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This report examines vocational education (now career and technical education (CTE)) participation for a recent cohort of young people, using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97). It describes and distinguishes between CTE course-taking and participation, in particular career-related programs of courses and activities (career majors, techprep, and work-based learning programs such as job shadowing and cooperative education). The results reveal that most high school students in the United States participate in CTE courses and work-related activities, and this is the case across demographic sub-groups. Black students participate in career-related programs at higher rates than any other group, while males and females participate at similar rates. Students in the lowest income quartile are the least likely to report participation in career-related programs and activities, but the most likely to take proportionately more CTE courses than academic ones. Students who scored in the bottom half of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Arithmetic Reasoning test distribution are also more likely to take high ratios of CTE-to-academic courses. It was also found that, while participation in career-related programs does not generally hinder college attendance, higher ratios of CTE-to-academic courses are associated with reductions in the chances of college attendance, even after adjusting for selection characteristics often associated with course trajectories.