Echo 'selected' in html5 dropdown form using PHP

isset validates to true or false based on if variable is set or not. You can't check the value just with isset.

Use a small utility function to check condition:

function checkSelected($value) {
    if(isset($_POST['qualMonth2']) && $_POST['qualMonth2'] == $value) {
        return true;
    } else {
        return false;
    }
}

Your select element should be then:

<select input type="text" name="qualMonth2" id="qualMonth2" value="Select Month">
    <option value="January" <?php echo checkSelected('January') ? 'selected':'' ?>>January</option>
    <option value="February" <?php echo checkSelected('February') ? 'selected':'' ?>>February</option>
    <option value="March" <?php echo checkSelected('March') ? 'selected':'' ?>>March</option>
    <option value="April" <?php echo checkSelected('April') ? 'selected':'' ?>>April</option>
    <option value="May" <?php echo checkSelected('May') ? 'selected':'' ?>>May</option>
    <option value="June" <?php echo checkSelected('June') ? 'selected':'' ?>>June</option>
    <option value="July" <?php echo checkSelected('July') ? 'selected':'' ?>>July</option>
    <option value="August" <?php echo checkSelected('August') ? 'selected':'' ?>>August</option>
    <option value="September" <?php echo checkSelected('September') ? 'selected':'' ?>>September</option>
    <option value="October" <?php echo checkSelected('October') ? 'selected':'' ?>>October</option>
    <option value="November" <?php echo checkSelected('November') ? 'selected':'' ?>>November</option>
    <option value="December" <?php echo checkSelected('December') ? 'selected':'' ?>>December</option>
</select>

Lets look at what you wrote..

<option value="February" <?php if(isset($_POST['qualMonth2']) == 'February') { echo ' selected'; } ?>>February</option>

What you're saying is.. If there is a value set for qualMonth2 (true / false), compare that against a string..

So you're comparing true || false against a string.

isset($_POST['qualMonth2']) returns true // false.

So none will ever be selected.

Refactor it..

<?php 
 $month = "";

 if(isset($_POST['qualification2'])){
   $month = $_POST['qualification2'];
 }
?>

Then use $month as the comparative value.

<option value="July" <?php if($month == 'July') { echo ' selected'; } ?>>July</option>

I prefer to perform these checks in Javascript (I prefer JQuery), I think it cleans up the code, but you could also simplify this greatly by using a loop with generated months.

Loop through 1-12 for output

<select input type="text" name="qualMonth2" id="qualMonth2" value="Select Month">
<?php
for($i=1; $i<=12; $i++) {
    $dateObj   = DateTime::createFromFormat('!m', $i);
    $monthName = $dateObj->format('F');
    echo "<value>" . $monthName . "</option>";
}
?>
</select>

This approach takes a DRY (Do not repeat) approach. If you need to modify something, you only need to modify 1 line of code versus 12.

Jquery for choosing value (defaults to January if $_POST['qualMonth2'] is not set):

<script>
     $('#qualMonth2').val("<?php echo (isset($_POST['qualMonth2'])) ? $_POST['qualMonth2'] : 'January' ?>");
</script>

Take what you will from this answer, I just showed you two possibilities, you can certainly avoid Javascript by adding a check in the loop if you want.