Community colleges provide broad access to postsecondary education to students of every identity, background, and level of academic preparedness. However, while community colleges offer a diverse range of educational and career pathways, completion rates remain low. In the past decade, the guided pathways framework emerged as a model for how institutions can redesign and deliver curricular structures and supports in ways intended to support more students in achieving their academic and career goals. A central assumption of the guided pathways framework is that students make an academic and career decision upon entry to college so that the academic milestones necessary to complete their chosen pathway are clear from the start. While more than 450 community colleges nationwide are using this model to strengthen the structures and processes that guide students' choices, we know little about the factors that inform how students navigate this process with agency. In this mixed methods case study, I explore how students make academic and career decisions in their first year of enrollment in guided pathways community college. I use quantitative survey and administrative data, as well as semi-structured interview data, to examine the socio-cognitive and other factors that inform how students navigate the curricular structures and supports of the academic career choice process. From this exploratory analysis emerged a new conceptual framework that extends Wang's (2017) theoretical model of momentum for community college success. This new model introduces "Academic and Career Choice" as a domain that should be considered by community college practitioners who wish to support students' academic and career success. It also presents a new conceptualization of the curricular environment, making explicit the role of the curricular and sociocultural context on students' academic and career outcomes. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]