A study compared the occupational preferences of middle-school girls and boys and examined whether service learning influences students' career interests. The sample included 717 middle school students at pretesting and 583 students at posttesting. Boys comprised 49 percent of the sample and girls 51 percent. Students attended five different service learning schools located in or near New York City. Students worked at these types of service sites: preschools, elementary schools, senior centers, nursing homes, environmental and community projects, school-based projects, offices, and libraries. During 1992-95, the Student Service Learning Survey was completed by students before and after their service learning experience. It assessed students' beliefs and attitudes about service learning and school in three areas: psychosocial, job-related, and academic. Gender differences were found in the areas of sports, arts, medicine, and education. Service learning seemed related to girls' interests in the field of education but could not be strongly linked to pre-post participation shifts in career preferences. The geographical location of the school was less informative than particular school differences, such as number of male teachers and student selection on the basis of interests and academic histories, particularly in math and science. (Appendixes contain 3 data tables and 19 references.) (YLB)