Guided by social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent et al. in J Vocat Behav 45(1):79-122, 1994), we assessed sociocultural (e.g., home-school cultural value mismatch) and contextual barriers (e.g., institutional climate) in science education and career development at both a baccalaureate-granting institution (BGI) and community college (CC) among 263 students (72.4% female; M[subscript age] = 22.96, SD = 5.70) in the USA. For BGI students, path analyses suggest proximal factors such as in-class prejudice negatively predicted science self-efficacy and prejudice from faculty and staff predicted lower career outcome expectations. For CC students, home-school cultural value mismatch directly predicted science career goals. Implications for future research, intervention and policy are discussed.