This is the summary of a presentation given at the Joint Mathematics Meetings, January 10-13, 1996, Orlando, Florida.

I conducted a multiple case study of senior female mathematics majors from Southern Illinois University in order to understand how these women made decisions about continuing on in mathematics. I first conducted in-depth individual interviews with 13 women who answered questions regarding their educational histories (high school and college experiences), role models, and future plans. Those 7 respondents with relatively high grade point averages, and thus the background to enroll in graduate-level mathematics programs, were asked to continue in the study. With these 7 remaining women, I conducted two focus groups (3 were assigned to one group and 4 to the other group). Throughout these 2-3 hour group interviews, the participants were asked to focus directly on the questions, ``What are the factors that directly or indirectly influenced your decision on whether or not to attend graduate school in mathematics?'' and ``What are the factors that could directly or indirectly influence other female math majors' decisions on whether or not to attend graduate school in mathematics?'' I will present a summary of these factors along with their suggestions on what we can do to encourage more women to pursue graduate degrees in mathematics.

Kathleen L. Bonn, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale