Race and Gender Differences in College Major Choice

• Published in: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 627; no. 1; pp. 108 - 124
• Main Author: DICKSON, LISA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.01.2010; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic discipline; Aptitude tests; Class rank; College graduates; College Majors; College Performance: Major Choices; College students; Colleges; Colleges and universities; Computer engineering; Computer science; Engineering; Engineering education; Ethnic differences; Ethnic groups; Ethnicity; Females; Gender differences; Gender differentiation; Higher Education; Hispanics; Men; Minorities; Physical sciences; Preferences; Race; Racial Differences; Racial differentiation; Racial inequality; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Sex Differences; Test scores; U.S.A; Universities; Women; college majors; higher education; minority students; gender differences
• ISSN: 0002-7162; 1552-3349
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716209348747

College major choice varies substantially by gender, race, and ethnicity among college graduates. This study investigates whether these differences are present at the start of the college career and whether they can be explained by variation in academic preparation. It estimates a multinomial logit to evaluate whether students of similar academic backgrounds make similar college major choices at the start of their college career. The results demonstrate that significant differences by gender, race, and ethnicity persist in initial college major choice even after controlling for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score of the student and the high school class rank of the student. Gender differences in major choice are much larger than racial and ethnic disparities. Furthermore, women are significantly more likely to switch away from an initial major in engineering than are white men.