A Qualitative Examination of Rural Students' Postsecondary Pathways in Engineering

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Examining STEM Pathways and STEM Equity in College

Abstract

This study explores the ways in which context shapes rural students’ postsecondary pathways in engineering using a qualitative approach to analyze interviews with undergraduate engineering students from rural communities in southwest Virginia. Guided by Perna’s model of student college choice, we aimed to better understand how the college choice process of community college transfer students differed from that of students who enrolled in a four-year university immediately after high school. The findings from this study revealed contextually relevant recommendations to better enable economically disadvantaged rural communities in southwest Virginia to support college enrollment, as well as engineering as a career choice for high school students.

Authors

• Stacey L. Vaziri, Virginia Tech

• Liesl M. Combs, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Marie Christine Paretti, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Jacob R Grohs, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University