? Longitudinal Effects of Youth Delinquency on Education and Employment

Tanner¹,

Davies²,

O’Grady³

1999

Social Problems

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“…This decision is standard in both the literature on STEM major selection and the more general literature on college major selection (e.g., Davies and Guppy, 1997;England and Li, 2006;Goyette and Mullen, 2006;Kimmel et al, 2012;Riegle-Cr umb et al, 2012;Turner and Bowen, 1999 ). 10 In one of the few excepti ons, Legewie and DiPrete (2012) offer an analysis of the NELS data that includes students' early ''STEM orientatio n'' measure d with two indicators, one of which is a dummy variable from the NELS 8th grade occupation al plan 7 Lippa (2005) (1998), a 2002 internet survey with an unknown sampling design but with 30% of its respondents from California, and a dual convenience sample of Cal-State Fullerton students and participants in two gay pride festivals, all of whom agreed to participate in a study of finger-length ratios and sexual orientation.…”

Section: Occupational Plans and College Major Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding the pipeline: Gender, occupational plans, and college major selection

Morgan¹,

Gelbgiser²,

Weeden³

2013

Social Science Research

242

200

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a b s t r a c tIn this article, we analyze gender differences in college major selection for respondents to the Education Longitudinal Study (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006), focusing on educational pathways through college that lead to science, engineering, or doctoral-track medicine occupati ons and to non-doctoral track clinical and health sciences occupations. We show that gender differences in college major selection remain substantial, even for a cohort in which rates of enrollment in postsecondary education are more than ten percent higher for young women than for young men. Consistent with other recent research, we demonstrate that neither gender differences in work-family goals nor in academic preparatio n explain a substantial portion of these differences. However, the occupational plans of high school seniors are strong predictors of initial college major selection, a finding that is revealed only when occupational plans are measured with sufficient detail, here by using the verbatim responses of students. We also find that the association between occupational plans and college major selection is not attributable to work-family orientation or academic preparation. Finally, we find gender differences in the association s between occupational plans and college major selection that are consistent with prior research on STEM attrition, as well as with the claim that attrition also affe cts the selection of majors that are gateways into doctoral-track medicine. We discuss the implications of the predictive power of occupational plans formed in adolescence for understanding sex segregation and for policie s intended to create a gender-balanced STEM and doctoral-level medical workforce.

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Fields of Study, College Selectivity, and Student Inequalities in Higher Education

Cited by 313 publications

References 34 publications

Modelling Curriculum Choice at A-level: Why is Business Studies More Popular than Economics?

Modelling Curriculum Choice at A-level: Why is Business Studies More Popular than Economics?

Whatever Happened to Yesterday's Rebels? Longitudinal Effects of Youth Delinquency on Education and Employment

Feeding the pipeline: Gender, occupational plans, and college major selection

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