Socio-cultural factors affecting university and department preferences of students preparing for pre-university entrance exam

The concept of youth is a quite broad concept with biological, psychological and sociological dimensions. As in every age period, the youth period has its own characteristics. These features distinguish the youth period from other periods of the life. While the youth is experiencing a process of rapid development and maturation, on the other hand, he/she tries to cope with the challenges of the period in the psychologically changing moods. Sociologically, it has made an effort to develop an identity and to be a part of the society. Therefore, the youth period is a crucial phase and a turning point of the human life, where very troublesome processes are experienced together with biological, psychological and sociological changes. One of the most important problems of the youth which is experienced in this period are the identity acquisition process and anxiety for the future. While the young internalize the values of the society in their socialization processes, they also have to decide on their academic future. In this process, the young who is completing his/her high school education is at an important decision stage. Which university and which department to be chosen, are very crucial decisions for the future of the young. In this respect, this study aims to reveal the socio-cultural factors that affect the university and department choices of the students who are preparing for the university entrance exam. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to the students preparing for university in Batman province and evaluations were made in the light of the obtained data.