THE OBJECTIVES WERE--(1) TO DESCRIBE THE OCCUPATIONAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND RELATED EXPERIENCES OF TRADE AND INDUSTRIAL GRADUATES OF 1953, 1958, AND 1962, AND (2) TO COMPARE THE EXPERIENCES FOR VOCATIONAL AND ACADEMIC GRADUATES OF THE SAME CLASSES AND SCHOOLS. DATA WERE COLLECTED BY QUESTIONNAIRES FROM 5,327 VOCATIONAL GRADUATES AND 1,780 ACADEMIC GRADUATES WHO ATTENDED 100 HIGH SCHOOL IN EIGHT GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES. THE DATA WERE ANALYZED AND PRESENTED IN TERMS OF--(1) GENERAL VERSUS VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, (2) VOCATIONAL VS. COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOLS, AND (3) SMALL VS. LARGE SCHOOLS. A 5 PERCENT CORRECTIVE SAMPLE WAS SELECTED FOR INTENSIVE FOLLOWUP OF NONRESPONDENTS, AND A SIMILAR SAMPLE WITH UNKNOWN ADDRESSES WAS PURSUED. DERIVED MEASURE INTERCORRELATIONS FOR 45 OCCUPATIONAL MEASURES, 28 NONOCCUPATIONAL MEASURES, AND 80 OCCUPATIONAL-NONOCCUPATIONAL MEASURES WERE OBTAINED BY THE PEARSON PRODUCT MOMENT CORRELATION METHOD. REASONS FOR NOT GETTING JOBS WERE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FOR VOCATIONAL AND COMPREHENSIVE GRADUATES. HELP IN FINDING THE FIRST JOB WAS OBTAINED FROM A FRIEND OR RELATIVE 38 PERCENT OF THE TIME AND FROM A COUNSELOR 5 PERCENT OF THE TIME. GRADUATES OF MEDIUM-SIZED SCHOOLS FELT LESS NEED FOR ADDITIONAL TRAINING IN BASIC SKILLS. THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THE NUMBER OF FULL-TIME JOBS HELD BY ACADEMIC AND VOCATIONAL GRADUATES OR IN THEIR JOB SATISFACTION. (EM)