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Running head: CHOOSING TOURO
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Choosing Touro:
Factors Influencing Students’ Choice to Attend or Not Attend Touro University Nevada’s Master
of Science in Occupational Therapy Program
Jerold Garrett, Devina Robinson, & Michael Yarvi
Touro University Nevada
CHOOSING TOURO
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Choosing Touro:
Factors Influencing Student’s Choice to Attend or Not Attend Touro University Nevada’s Master
of Science in Occupational Therapy Program
Literature Review
Choosing which graduate program to attend is a complex process and students take many
variables into account when making this decision. Although every student is different, a review
of the literature does reveal some common factors that influence this decision. Our research
study will analyze the factors influencing students’ decision to attend Touro University Nevada’s
Master of Science in Occupational therapy (MSOT) program. We hypothesize based on the
review of the literature and our personal experiences in the program that location was the
primary factor that influenced the students’ of Touro’s MOT program decision to attend this
program.
The mere exposure effect theory states “mere repeated exposure of the individual to a
stimulus object enhances his attitude toward it” (Zajonc, 968, p.1). We postulate that the mere
exposure effect will influence students’ choice of which graduate institution to attend. We
believe that this will manifest as students choosing to attend institutions that are closer to the
state they resided in prior to graduate school because they are more familiar with surrounding
states and/or schools, which will improve the students’ attitude toward those states or
institutions.
Morse (2011) discussed the findings of a national survey conducted by UCLA. This
survey analyzes the most important factors that influenced student’s decisions to attend a
particular university. The results are based on the response of over 200,000 college freshmen
from almost 280 colleges across the United States. Like our project, this one looks at all the
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factors considered by students when selecting a school for their higher education. Although we
are focusing on graduate school programs, this one is just be looking at college programs in
general, mainly at the undergraduate level; however, the factors considered in this survey are
very similar, if not the same, as those we have chosen to focus on in our research. One
particular aspect we have listed early on in our project is the reputation of the school being a
primary factor in the decision of what school to attend. According to the result of this survey,
they have concluded that the number one factor in their results was the school’s reputation
(Morse, 2011). Figure 1 summarizes UCLA’s findings of the top 22 reasons students chose the
college that they did. Again, like our survey, some of the factors that Morse (2011) discussed are
very similar, if not the same as those we have selected for our project. At the top of the list, as
mentioned, is the reputation of the school, with 62% of the students saying it was the most
important (Morse, 2011). One factor we listed, the cost of attending the school, is also on this
list, with 41% identifying it as a major factor (Morse, 2011). School size, location and religious
affiliation were listed as major contributing factors in the UCLA survey and included on our list
as well (Morse, 2011).
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Much of the currently existing research deals with college selection of undergraduate
programs. However, there are significant differences between students who are selecting
graduate programs and those who are selecting undergraduate programs. According to Lei and
Chuang (2010), constraints such as GPA, graduate standardized test scores, educational and
living expenses, family and peer influence, and employment opportunities are the major areas
where these two groups of students differ. Touro does not consider GRE scores as an admission
criteria so this may be an important variable.
There are also important differences that should be considered between males and
females especially since the students in Touro’s MSOT program are predominantly female.
According to Lei and Chuang (2010), academic factors have a greater impact on males, while
social factors are of greater importance for females. Furthermore, women are more concerned
with location than men (Lei & Chuang, 2010).
Age, tuition, employment, and social support are factors in choosing a college. According
to Weglarz (1999), the factors that least influenced young undergraduate students' decisions to
attend a particular college were improved career opportunities and financial aid. However, they
found that most adult students’ decision about to post-secondary and post-graduate studies were
heavily influenced by these factors (Weglarz, 1999).Some things considered by married students
include the availability of assistance to their spouses in areas of child care, education
opportunities and employment seeking assistance especially if the school chosen requires
relocating (Lei & Chuang, 2010). It is interesting that Touro does not offer much assistance for
families and there are only three students with children in the program. Furthermore, there is
much less emphasis on school location and finances for international students than there is for
domestic students (Lei & Chuang, 2010). Furthermore, older students are often employed full
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time, so the programs and institutions they are likely to seek out are those that offer part time
graduate programs, which will allow them to keep working while pursuing their degrees (Lei &
Chuang, 2010). The students who chose to attend Touro are predominantly younger and this may
be partially influenced by the fact that the demands of the program make employment difficult.
It is important to consider the influence of Touro being a private institution. Fish and
Kowalik (2009) found significant differences between students who chose to attend public
institutions versus students who chose private institutions:
For students attending a public institution, "Quality of the Institution," accounted for the
greatest amount of variance. For students attending a private institution, "Familiarity"
(with the institution) was most heavily weighted. "Convenience" and "Access to Summer
Employment" were factors that played a larger role in public university student decisions
to attend Summer Session, yet these factors were not as prominent for students attending
the private institution. Students at the private university were more heavily influenced by
such variables as those represented in factors labeled, "Earn or Save Money," "Course
Availablility," and "Improve GPA Without Distractions (p.30).
Typically, private universities offer smaller class sizes. According to Weglarz (1999), small class
size was an appealing factor in students’ choice to attend. Touro’s MSOT program only has 36
students a year, which is relatively small and may have been an influencing factor in many
students’ decision.
A review of the literature gives great insight into the factors influencing why students
choose to attend a particular institution. However, none of the literature examines the population
of students who chose to attend Touro University Nevada’s MSOT program. Thus, the
researchers designed their own study to investigate this issue. The design of the study is a survey
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that was administered to all of the students of the occupational therapy cohort through email.
The demographics that we were interested in included age, sex, religion, race, prior location of
residence, and financial household income. Our survey mainly focused on the reasons current
students choose to attend Touro.
Participants and Setting
Our research gathered information from 30 students of Touro’s Masters of Occupational
Therapy program. The mean age of participants 24.5 years with seven males accounting for 23%
of the participants and 23 females accounting for the other 77% of the population surveyed. A
total of 63% of the participants had a Christian religious viewpoint with the remaining 27%
falling into various religious categories. Racial background found 63% of those surveyed were
Caucasian and 30% Asian, the remaining 10% came from other races. Eighteen of the 30
participants came from Nevada and the five bordering states of Utah, Arizona, California,
Oregon and Idaho while the remaining 12 moved here from other states. The average household
income of participants ranged from “less than $24,999” (55%) and “$85,000 and up” (31%), the
remaining 14% falling in between this range. A total of 50% of the participants stated that they
receive financial assistance and the other 50% do not. Participants stated 18 (60%) were
accepted to schools other than Touro, while the remaining 12 (40%) were accepted only to
Touro. Of the 30 participants, 27 (90%) considered other schools when choosing a graduate
program while only three (10%) did not.
Instruments and Materials
After we received the results, we ran them through SPSS. We studied the results and see if
they proved our hypothesis of location being the most important reason students choose to attend
Touro. The beginning of the survey focused on demographics of the cohort. The demographic
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questions the survey focused on were household income, prior residence, race, religion, gender,
and age. We wanted to see how the different demographics influenced people’s decisions to
attend Touro. Ratings on our survey were on a continuous scale ranging from 0-100. We choose
to use a larger range than a traditional five point Likert scale because this would give participants
a better chance to mark how they feel. Some of the sample questions we included were, “Cost
was a reason I choose to attend Touro” and “location was an important reason I choose to attend
Touro.” These questions were designed to figure out the reasons students attended Touro. Our
hypothesis focused on location as the main factor influencing student’s decisions to attend
Touro, for this reason we included that question at the top of our list.
Results
Data analysis of the results revealed that there were four questions participants answered
in favor of, of the eleven questions asked. The greatest number of favorable responses indicated
that 25 of the 30 participants chose Touro because of the school’s accelerated program…a total
of 83%. The study also showed that 21 (70%) of participants chose Touro because of the
location of the school. Nineteen participants (63%) answered that the prerequisite requirements
for Touro were important in their decision to apply to Touro. Lastly, the cost of tuition indicated
that 17 (57%) of participants chose Touro for this reason.
Discussion
Although the results were very high for the category of school location, they did not
support our hypothesis that location was the primary factor influencing students’ decision to
attend this Touro’s MOT program. What we learned was that the accelerated program was 13%
more important than the school’s location. These were the top two ranked reasons our
participants chose Touro, but the results were not in favor of our hypothesis. In review of the
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analysis, we were surprised to see that some factors ranked as high as they did, as well as seeing
how low some of the factors ranked. For example, we expected the fact that Touro did not have
a GRE test requirement would rank among the top reasons, but the results were not indicative of
that. Given the fact that many of the MSOT programs around the country require similar
prerequisites, we were surprised to find that, when asked, students indicated that this was, in fact,
important in their decision. Since Touro is a private school, with higher tuition, we found it
interesting that the tuition weighed as much as they did on their decision. We also found it
curious that factors such as the small size of the school and class, as well as the reputation of the
school ranked as low as they did for students. We felt these factors would rank much higher in
the results than they did because the student to teacher ratio is lower at Touro.
Although our hypothesis was not supported, we were pleased with the results and learned that
our prediction was supported well overall. From this study, we learned a great deal about the
process of doing research and gathering evidence to support our theories. We recognize that
there are areas that we need to focus more attention on in future endeavors. For instance, the
wording of some of our survey questions may have been misleading to some of the participants
because they were not asked clearly, or could have been misinterpreted. An example of this was
the demographic question that asked “where did you live before attending Touro?” One
participant answered this question with “at home”. In review of the question, we realized we
should have worded the question better by asking: “what state did you live in before attending
Touro?” We now recognize that, in order to get the best possible results from our research, we
must be sure that we are asking the right questions, the right way.
This was a great experience
for us as it exposed us to some of the evidence-based practices we will be using in the future.
We look forward to using the skill learned from this project as we progress through the program
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and are hopeful that we will share similar experiences on future research projects.
Conclusion
The overall results of our study indicate that the primary factor affecting student’s decision to
choose Touro was the accelerated nature of the program. Our hypothesis, although not the
primary reason, was the second highest factor in their decision, so it was still supported well.
Expanding the sample size to include students from other disciplines of study could show greater
support of our hypothesis as it could reflect a greater population of Touro students.
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References
Boatwright, M., Ching, M., & Parr, A. (1992). Factors that influence students' decisions to attend
college. Journal of Instructional Psychology. 19(2), 79-86.
Fish, D., & Kowalik, T. (2009). Institutional marketing approaches, student decision points, and
motivational factors affecting student decisions to participate in summer session and
attend a particular institution. Summer Academe. 6, 7-35.
Lei, S.A., & Chuang, N. (2010). Demographic factors influencing selection of an ideal graduate
institution: A literature review with recommendations for implementation. College
Student Journal. 44(1), 84-96.
Morse, B. (2011). Students say rankings aren't most important factor in college decision. Morse
Code: Inside the College Rankings.
Weglarz, S. (1999). Johnson County Community College New Student Survey, Fall 1998.
Zajonc, R. B., (1968). Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal Of Personality And Social
Psychology, 9(2), 1-27. doi: 10.1037/h0025848