What Jobs Come to Mind? Stereotypes about Fields of Study

We document that US freshmen hold systematic misperceptions about the relationship between college majors and occupations. Students stereotype fields of study, greatly exaggerating the likelihood that majors lead to their distinctive jobs (e.g., counselor for psychology, journalist for journalism). In a field experiment, correcting these beliefs shifts students’ major intentions and, less precisely, their course enrollment decisions. Students considering “risky” majors—ones with rare stereotypical careers and low-paying alternatives—exhibit stronger treatment effects, consistent with a stylized model of major choice. Finally, we present and confirm additional predictions of a belief-formation model in which stereotyping arises from associative recall.