Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 192 pages
- Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press November 25, 1998
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0801860016
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0801860010
-
Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
- Weighs: 9.6 ounces
Product Description
Going to College tells the powerful story of how high school students make choices about postsecondary education. Drawing on their unprecedented nine-year study of high school students, the authors explore how students and their parents negotiate these important decisions. Family background, finances, education, information -- all influence students' plans after high school and the career paths they pursue, as do the more subtle messages delivered by parents and counselors which shape adolescents' self-expectations. For high school guidance counselors, college admissions counselors, parents and teachers, and public policy makers, this book is a valuable resource that explains the decision-making process and helps adults to help students make appropriate choices.
The authors identify predisposition, search, and choice as the three stages in the student decision-making process. Predisposition refers to the plans students develop for education or work after they graduate from high school. The search stage involves students discovering and evaluating a variety of colleges and universities. In the choice stage, students choose a school to attend from among a list of institutions that are being seriously considered. Understanding exactly how students move through the predisposition, search, and choice stages of the college decision-making process can help students and parents prepare themselves for this process and consider a wider array of options. For education professionals, understanding this process can lead to new initiatives to guide students and families effectively -- by providing better incentives for college savings, for example, or devising more effective early information programs about postsecondary education.
Going to Collegeis the first book to seriously study over an extended period the decisions that have a pervasive and lasting impact on individual careers, livelihoods, and lifestyles. The authors conclude with important recommendations for improving academic support, exploring various financial options, providing early encouragement -- in other words, for recognizing the factors that influence students' decisions, and knowing when to pay attention to them.
About The Author
Don Hossler is professor of educational leadership and policy studies and vice-chancellor for enrollment services at Indiana University, Bloomington. Jack Schmit is assistant research scientist at Indiana University and associate director of the Indiana Career and Postsecondary Advancement Center. Nick Vesper is director of policy analysis and research for the State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana.
Reader Reviews
I'm not in an education area, I'm an engineer though. I bought this book to see research in educational or social science on impat of high school students choosing their higher education. After reading "preface", I was stunned for the research had been conducted for "9" years! This book is very important for any parents. The college may be for your children at 17-18, but this book will tell you how important you are to support them; not only when they go to College but much before (e.g., sixth grade). I'm glad I read this book before I have my own child. What more surprising me is the book organization. This book was well written and organized. The structure is easy to follow. For each case study, the conclusion was drawn. Their research factors/questions were well defined. I wasn't surprised to see the outcome of their research. What annoy me is the keeping-talking of statistics tool. While it's important, the writing and research are more important. It's quite disappointed me.
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