Matching Students’ Dominant Intelligences with their Fields of Specialization: Did Students Select the Right Specialization?

The purpose of this article is to investigate the differences in multiple intelligences profiles among university students according to gender and the field of specialization, and demonstrate how the application of Gardner's (1993) multiple intelligences (MI) theory can be used as an indicator to the appropriateness of the students' selection to his/her college program. This is a survey study and the participants of the study are (320) undergraduate first-year students from Dhofar University (DU). Data analyses are carried out using means, standard deviations, and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).The data for this study is collected through a 5-point Likert scale called "Multiple Intelligences Scale". The study reveals that intrapersonal intelligence has the highest score and ranks first always. Also, the study finds that the students from the specializations: Computer, Mathematics, Languages, Social Sciences, Accounting and Finance (A&F), Management and Marketing (M&M), Management Information Systems (MIS), Engineering, and Law made a good decision about selecting their college programs. On the other hand, the study reports that MI profiles of students from Education and Architecture does not match the intelligence profiles required by each specialization. In the light of the findings, the study recommends researchers as well as career counselors to start a collaborative work to further understand and explore the benefits of using Multiple Intelligences theory