Students from 24 southern 1862 and 1890 land-grant universities were mailed questionnaires focusing on 5 topics of concern to persons in agricultural education administration, teaching, and counseling--family and personal backgrounds, high school and college experiences, work and employment experiences, personal goals (aspirations), and attitudes toward selected issues related to agriculture and agricultural occupations. A return rate of 60% from 1890 schools and 74% from 1862 schools provided a sample of 3,178 students, of whom 27.2% were female, 5.3% were black, 13.7% were married, 58% were juniors and seniors, 44.1% were oldest-youngest-only child, 62.8% grew up on a farm or in a rural area smaller than 10,000 population, and 14.1% came from a city 500,000 or larger. Almost all the students had been employed in a part-time or full-time job which was agricultural but nonfarm in nature. Sixty-five percent of the students were influenced in their choice of an agricultural major by family members. The virtually universal reason for choosing an agricultural major was to prepare for a career. That agricultural students are considerably different from their predecessors of a generation ago was vividly portrayed by the sizeable proportions of women and urban students, and the increased number of black students. (BRR)