Comparing survey responses of U.S. rural youth (1,142 males and 1,148 females) with those of Norwegian rural youth (660 males and 650 females at the comprehensive school level and 237 males and 192 females at the secondary level), youth career orientations were analyzed in terms of career desiderata and sex differentials, social class origins, and career plans. The variables employed were: achievement-advancement; security; work with people; service to society; hard work; and money. The questionnaire included 11 sets of 3 alternatives from which the single most desirable condition was chosen in each set. Results indicated: the sex-role factor accounted for an enormous amount of the observed variability in the patterning of career desiderata among rural youth in both societies and in much the same way; social class origin contributed little to career patterning and the class differential hypothesis was not supported; certain distinctive orientational themes tended to be associated with specified career plans operationalized in status terms, indicating that a general valuational configuration constituted an integral part of the status attainment process (girls were more inclined toward the social aspects of work career and boys toward the extrinsic rewards); in both societies and for both sexes, the service/people theme clearly characterized the orientational pattern of the upwardly mobile. (JC)