Choosing a program of study is an important decision for community college students, in large measure because of the consequences it has for their future employment and earnings. Helping students to explore their interests and goals and choose a program of study is a focus of many colleges’ onboarding redesign efforts. Yet, there are many outstanding questions about how students make these choices, what factors are driving their decisions, and how certain they are about their interests when they start college and how this changes over time.
CCRC is conducting a longitudinal study to explore how students’ program and career choices evolve over time. Researchers find the majority of entering students who responded to a survey were considering multiple programs and careers, often in unrelated fields. At the same time, half the students reported being very certain about their selection of their first-choice program. This webinar discussed the implications of these and other findings for colleges seeking to better support students as they choose a program of study and explore potential career paths. After sharing their findings, presenters had a conversation with Marisa Vernon White of Lorain County Community College about how the college is rethinking onboarding to focus on supporting student program exploration and onboarding.