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Abstract

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology Volume 3: Issue 1, Article 3, 2022. This study examined the most influential sources of information that first introduced exercise science undergraduate students to their current major and sought to determine if any differences existed between demographic variables. An electronic questionnaire ranking the level of influence of 27 potential sources of information was completed by 131 exercise science students at a regional, midwestern university. Personal experience with the major, health care professionals in the major, and friend or family member in the major were among the highest non-college related sources, while college introductory courses and college instructors in the major were reported as the most influential college-related sources. The most influential sources of information remained consistent between the demographic variables of gender, age, academic rank, hometown population, and racial/ethnic background. These findings can be used to help institutions and kinesiology and exercise science programs to create or modify recruiting campaigns and marketing materials to be both more effective and more informative for prospective students. Ensuring that students have accurate information on which to base their major selection decisions on can allow them to make a more informed major selection earlier in their academic career, potentially increasing satisfaction and minimizing the need to extend the time to graduation.


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