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This paper uses a possible selves theoretical framework to examine whether and how adolescent girls' images of themselves as future scientists change during their transition from high school to college. Forty-one female high school graduates from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds who had enrolled in an intensive math and science program while in high school participated in interviews focused on their perceptions of factors that influenced their career plans over time. Participants suggested that career-related internships and intensive academic programs especially those that yielded important mentoring relationships were contexts in which they negotiated career-related possible selves and subsequent career plans.

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Science Career-Related Possible Selves of Adolescent Girls: A Longitudinal Study

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