Date of Award

Spring 4-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Lynda Leavitt

Second Advisor

Dr. Deb Ayres

Third Advisor

Dr. Graham Weir

Abstract

The purpose of this research sought to investigate and compare the factors influencing the college choice of music majors attending four-year private and four-year public universities. A comparison of college choice data among four universities was completed in the following areas: academic, institutional, financial, and personal/social. These influences leading to college choice are based on the study of real-life decision-making (Galotti, 1995) and the factors which influence the music majors choice of institution (Locke, 1982). The four main factors deemed important in college choice, surveyed through a 31 question survey and a follow up interview, focused on which of these factors guided students majoring in music to attend their chosen university and which factors were given more weight in the decision process. The survey and interviews also set out to discern if gender or grade point average bare any influence in the college choice of music majors. This study found, based on the four attributes surveyed, financial factors had the greatest influence on music majors actually enrolling in a specific institution followed by institutional, academic, and personal/social attributes in that order. Gender and GPA did not appear to influence college choice nor did social networking between university and student. Scholarship was determined to be the single highest student rated component influencing college choice of music majors.

Rights

Copyright 2012

Download

Share

COinS