Abstract
This study analyzes the rates at which students in their undergraduate years alter their career aspirations within the medical field. Additionally, it investigates the causes of this change. Primary data was collected through a survey e-mailed to all Grand Valley State University Allied Health Sciences and Biomedical Sciences majors, while additional personal anecdotes were gathered through one on one interviews. All information was compared along traditional, binary gender lines to determine if differences exist between males and females. This study found, while males and females experience similar overall rates of career goal change, women alter their career goals to professions with lower median pay at greater rates than men. Women’s career goal change was more greatly influenced by a desire for flexibility in work life and concern that family life would conflict with career goals, whereas men’s career goal change was influenced more heavily by not wishing to accumulate debt and pressure from someone they know.
ScholarWorks Citation
Meirow, Danielle, "Career Goal Change in the Medical Field: Gender Differences and the Pay Gap" (2014). Honors Projects. 315.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects/315
