A report on the choice of undergraduate major and plans after graduation among students of ISVNU
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INS1015
A report on the choice of undergraduate major and plans after
graduation among students of IS-VNU
Prepared by: Nguyễn Quỳnh Nga
A student from: IB2017A
Prepared for: Assignment – English for Academic Purposes 2
April 2, 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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SUMMARY......................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................3
FINDINGS.......................................................................................................................................6
I. Data Collection...........................................................................................................................6
II. Data Analysis............................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................14
APPENDICES................................................................................................................................15
BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................24
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SUMMARY
This report was to study on the reasons behind students’ choice of their current academic major
and their career goals.
The investigation was done by using questionaire and data analysis with reference from online
journal articals and a deep interview.
The main findings were that among the four majors which were surveyed, International Bussiness
(53%) and Accounting, Analyzing and Auditing (34%) were the two that hold the majority.
Together with many factors that affected students’ choice of academic major, description on their
career goals was brought along to have better understanding in the students’ decision.
It was concluded that the job opportunities had a great influence on the students’ decision in
academic major and the highest selection of after graduation plans were to apply for a job that
relevance to what students were trained and to continue study higher education.
The recommendations are that faculty and academic advisors should organize more and more
vocational guidance workshops so as for the students to have better understanding in the school’s
courses. Along with that, parents should listen to their children’s aspiration and then give advices
to support them on their career path.
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INTRODUCTION
1. Purpose
The purpose of this report is to investigate the reasons behind the sudent’s choice of
undergraduate major and their plans after graduation. This report will also give
recommendation on what should be done by the faculty and students’ family to ensure an
optimal academic major choice that influence the students’ future career.
2. Background
For years, understanding the reasons for students’ decision in their education and career
goals has always been a subject that faculty and academic advisors concern. A recent
study shows that major choice is overseen by parents’ guidance and the degree to which
students’ are free to follow those influences (Ian Madfes, Ph.D., 2017). A similar study in
Vietnam shows that the most influencing factors on students’ choice of major is the
opportunity to study aboard, to study in an English-speaking environment, to study with
foreign lecturer and to have high job opportunity (Phan Thi Thanh Thuy, Nguyen Thi
Minh Hoa, 2017).
The report was an assignment written for subject English for Academic Purpose 2 by
Nguyen Quynh Nga on April 2, 2018.
3. Scope
The report examines 100 random freshman students (K16) of International School of
Vietnam National University. Besides respondents’ profiles, this report looks into the
reasons behind students’ major choice and future plans. It does not examine students in
the Sophomore, Junior or Senior years due to the lack of time and the extension of the
number of students in such case.
4. Methodology
The information for this report was gathered from the following sources:
Questionaire
Online journal articles
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Interview
Personnal knowledge and experiences
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FINDINGS
I. Data collection
1.
Questionnaires
Regarding instrument, offline questionaires were used to find out the students’ evaluation
on the reasons behind their college major’s choice and future plans. Instead of using
online questionaires, offline questionaires helped the author on specifying the participants
and avoiding faulty result that might have been made from unwanted students outside ISVNU. The questionaire had 2 main parts: Personal Information – which divided the
students into specific gender and major, and Questionaire – which surveyed the students’
major choice and after graduation plans.
200 questionaires were printed but only 102 of them were delivered to the participants on
March 14th, 2018. It took the participants about 10 minutes to finish their surveys. Right
after that, 102 questionnaires were collected by the researcher. 2 of them were faulty
which left 100 adequate ones to be analyzed. Microsoft Exel 2016 was used to analyze the
data.
2.
Interviews
One randomly picked students from K16 of IS-VNU were entered in a deep interview on
March 15th, 2018. A few questions were asked to learn more about the students’ thoughts
in his satisfaction of the choice that he had made and his goals up to then.
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II. Data Analysis
1. Questionnaires
1.1 Student’s choice of major
Among 100 students taking part in the survey, the majority was female (71%) where only
21% of them was male.
Where there were students from 4 majors was surveyed, the following pie chart showed
the division of these participants in their college major in International School – Vienam
National University.
Major
IB
AC
MIS
ICE
1.00%
12.00%
53.00%
34.00%
Regarding the students’ profiles of all 100 participants come from 4 majors, International
Bussiness (IB) seemed to have most students (53%), followed by Accounting, Analyzing
and Auditing (AC) (34%), Management Information Systems (MIS) (12%) and Science of
Managing (ICE) (1%).
This result can be easy to explain. Vietnam is a developing country which have been on
its way to international intergration by joining in many economic partnerships in the
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region and over the world such as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations),
APEC (Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation), WTO (World Trade Organization), etc.
With market opening policy, Vietnam have been receiving a lot of investments from
foreign countries at the same time having many investors that have the courage to invest
in foreign countries. This led to the need of the college’s international bussiness skills.
Therefore, IB is such major which brings students plenty of job oppotunites along with its
variaty in professional field (“Why should we choose International Bussiness?”, 2017).
Along with IB, AC stood the second in the major field. It cannot be denied that
accounting is an indispensable in every single company or organization. A recent study of
Navigos Group shows that finacial accounting ranked third among the five functional
departments with the highest recruitment needs (“Accouting major in the future – It is not
easy to select which school to study”, n.d.). Hence, the demand for human resources in
accounting is extremely high. This explain why IB and AC seize the mainstream of the
student’s choice of major.
On the other hand, Management Information Systems (MIS) and Science of Managing
(ICE) have not been the choice of many students. On the author’s point of view and
knowledge, MIS and ICE are those that demands lots of skills considering computing,
programming, logical and critical thinking. The interest in this area is necessery for
students who have the will to follow these operose majors. As the result, MIS and ICE
hold the minority students of the 4 majors.
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1.2 The time students decide on choosing their major
T he time st udent s decide on choosing t heir majors
Before upper secondary school
Grade 11
Grade 10
Grade 12
4.08%
9.18%
9.18%
77.55%
It can be seen from the chart that most student made their choice when they were at grade
12. In the author’s opinion, grade 12 may be the time when some students are mature
enough to make up their mind on how they would want their life to be. Ana Contreras’s
study (cited in Milson, 2015) found that “Previous research suggests that college major
selection may relate to career path, based on skills and interests”. Along with that, the
moment when the university entrance exam is close, a lot of factors inluence the student
selection. The next part will bring a closer look at the consideration of the students along
with some matters of what affected the students’ choice of major.
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1.3 Students’ agreement on factors affecting their choice of major
Factors affecting students on their choice of major
0
1
1. Future job opportunities
10
41
0
2
2. Suitability with student's abilities
29
48
21
0
8
3. Suitability with student's hobbies
31
26
7
16
4. Following family's advices
5
35
37
36
4
10
5. Getting interest in the school after the Admissions Consultation Day
34
45
6
6
6. Back-up choice in applying for university
13
29
14
0
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
10
20
48
30
38
40
50
60
Strongly Disagree
According to the clustered bar chart, it can easily be seen that future job oppotuninies and
student’s own abilities along with hobbies seize to be the highest factors of all (The Agree
and Strongly Agree bars are incredibly long). In the intergration period, the fact that the 4
majors, especially IB and AC, have great job opportunities and chances for graduate
students to grasp is undeniable. Another important factor is the satisfaction of student in
their undergraduate major. A student’s abilities and hobbies come a lot from his (or her)
personality. Although there are multiple factors which influence the decision, personality
is disctinct due to the “pervasiveness” of it and the stablity through the changes of
external factors. (Piedmond, 1998).
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Following those threes factors, back-up choice in university seems to be the one that
many students studying in IS-VNU concern about. The issue is easy to explain. IS-VNU
is a school which have English training program for student from freshman by professinal
Vietnamese and foreign lecturers along with planty of activities and speeches from many
famous lecturers, etc. As a result, the tuition is very high. Comparing with the similar
training sector from other University, VNU-IS is still a young institution which make
other University’s International Faculty seems to be a better choice due to their history of
teaching. Since that is the case, many students chose VNU-IS as their back up choice.
Among all of the above, the Admissions Consultation Day had a big influence on the
students’ interest. The school was very succesful at gaining trust, curiosity and attention
from undergraduate students by providing many information about the school’s great
training courses and many kinds of scholarship. Hence, VNU-IS is effectively bringing its
name futher and futher.
One inevitable factor that affected the students’ choice of major for years is the pressure
that comes from parent’s concerns about employability and earnings (Discover Financial
Services, 2012; Schneider, 2012), which made the students choose majors in which they
had little interest in at first (ACT, 2013). As the result, many adults later regreted their
initial choice of undergraduate major due to the lack of realistic information concerning
the career paths related to those major so as to make the best decision (Andrew Pritchard,
Julie Fudge, Elizabeth Crisp Crawford & Jeremy Jackson, 2018). Yet things have changed
recently. In the era of information and technology, students can easily access to many
sources online to earn themselves knowledge with tons of information in every kind of
aspects on Earth. Hence, students these days have the chance to find out their own interest
and abilities which would help them to make optimal decision in their choice of major.
Though the factor that students’ selection of major is to follow their family’s advices had
declined (37% of which chose neutral where 23% of them had disagreement on the case),
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the number of students following their parents to choose their major is still high. Where
these figures are only a rough estimate from 100 freshman student of VNU-IS, the
influence of family suggestion is still at a pretty high level (40% agreement which 4% of
them strongly agree with it).
1.4 Student’s after graduation plans
Plans after graduation
Apply for a job which is relevance to your training
39
Apply for a job like your skill and your will
39
Apply for any kinds of job just to avoid unemployment
6
Continue your study to Master degree
34
Still being uncertain with your career goals
6
Other
4
0
5
Student
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
In terms of students plans after graduation, most student reported that they want to apply
for a job which is relevance to their training that at the same time related to their skill and
will. This is reasonable because the wish to have a job which applied many of the skills
one learned when he (or she) studied in University is rational. Where many of the
respondants chose to apply for a job right after their graduation, many chose to continue
their study to higher education – Master’s degree. Some of them chose to find a job and
continue their study at the same time. Futher more, 4 of the 100 participants shared their
wish to continue their Master’s degree abroad. This result shows that many of VNU-IS
students have the desire to have better opportunities in finding a good job to have a bright
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future. On the other hand, there was a minority of the students who were still being
uncertain about their career goals. There are even 6 of the participants shared that they
only needed to find a job just to avoid being unemployed. The lack of confident in
planning career ability among these students might have result from their major choice at
the beginning. Beside all of that, in a study of Students’ Attitudes, Beliefs and Plans
Regarding Career Planning and Post College Life, it was shown that “students who had
their after graduation plan ealier usually have higher levels of self-efficacyand more
positive attitudes regarding the post-college career search.” (Dana Goetsch, Catey Jordan,
Clara Jung, Liz Lampman, Sara Nobbs, Corbin Ruiz, 2010).
2. Interviews
Following the questionaire that had been done, Nguyen Quang Huy – a freshman student
studying in VNU-IS was interview by the author. When being asked about the satisfaction
of the major he had chosen (which is International Bussiness), he freely shared that this
was not what he expected to be. “While my dream is to become an English teacher, I
failed to have the high enough grade to enter ULIS (University of Languages and
International Studies). Therefore, this is my back-up choice. I chose to study IB in VNUIS because I’d learnt that the course in this school is in English from the beginning. Yet,
studying economics is not my interest. The truth is I have thought about doing the
university entrance exam again to be able to get in to the University in my dream. But for
my parents’ prevention, I am not allowed. For all of the above I’ve just shared, I must
admit that I’m still being quite uncertain about my career goals.”
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
If any conclusions may be drawn from this report, they are, perhaps, as follows: The main
reasons why students chose their major are, in fact, the job opportunities that such majors bring
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and the personality that had affected on the students’ hobbies and abilities. After graduation, most
students wished to apply for a job that revelance to their training and their will, while many
others decided to study higher education.
From these conclusions, it is therefore recommended that: In order to recruit more student, the
faculty and academic should organize more and more vocational guidance workshop so as for the
students to better understanding the school’s courses. Such deed would reduce less hard thinking
on planning for career goals among undergraduation students. Together with the faculty and
academic, family also plays an important role in students’ choice of major that affect their future.
Instead of putting the students under pressure, parents should listen to their children’s aspiration
and then give advices to support them on their career path.
TOTAL WORD COUNT: 2118
APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONAIRE
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CHOICE OF UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR
SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE
Hello! My name is Nguyen Quynh Nga and I am a freshman of International School –
Viet Nam National University. I am working on a project looking at the student’s evaluation
on their choice of undergraduate major for a course called “English for acadamic purpose 2”.
The information you give in this questionaire will help me a lot in doing my report on this
topic and is guaranteed to serve scholastic purpose only. I am looking forward to receiving
your cooperation. Thank you!
Check (√) the box in which corresponds to your answer.
A. Personal information
Gender:
1.
Male
2.
Female
Major:
1. International Bussiness (IB)
2. Accounting, Analyzing and Auditing (AC)
3. Management Information Systems (MIS)
4. (ICE)
5. Other:
_____________________________________________________________________
B. Questionaire
Question 1: When did you plan to choose your major?
Before upper-secondary school.
Grade 10
Grade 11
Grade 12
Question 2:
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Do you agree that the following factors have an influence on you in choosing your
major?
Strongly Agree
Neutral
agree
Disagre
Strongly
e
disagre
e
1. Future job opportunities
2. Suitability with your abilities
3. Suitability with your hobbies
4. Following family’s advices
5. Getting interest in the school
after
the
Admissions
Consultation Day
6. Back-up choice in applying for
university
Question 3: What is your plan after graduation?
Apply for a job which is relevance to your training.
Apply for a job like your skill and your will.
Apply for any kinds of job just to avoid unemployment.
Continue your study to Master degree.
Still being uncertain with your career goals.
Other:
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
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……................................................................................................................................................................
...................................
Thank you for your cooporation!
APPENDIX 2: CODING INFORMATION FOR ANALYZING
a. Gender:
1. Male
2. Female
b. Major
1. IB
2. AC
3. MIS
4. ICE
5. OTHER
c. Ques1:
1. Before upper-secondary school
2. Grade 10
3. Grade 11
4. Grade 12
d. Ques2:
1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neutral
4. Disagree
5. Strongly agree
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e. Ques 3:
1: check
2: emty
APPENDIX 3: ANALYZING INFORMATION TABLE
Q
Q2
Q3
stt
G M 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1
2
1
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1
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4
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1
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1
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1
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2
1
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11
1
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1
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13
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1
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16
2
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17
1
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18
1
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19
2
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21
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0
1
22
2
2
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1
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2
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2
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0
1
0
0
0
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23
1
3
4
2
3
3
2
3
4
0
0
0
0
1
0
24
2
3
4
1
3
2
5
2
4
0
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25
2
3
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1
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2
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0
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26
1
1
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1
0
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0
27
2
1
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28
2
1
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29
1
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5
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30
2
1
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2
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31
2
2
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1
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32
2
1
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33
2
2
4
1
2
3
2
2
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0
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0
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34
2
1
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1
2
3
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3
3
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0
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35
2
2
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2
2
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2
3
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36
2
1
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1
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2
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2
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37
1
2
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2
3
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2
2
3
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0
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1
0
0
38
2
1
4
1
2
2
5
3
3
1
0
0
1
0
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39
2
1
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1
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2
3
3
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0
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40
1
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3
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41
1
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1
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2
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1
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44
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45
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48
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49
1
1
4
2
2
2
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50
2
1
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51
1
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1
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52
2
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1
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53
2
1
4
2
1
1
2
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
54
2
1
4
2
3
2
2
4
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
55
1
1
4
3
2
2
3
2
4
1
0
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0
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0
56
2
1
4
4
1
1
5
3
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
57
2
1
4
2
1
1
3
2
2
1
1
0
1
0
0
58
2
1
4
2
3
3
2
3
4
1
0
0
0
0
0
59
2
1
4
2
2
2
3
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
60
2
2
3
2
3
3
2
3
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
61
2
2
1
2
2
3
2
3
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
62
2
1
4
2
2
3
4
3
2
0
0
0
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1
0
63
2
1
4
2
1
1
3
1
1
0
1
0
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0
0
64
2
1
4
2
1
1
3
2
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
65
2
4
4
2
1
1
3
2
2
0
1
0
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0
66
1
2
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
0
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0
0
67
2
1
4
1
2
4
4
2
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
68
1
1
1
2
1
1
5
5
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
69
1
3
1
3
2
1
4
5
5
0
1
0
0
0
0
70
2
2
4
2
3
3
4
2
4
1
0
0
0
0
0
71
2
2
4
2
4
4
5
2
5
1
0
0
0
0
0
72
2
1
4
2
2
2
2
2
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
73
2
1
4
2
1
2
2
2
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
74
2
1
4
1
2
3
2
2
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
75
2
2
4
2
2
2
4
2
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
76
2
2
4
1
2
4
3
3
3
0
0
0
1
0
0
77
2
2
4
2
3
3
3
5
3
0
0
0
1
0
0
78
2
1
4
2
3
3
4
2
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
79
2
1
4
2
2
3
4
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
80
2
1
4
1
1
2
3
3
4
0
0
0
1
0
0
81
2
1
4
1
1
1
3
3
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
82
2
1
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
Page 20
INS1015
83
1
2
4
1
1
1
2
2
2
0
1
1
0
1
0
84
2
2
4
1
2
3
2
2
5
0
1
0
0
0
0
85
1
3
4
2
3
3
3
4
5
0
1
0
0
0
0
86
2
1
4
1
2
2
3
2
4
1
0
0
0
0
0
87
2
1
3
1
3
2
2
2
4
1
0
0
0
0
0
88
2
2
4
2
2
3
2
2
4
1
0
0
0
0
0
89
2
1
4
2
2
3
2
2
3
0
0
1
0
0
0
90
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
91
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
92
1
2
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
93
2
1
2
3
3
2
4
3
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
94
2
2
4
3
3
3
4
3
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
95
2
2
3
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
96
2
2
4
1
2
2
2
2
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
97
2
1
4
2
3
2
4
4
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
98
2
1
4
2
2
1
2
2
2
0
1
0
0
0
0
99
2
1
4
1
2
2
3
4
3
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
2
3
1
2
3
2
2
5
0
0
0
1
0
1
1,7
2,1
2,2
2,8
2,6
2,5
0,3
0,3
0,0
0,3
0,0
0,19(4
1
2
3
6
3
9
9
9
6
4
6
)
10
0
Av
APPENDIX 4: PIE CHART
Page 21
INS1015
Gender
Male
Female
29%; 29.00%
71%; 71.00%
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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