Factors affecting the final decision of specialty choosing: case of KAZGUU university

Abstract

The process of choosing future career is one of the most essential choices in students’ lives. Thus, the purpose of this research was to find out what are the main factors influencing final career decision among freshmen students living in Kazakh society. 32 students of KAZGUU University were surveyed and interviewed to determine these factors and to find some possible relations between the genders, age and certain career choice predictors. One more purpose was to assess students’ satisfaction with the choice they made in order to analyze, whether some factors had a positive or negative impact on the career choice. Results showed that talents, hobby and future salary affect students' choosing process the most. Interview demonstrated strong impact of parents’ opinion and personal thinking of freshmen. It was found that males are affected by such factors as financial situation of a family and personal talents more than females. It was also found, the older freshmen are, the more childhood dreams and social prejudges concerning future specialty had impact on their career choice. No significant relationship was found between gender and the preferred field of study in the sample. The level of freshmen’s satisfaction with the chosen major is quite high, which denotes the positive effect of the factors revealed.