IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mtl/montde/9419.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Major Choice: Undergraduate Concentrations and the Probability of Graduation

Author

Listed:
  • Cannings, K.
  • Montmarquette, C.
  • Mahseredjian, S.

Abstract

We develop a model of the decision-making process in which the perceived probability of success in a major is the central determinant of the choice of a major. Using 1979-1987 data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we employ a two-step procedure that first evaluates, for all the individuals in the sample, the chances of success in all majors. Second, with a multinominal logit model of discrete choice, we explain the individuals choice of a major with his or her estimated probability of success and characteristics. This paper shows that the choice of college concentration depends on the perceived probability of success in a particular concentration. There are, however significant differences across groups and for students who have a high probability of success in all majors. Nous développons un modèle de décision où la probabilité attendue du succès dans un champ d'éducation devient l'élément central du choix de cette filière. Utilisant des données longitudinales américaines de 1979 à 1987, nous employons une procédure à deux étapes pour évaluer dans un premier temps, pour chacun des individus, leurs chances de réussite dans chacune des filières d'éducation considérées. Par la suite, à l'aide d'un modèle logit multinominal de choix discrets, nous expliquons les choix individuels relativement à ces probabilités anticipées de succès, de même que diverses caractéristiques individuelles et socio-économiques des étudiants. L'étude montre que le choix d'une filière d'éducation dépend de la probabilité perçue du succès dans cette filière particulière. Il y a, par ailleurs, des différences significatives selon les groupes sociaux et selon le talent des étudiants.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
(This abstract was borrowed from another versio
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Cannings, K. & Montmarquette, C. & Mahseredjian, S., 1994. "Major Choice: Undergraduate Concentrations and the Probability of Graduation," Cahiers de recherche 9419, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
  • Handle: RePEc:mtl:montde:9419
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1866/2032
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Garcia, Rene & Bonomo, Marco, 2001. "Tests of conditional asset pricing models in the Brazilian stock market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-90, February.
    2. Montmarquette, Claude & Cannings, Kathy & Mahseredjian, Sophie, 2002. "How do young people choose college majors?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 543-556, December.
    3. Rochat, Denis & Demeulemeester, Jean-Luc, 2001. "Rational choice under unequal constraints: the example of Belgian higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 15-26, February.
    4. Yves Sprumont, 1998. "On the Game-Theoretic Structure of Public-Good Economies," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 26(4), pages 455-472.
    5. Jocelyn Martel, 1994. "More on the Impact of Bankruptcy Reform in Canada," CIRANO Working Papers 94s-17, CIRANO.
    6. Ghysels, Eric & Granger, Clive W J & Siklos, Pierre L, 1996. "Is Seasonal Adjustment a Linear or Nonlinear Data-Filtering Process?," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 14(3), pages 374-386, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    EDUCATION ; DIPLOMAS ; HIGHER EDUCATION;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mtl:montde:9419. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sharon BREWER (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demtlca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.