 <p>Just add the <code>focus()</code> trigger after the value is set, like so:</p> <pre><code>$('#social-url').val("http://www.twitter.com/").focus(); </code></pre> <p>Here's how I'd do it:</p> <pre><code>$(document).ready(function() { $('select').on('change', function() { $('#social-url').val("http://www." + this.value.toLowerCase() + ".com/") .focus(); }); }); </code></pre> <p><a href="http://jsfiddle.net/dgUrj/4/"><strong>FIDDLE</strong></a></p>