Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a

College Course

Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a

College Course

A Thesis Presented to the faculty members of

Santa Rita College of Pampanga
Sta. Rita, Pampanga

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for Senior High School
Accountancy and Business Management Strand

Cruz, Angelito G.
Laus, Laren L.
Salonga, John Joseph
Ignacio, Erica May A.
Mendoza, Rita Mae P.
Santiago, Michelle Angela L.
Sazon, Kyla Nicole N.

JANUARY 2023
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

Chapter 1

Introduction

Selecting a College course is a major decision that may affect a student’s

academic and career what happens next. However, for many Grade 12 students,

this decision-making process can be stressful and overwhelming. Several

factors, according to research, increase the pressure and stress of choosing a

college course.

The projected impact on future professional opportunities is one aspect that

contributes to the pressure of course selection. Students may feel pressured to

enroll I a course that will lead to a high-praying, prestigious career as this can

viewed as a measure of success and social prestige. Family expectations can

also be a major source of stress, with parents frequently having their own ideas

about what their own ideas about what their children should study and pushing

on specific courses or career routes.

Academic achievement is another element that might add to the stress of course

selection, especially for individuals who did well in high school. These students

may feel pressured to maintain their high grades and select an academically

challenging course. Limited course availability can also add to course selection

pressure, with some courses having limited capacity and high demand, making it

difficult for students to enroll in their preferred program.

Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

Financial concerns are another major source of stress for many grade 12

students. College education can be expensive, and students may feel pressured

to choose a degree that is financially sustainable and will lead to a well-paying

career after graduation. Peer pressure can also have an impact on course

selection, with friends and peers frequently influencing a student’s college course

choices.

Given the considerable pressures that grade 12 student’s encounter when

deciding on a college course, educators, counselors, and parents must provide

assistance and support throughout the decision-making process. Educator and

counselors can provide focused support to help students make educated,

confident decision about their future academic and career path ways by

understanding the elements that contribute to the pressure of course selection.

Review of Related Literature

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) is grounded in Bandura's (2019) social

cognitive theory, and explores how career and academic interests mature, how
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

career choices are developed, and how these choices are turned into action. This

is achieved through a focus of three primary tenets: self- efficacy (beliefs people

have about their ability to successfully complete the steps required for a give

task), outcome expectations (beliefs related to the consequences of performing a

specific behavior), and goals (decisions to begin a particular activity or future

plan) (Lent et al., 2019).

The SCCT interest model, as depicted in Figure 2, shows that career interests

are regulated by self-efficacy and an outcome expectation, which means people,

will form lasting interests in activities when they view themselves as competent at

it and when they anticipate that performing it will produce valued outcomes. It

can also be seen from the figure that emergent interests (along with self-efficacy

and outcome expectations) promote particular goals for activity involvement. In

other words, as people develop an affinity for an activity at which they feel

efficacious and expect positive outcomes, they form goals for sustaining or

increasing their involvement in that activity.

Respect for family is one of the most influential factors that impact Filipino

students' career decision. It is concurred that "Out of respect and loyalty, it may

not be appropriate to express personal desires; rather, one may alter one's

interests to maintain harmony." As a sign of respect, Filipino children want to do

well for the sake of the family, follow parents' advice about choosing a job or

major in college and lastly, make sacrifices for the family (Finlayson, 2019). For
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

practicality reasons, it is also reported that parents usually encourage careers

that will not cost much money, but at the same time, are stable sources of

income. Careers in nursing, accounting, and engineering are highly popular for

Filipino families (Saysay, 2020).

In an online blog article by Angerman, family background is one of the major

factors to examine for those who seek career guidance. When talking about

"family background" issues, the extent of influence of the parents and the

extended family has on the person is at focus both at positive and negative ways.

This includes the place where he grew up, the economic realities facing the

family, illness, the countries of origin, among others (Angerman, 2019)

There are many opportunities that wait for every career that one wants to pursue.

Some people may stumble upon better occupation opportunities, thanks to the

strategies and steps that they follow. Investigating for career opportunities is well

worth taking time (Mind Tools, 2017). By doing this, one can discover

opportunities that are perfectly matched to his/her interests or skills, find out

about promotions and job openings before anyone else, and identify ways of

expanding the knowledge and skills needed for that career.

There has been a lot of talk whether or not passion is the sole way for choosing

an individual's career path. But there are other significant factors that can

influence the career path, not just passion. Several recent studies shows that
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

understanding the personality the individual's own traits and characteristics,

rather than passion, are a key to career fulfillment and success.

An article posted by Adecco UK (Adecco UK, 2019), a part of a Swiss

multinational human resource consulting company of the same name, states that

it is worth finding out what type of worker an individual is with the increasing of

employers utilizing personality and psychometric testing procedures to analyze

the employee's attributes beyond qualifications. It is also stated in the article that

"choosing a job to which an individual is inherently suited-rather than just able to

convince the interviewer that he/she is interested in the position - will make

him/her a happier, more productive employee."

There are many methods for assessing personality type, and the most common

is the RIASEC model of the psychologist John L. Holland (Holland, 2021), which

is developed from his theory which postulates that people project self- and world-

of-work views onto occupational titles and make career decisions that satisfy

their preferred personal orientations based on the premise that personality

factors. Holland's model constitute of six basic personality types, namely:

Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. From the

6, the model provides the possibility of a 720 different personality patterns. The

results will show the tendencies of a person to lean towards a certain type of

personality, which would provide a list of careers that might suit the person best.
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

Another study that establishes the influence of personality on career choice is of

Dr. Claudia Harzer and companions of University of Zurich (Harzer, et.al, 2018),

which focuses on the character strengths of an individual and how it affects their

career. From interviews of over 1,000 working people, their study shows that the

degree of positive experiences increases with the number of personal character

strengths, or so-called "signature strengths", applied at work. This would imply

that understanding what roles a person are best suited to based on his/her

personality is what will make him/her the most happy at work.

Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

Statement of the Problem

This paper will identify the pressure of grade 12 students in choosing the course

they will take when entering college. In this study it addresses the difficulties to

make decision in choosing the right course in college. Likewise, it aimed to find

out how significant it is for Grade 12 Students to understand the importance of

decision making so that they can have the flexibility to utilize and determine the

factors in choosing their career in college.

Since student can get enough information or Intel because there are some

questions that cannot be answer by the teachers.

1. What is the main reason that stops you prom pursuing the course you

want?

A. Financial stability

B. Intellectual capability

2. What could be the possible problem of them that made them think twice

about their course?

A. Financially unstable

B. Lack of knowledge

C. Pressured by others

3. What influence the student in choosing their course for college?

a. Friends

b. Family
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

c. Teachers

Significance of the Study

This study aims to determine the benefits of "Factors that Increase the Pressure

of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a College Course". The benefit of our research

topic is to collect more information. The study of choosing their course in college

is determined by the researchers to be beneficial:

To the Students - This study of our research will give them more knowledge

about the "Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting

a College Course".

To the Future Researchers - This study of our research will serve as a reference

for future researchers who want to choose this kind of topic. It will also benefit

them, because they will able to learn a lot of information about this topic.
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course

To the Teachers - This study of our research will benefit them because they will

able to guide the students who will choose this kind of topic.

Scope and Delimitation

The subject of the study is focused on the level of pressure of Grade 12

students in choosing their course in college, academic year 2023-2024. The

study was conducted among Grade 12 students of Santa Rita College. The study

was limited only towards the students of Grade 12.

Definition of Terms

Social Prestigious – Is the reputation or esteem associated with one’s position in

society.

Prestigious career – a career that has a high value and is respected and admired

by people

Acronyms
Factors that Increase the Pressure of Grade 12 Students in Selecting a
College Course