The Senior High School Strands and Their Connection to the Chosen College Courses of St. Mary’s College Alumni

Abstract

The implementation of the K-12 program allows students to have a background of their chosen college course due to its specialization. It also allows students to have a better understanding of the field. Yet, only some students have their college courses connected to their strands due to the different factors influencing their decision-making. The study used correlational design to investigate the relationship between the Senior High School academic strands and the college courses. It utilized stratified random sampling and selected three batches with three different strands from each group. The criteria for the selection were: an alumnus of St. Mary’s College Quezon City from batches 2019, 2020, or 2021, had STEM, ABM, and HumSS as their strand, and currently studying a course in a college school or university. The survey found that 52 out of 58 respondents have their courses correlated with their previous strands by asking which strand they took and if it correlates with their college courses. The findings also state that personal factors such as interest in the subject, belief in one’s ability to succeed in the profession, the program’s reputation, and access to better work possibilities were the most influential. Scholarship offers and recommendations from friends and family had little to no impact. A further study can help students decide on what SHS strand to take in the future by expanding on the problems faced by college students who picked an unrelated college course.