An Untapped Recruitment Pool: Undecided Students in CS1 Courses

Computing departments face a significant challenge as they seek to balance competing imperatives to manage large enrollments and to recruit more women and people of color to undergraduate computing. Undecided students enrolled in introductory computing courses may represent an opportunity to recruit diverse students without adding to the overall number of students enrolled in courses. However, little is known about undecided students enrolled in introductory computing courses, including if they are a viable pool from which to recruit more women and people of color into computing. This paper presents the findings from a longitudinal, mixed-methods study that investigates the characteristics of undecided students who enroll in an introductory computing course and their reasons for enrolling. The study is based on survey and interview data from students enrolled in introductory computing courses at 15 U.S. institutions. The findings suggest that undecided students may serve as a good pool from which to recruit women but are not a diverse group in terms of race/ethnicity. Further, results from interviews with undecided students suggest that they enroll in introductory computing courses as part of a process to “shop” for a major. Therefore, even as computing departments seek to manage large enrollments, they would be wise to attend to the undecided students in introductory courses and the potential for these courses to serve as a means of recruiting undecided women into computing majors.