AN ANALYSIS OF FACTORS THAT HINDERED OR IMPEDED THE OCCUPATIONAL ADVANCEMENT OF COLLEGE WOMEN WERE GROUPED AROUND THE FOUR AREAS OF PERSONAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS, CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POSITIONS HELD BY THE WOMEN, BUSINESS POLICIES AND PRACTICES OF EMPLOYING FIRMS, AND POINTS OF VIEW EXPRESSED BY THE WOMEN ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES. DATA WERE OBTAINED THROUGH INTERVIEWS WITH 62 WOMEN EMPLOYEES AND 37 COMPANY REPRESENTATIVES AT 27 FIRMS HAVING 100 OR MORE OFFICE WORKERS. A MODIFIED CASE METHOD APPROACH OBTAINED INFORMATION SINCE THE WOMEN'S COLLEGE GRADUATION. IT WAS FOUND THAT 15 WOMEN WERE RANKED AS MANAGERS, 39 AS SUPERVISORS, AND 8 AS ROUTINE WORKERS. FACTORS INFLUENTIAL IN ATTAINING A MANGERIAL LEVEL WERE--SUPPLEMENTARY TRAINING PAST THE UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE, CONTINUANCE WITH THE FIRM, A HIGH SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, A RELATIVELY SMALL EMPLOYING FIRM, AND MATURITY AND POISE. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT POST GRADUATE EDUCATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR DETERMINING EMPLOYMENT STATUS. THIS DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, ANN ARBOR, MICH. ORDER NO. 64-5119. MICROFILM $3.50. XEROGRAPHY $12.40. 271 PAGES. (AUTHOR/PT)