College Choice

College Choice Model

Don Hossler and colleagues have identified three phases that make up the college choice process: predisposition, search, and choice. In the predisposition phase, a student makes the decision to attend a college. This part of the process can occur as early as elementary school, but typically occurs in middle school. In the search stage, a student examines information on colleges, determines which colleges to apply to, and then applies to a number of colleges. For students who seek to attend a 4-year college, this stage tends to occur in the final 2 years of high school. In the final stage—choice—students narrow down their choices and select one college to attend. This final phase usually occurs during the last semester of students' senior year in high school, after they receive their college acceptances.

College choice is most useful for understanding how traditional-aged students (students who seek to attend a 4-year college directly after high school) select a college. The traditional-aged student paradigm is most reflective of White students', higher achieving students', and middle-class students' college pathways. The linear nature of this process limits its usefulness for understanding the experience of nontraditional college students (students who do not attend a 4-year college directly after high school). For example, nontraditional students generally have worked full-time and attended a 2-year college before entering a 4-year college. Because African American, Latina/o, and Southeast Asian students, students from low-income households, and students who are the first in their family to attend college comprise a large percentage of nontraditional students, the choice model as it is currently described might be less applicable to their experiences.

Influential Factors in Students' College Choice Process