A 1980 study was conducted to determine those factors (educational background, career plans, family influence, parental background, and career salience) predictive of women's career involvement one year after college graduation. A second analysis further differentiated between the groups on the variable "commitment to working." Participants were 1979 female graduates of 15 small, private, liberal arts colleges in the northeastern United States that had three selectivity levels: selective, very selective, and highly selective. The mailed questionnaire included questions on the five factors under investigation. Discriminant analysis was used to determine factors predictive of career involvement (being employed in career of choice or attending graduate, medical, or law school in preparation for career of choice). Results indicated that actively choosing an occupation, undergraduate grade point average, and career salience at graduation were highly correlated with career involvement and desire to work. It was suggested that the career-involved woman is a mixture of the traditional female and the "new woman," a phenomenon that needs to be more closely researched. (Four tables and a graph are appended.) (YLB)