Exploring the Relationships between Rejection Sensitivity and Engineering Students' Application to Major

Abstract

Many competitive engineering programs have academic major application processes that introduce implications for retention in engineering programs. A rejection from a student’s first choice of engineering major is a psychological and sociological form of rejection that can influence decision making about navigating engineering attrition pathways. To understand how students engage with social rejection in this context, we quantified rejection sensitivity using a validated questionnaire in 306 engineering students enrolled in a program that required them to apply internally to ranked-choice options of engineering major. Demographic (race, first- vs. continuing-generation status), GPA, and decision-making data were collected and analyzed in their relationships with rejection sensitivity. Rejection sensitivity does not change with race or GPA yet differs significantly with gender and first-generation status (ANOVA, p < 0.04), with first-generation women having the lowest scores and the least likelihood to avoid potential rejection. We demonstrate that rejection sensitivity significantly predicts two decision making ‘‘events’’ in the engineering major application process (binomial logistic regressions, p<0.05), switching pre-major and accepting an offered major. Findings shed light on how rejection sensitivity influences engineering major decision-making and provides insight to engineering educators developing support system for major-changers. Results highlight the complexity of students’ decision pathways in competitive STEM fields and reinforce that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach cannot be applied to students undergoing academic major decisions.