Will High-Scoring SAT Students Pursue a Career in the Geosciences?

The American Geosciences Institute’s Workforce Program analyzed data on 18,000 precollege students who indicated an inclination towards a major in the physical sciences and scored well on the SAT in 2012 and 2013. The data is broken down further to identify race, gender, and intended STEM majors by state.

Key Findings

• The population is predominantly white, with underrepresented minority test takers typically in the single digits.
• California was dominant in the number of students interested in pursuing a STEM career.
• A sharp increase in the number of undecided students between 2012 and 2013 was observed.
• Selected other majors like Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, and Marine Science showed significant increases.
• Students conveying potential major choice could choose from all STEM and non-STEM majors.
• Two more common STEM majors included the “Environmental Sciences/Environmental Health Sciences” and “Marine Biology, and Biological Oceanography,” which AGI’s Workforce Program considers to be proxies of possible interest in geoscience careers. Between 2012 and 2013, those fields showed increased interest by graduating high school students.

For more information and to download a copy of this Geoscience Currents, visit http://www.agiweb.org/workforce/currents.