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The Undecided College Student: An Academic and Career Advising Challenge Virginia N. Gordon and George E. Steele Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2015, 293 pages, $44.95 (softcover)
Undecided students make up a large portion of the college going population. In addition to navigating college-level learning, these individuals have the added responsibility of identifying and deciding upon a major that complements both their personal and professional interests. The complexity of the undecided population warrants skillful and focused attention from institutions and the advisors assisting them.
The current higher education priorities on retention and persistence to graduation make understanding each student's educational and professional goals and their attainment all the more important. The diversity of the undecided population adds to the complexity of this task and, consequently, to the complexity of academic and career advising. The Undecided College Student: An Academic and Career Advising Challenge offers some clarity regarding this diverse population in order for the student affairs practitioner to understand undecided students' needs and possible ways to assist them in the decision-making process. In addition to paying tribute to the body of knowledge and practices shared in the previous editions, Virginia Gordon and George Steele highlight the purpose of this fourth edition as providing a comprehensive examination of the undecided college student through the lens of the past and most recent research, theories, and best practices designed for the digital natives entering higher education.
Chapter 1 guides the reader through almost 90 years of research highlighting early antecedents for student indecision as well as the characteristics, behaviors, and traits of the undecided student. The research focuses on the multiple career indecision types as well as the models, assessments, and instruments used to identify the intricacies within each type. Gordon and Steele specifically examine 19 studies outlining different variables and subtypes of the undecided population while summarizing undecided student characteristics. Although the chart does not cover all the available research, it does provide the reader with a rich and succinct overview. The authors discuss the influences on career decision-making such as expectations of family and society, career...