WHAT DO THE ONES WHO BREAK THE PATTERN CHOOSE?

The expansion in higher education has made students' choice of fields increasingly important. In this article I ask what fields students who have parents with low education choose. Earlier research has mainly been about educational level, and the few studies on choice of fields, has mainly focused on prestigious university educations. In this article the attention is on university colleges. Based on two of Biglans (1973) dimensions, it is assumed that the students who have parents with low education prefer applied fields to pure fields and hard fields to soft fields. The findings show that students who have parents with low education indeed prefer short, applied fields leading directly to a profession. They choose gendered, but comparisons within the group of men and within the group of women shows an overrepresentation in applied fields that are dominated by the 'opposite' gender. They are under-represented in gender balanced soft fields, and there is no overrepresentation in hard fields, unless they are applied. Students who have parents with low education achieve educational mobility. However, due to their choice of educational fields, it is possible that they simply maintain their class position.