Community college transfer students: Does gender make a difference?

In many universities, little attention is paid to transfer students, especially community college transfer students. Although some students choose to go to a community college because they are not academically qualified to go to a four year college or university, many choose a community college because of the lower tuition, the proximity to their home, the uncertainty of major, or other reasons. Some students only decide on engineering as a major after they have attended a community college. This study looks at gender and transfer students who transferred into engineering at a large university. Is there a difference by gender in the reasons decisions are made by students to go to a two-year school after high school, to choose a major in engineering or computer science, to choose to attend graduate school, and ultimately to choose a career? This study, conducted by survey, also examines the encouragers and discouragers felt by the transfer students by gender when they first transferred. Other aspects examined relative to gender are the number of hours worked while at the community college, how many hours per week worked now, student age, and family responsibilities. The college students in this study are all in an academic scholarship program designed for transfer students. The paper reports which aspects of the transfer program the students identified as the most helpful for their academic success. In addition, this study looks at the gender differences in the students' evaluations of the academic scholarship program.