Clarifying the psychological mechanisms behind teacher education students' application decisions is crucial for enhancing student source compatibility and optimizing talent cultivation outcomes. Through in-depth interviews with 20 geography teacher education students, this study explores their authentic learning experiences and practical needs. The fi ndings reveal that application motivations can be broadly categorized into extrinsic and intrinsic types. Extrinsic motivations exhibit a gradient progression from external regulation to internal regulation, identity regulation, and integration regulation, refl ecting a gradual shift from controlled to autonomous motivation. Intrinsic motivations are primarily driven by disciplinary interest and career aspirations. Additionally, external interference from employment pressure leads to selection confl icts and imbalance in professional identity during the motivation transformation process. Based on these characteristics, targeted recommendations are proposed, including precise policy implementation, enhanced professional awareness at the secondary education level, improved alignment of university training systems, and promotion of autonomous career development for teacher education students.