The study developed a pilot interview schedule and analyzed the decision-making process of 326 central Nebraska 1973 high school graduates relative to their educational/occupational choices during the following year. Data were gathered through personal interviews with the graduates and a telephone survey of their parents and were analyzed to discover personal and organizational influences on the decision-making process, specifically: (1) graduates' high school experience and achievement; (2) influence of school personnel; (3) students' information-search activities; and (4) parents' characteristics, attitudes, activities, and degrees of their involvement and of their influence. Also examined were: (1) the various stages in the timing of the graduates' decisions; (2) the financial and nonfinancial factors considered by the graduates, and their effect on the final choice; and (3) the graduates' perceptions of education's purpose and of the school's responsibility for helping students with decision-making. The results were analyzed with reference to the type of postsecondary activity engaged in by the graduates. The report is divided into three sections of approximately equal length: (a) a description of the study and discussion of the findings, (b) 119 tables of data, and (c) copies of the parents' telephone interview and graduates' interview schedules. (Author/AJ)