This study was conducted to examine factors that affect student selection of Industrial Education and Technology (IEdt) as a new major in comparison to other departments at Iowa State University. The four groups studied were native students and major changers, both in and outside IEdT. Among the independent variables examined were student academic demographics and six postulated subscores related to the following factors: academic/curriculum, socio-economic, individual (personality), situation/chance, influential individual, and environment;A survey instrument was sent to 750 undergraduate students--150 in IEdT and 600 to other students outside IEdT. The return rate was 49.6%. Those completing the survey had higher GPAs than those not returning the survey. Also, students tended to overreport their GPAs from their actual GPA as collected from the registrar's office;The findings of the study revealed that: IEdT majors were mostly males (95.2%) and have changed their major (85.7%) more than other students at ISU (54.2%); IEdT transfer students had lower GPAs and scored different on the following subscore variables: academic/curriculum, socio-economic, individual (personality), situational/chance, and environment; the students were correctly classified 57.82% into four groups by a discriminate function analysis; there was a negative correlation between GPA and the concern for academics and the academic environment; males scored higher than females on the academic subscore but lower on the individual subscore and GPA; freshmen were different from seniors on the socio-economic subscore; freshmen were different from juniors and seniors with respect to the situational/chance subscore; the first change of major generally occurred during the sophomore year and subsequent change(s) occurred in the senior year;Generally, students at ISU who have changed their major to IEdT have tended to struggle academically before changing their major. They were typically male students out of engineering majors. Overall, major changers at ISU were best identified by lower socio-economic, situational/chance subscores, and GPA;The findings in this study have identified characteristics related to change of major field of study. These characteristics have implications as a tool for counseling.