This dissertation tested the significance of a specially designed training and educational program (college course work, human development learnings, agency training) for new careerist trainees in Washington State, as compared to a strictly academic program in which people plan to enter the human services by the usual college degree route. Quantitative measures of academic aptitude (College Qualification Tests) and self-concept (Tennessee Self Concept Scale) were used, along with qualitative evidence from personal interviews. An experimental group (trainees) and a control group (regular college students)--a total of 28 subjects--were matched by age, race, cultural and economic background, vocational preference, and pretests and posttest performance and scores. In several instances of item evaluation in self-concept and academic aptitude, the new careerists showed higher posttest results than the control group. (Author/LY)