"Choosing the Future: College Students' Projections of Their Personal Life Patterns" is a machine-readable data file (MRDF) prepared by the principal investigator in connection with her doctoral program studies and her 1986 unpublished doctoral dissertation prepared in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. The purpose of the study was to examine sex differences in college students' projections of their future. The impact of expectations of the future on the students' present and on socio-psychological stages of development was investigated. A total of 478 University of Cincinnati undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 25 participated in the pilot study (Spring of 1983) and the primary study (Spring 1984). Participants (261) in the pilot study completed a demographic questionnaire and were led through guided fantasies of three imagined days 5, 10, and 20 years in the future. Following each guided fantasy, participants prepared a one-page written description of their imagined day. Participants (217) in the primary study completed the Texas Social Behavior Inventory (TSBI) to measure their self-esteem and two versions of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) to measure their present and ideal sex-role orientation; wrote an open-ended description of an ideal day; were led through guided fantasies of imagined days 5, 10 and 20 years in the future; and completed a fantasy feedback questionnaire. Data were also collected from each student on background, attitudes toward feminism, personal relationships, parents' education and occupation, and reaction to the guided fantasy process. POPULATION: Undergraduate students from the University of Cincinnati. TYPE OF SURVEY: Local Survey; Sample Survey. SAMPLE: Undergraduate students from the University of Cincinnati (478). FREQUENCY: Once. YEAR OF FIRST DATA: 1983. YEAR OF LATEST DATA: 1984 (CDM/WTB)