Career Aspirations of First-Year Students at King Saud University and their Relationship to their Academic Achievement and Academic Specializations

Abstract

The current study aims to identify the specialization aspirations and professional desires of the joint first-year students, and to identify the level of specialization aspirations and professional desires of the joint first-year students in the tracks of: business administration, scientific and engineering colleges, health colleges, colleges of applied medical sciences, and nursing. In addition, it aims to reveal the relationship between the professional aspirations of the joint first-year students in the tracks of: business administration, scientific and engineering colleges, health colleges, colleges of applied medical sciences, and nursing and their academic achievement, as well as to uncover the relationship between the professional aspirations of the joint first-year students and their academic specializations, in addition to uncovering the differences between the professional aspirations of the joint first-year students in the aforementioned tracks and their relationship to their academic achievement and academic specializations according to the gender variable (males - females). The study concluded that there is a strong direct relationship between the career aspirations of first-year students in the tracks of: business administration, science and engineering colleges, health colleges, colleges of applied medical sciences, and nursing and their academic achievement. The study also showed a strong direct relationship between the career aspirations of first-year students in the same tracks and their academic specializations. It also revealed differences between males and females in the dimensions of business administration specializations and science and engineering specializations in favor of males. The study also indicated differences between males and females in the dimensions of health specializations and nursing specialization in favor of females. In addition, there were no differences between males and females in the dimension of applied medical sciences.