EXPLORING THE PATHWAY OF RURAL STUDENTS INTO THE ENGINEERING FIELD
Karen A. De urquidi
10.25394/PGS.7822226.v1
https://hammer.purdue.edu/articles/thesis/EXPLORING_THE_PATHWAY_OF_RURAL_STUDENTS_INTO_THE_ENGINEERING_FIELD/7822226
<p>As diversity continues to be promoted in
engineering, one category of students has largely been forgotten. That is the
rural student. While rural students make up 20% of all public-school students,
college enrollment rates for these students are lower than those of other
locales. Reasons for the lower enrollment rates are explored in this research by
examining the pathway of rural students into the engineering field. As previous
studies on rural students have used differing definitions of rural, this work
uses a definition of rural set forth by the National Center of Education
Statistics along with the U.S. Census Bureau, to provide more consistency for
future research on the rural student. This work includes multiple related
studies. The first study examines the characteristics of the rural student to identify
differences between students from rural areas and other locales. A case study
then illustrates the distribution among locales of students applying to, being
admitted to, and attending an engineering program at a large mid-Atlantic
public university. This research shows that students from rural distant and
rural remote locales come from communities that contain fewer racial/ethnic
minorities than all other locales. There is less availability of Advanced
Placement courses in these locales, specifically for courses related to STEM
fields, and the percentage of students from these locales who apply to
university is lower than for all other locales. </p>
2019-06-10 17:23:55
Engineering
Education
Rural
Diversity
Underrepresented
Advanced Placement
Engineering not elsewhere classified