Preference Ranking over Majors
| Majors: | Rankinga | Proportion | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | Males | Females | Most Preferredb | Second Preferredc | ||||
| Mean | (Standard deviation) | Mean | (Standard deviation) | Mean | (Standard deviation) | |||
| Natural sciences | 5.74 | (2.39) | 5.99 | (2.32) | 5.57 | (2.45) | 21.00% | 9.00% |
| Math and computer sciences | 4.67 | (2.24) | 5.38*** | (2.08) | 4.15 | (2.21) | 4.50% | 9.00% |
| Social sciences I | 7.23 | (1.86) | 7.07 | (1.91) | 7.35 | (1.81) | 33.50% | 23.00% |
| Ethics and values | 5.33 | (1.69) | 5.1 | (1.85) | 5.5 | (1.55) | 3.00% | 9.00% |
| Area studies | 4.89 | (2.14) | 4.04*** | (1.84) | 5.53 | (2.14) | 4.00% | 10.50% |
| Literature and fine arts | 5.19 | (2.32) | 4.38*** | (2.06) | 5.79 | (2.32) | 9.00% | 11.50% |
| Engineering | 4.18 | (2.14) | 4.87*** | (2.17) | 3.65 | (1.96) | 3.00% | 7.00% |
Notes
↵a Preference Ranking on a 1–9 scale, where 1 is least preferred, 9 is most preferred.
↵b Proportion of respondents who rank the field as their most preferred field.
↵c Proportion of respondents who rank the field as their second preferred field.
WCAS majors and engineering ranked by all 161 respondents. Music, Education, Communication Studies, and Journalism ranked by three, two, three, and three students, respectively.
↵*** Gender difference significant (p-value < 0.01; two-tailed t-test); ** difference significant at 5 percent; * difference significant at 10 percent.