Beyond enrolment: how first-year students re-evaluate their initial study choice

Study choice is often conceptualized as a one-off event prior to enrolment, yet our findings show that this process continues throughout the first year. Drawing on interviews with first-year students in five Dutch bachelor programmes, we examined how they re-evaluated their initial study choice. Using the framework of five decisional tasks (orientation, self-exploration, in-depth exploration, broad exploration, and commitment), two ideal-typical patterns were identified to describe differences in students' re-evaluation process. A certainty pattern characterized students who engaged primarily in self- and in-depth exploration to strengthen commitment. A doubt pattern involved students who re-engaged in broad exploration. Students reflected on whether motivation, self-efficacy, and academic and social integration mattered for the re-evaluation process. No clear differences between patterns or programmes were found. Curriculum elements such as assessment and exposure to professional practice contributed to students' explorations, while guidance was perceived as more meaningful when structurally embedded and explicitly focused on supporting choice re-evaluation. Given the exploratory and small-scale nature of the study, findings have limited external validity, but highlight the importance of viewing study choice as an ongoing first-year process and the relevance of student-related and school-related factors associated with it.