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Aptitude and Interest Score Patterns Related to Satisfaction With College Major Field

Author(s):
French, John Winslow, 1918-
Publication Year:
1959
Report Number:
RB-59-15
Source:
ETS Research Bulletin
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
14
Subject/Key Words:
Academic Aptitude, Life Satisfaction, Majors (Students), Student Attitudes, Student Interests, Vocational Interests

Abstract

As part of the research on comparative prediction of success and satisfaction in college major fields, students graduating from a men's, a women's, and a coeducational college were divided into those satisfied with their major field and those dissatisfied with their major field. With respect to each of the more popular fields, tabulations were made of these two categories and of the students who wished they had majored in the field rather than in some other field. The largest proportions of satisfied students were observed in the natural science major fields, while the social sciences yielded the largest proportions of dissatisfied students. Each field had a pattern of average aptitude test scores that might be reasonably expected for it, but satisfaction was found not to be predictable from these patterns. Students' preferences for fields different from their own suggested a lack of knowledge either about themselves or about the qualifications necessary for the fields preferred. Average interest scale patterns made in freshman year were found to have some relationship to satisfaction in senior year.

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