North Carolina State University
2009 Baccalaureate Alumni Survey
Executive Summary
Survey Methods
Alumni who received bachelor's degrees from NC State between Summer 2003 and Spring 2006 were surveyed during the Spring semester of 2009. Alumni were sent a personalized letter asking them to complete the survey on the web. Up to 5 follow-up reminders were sent to nonrespondents. The survey included two lottery-type incentives. Eight respondents who submitted the survey by February 18 were randomly selected to each win $75, and another four respondents who submitted the survey by March 25 were randomly selected to each win $100.
Accurate address information was obtained for 11,229 of the 12,276 alumni graduating between summer 2003 and spring 2006 (91.5%). A total of 2,933 surveys were completed, resulting in a response rate of 26.1 percent (2,933 of 11,229) and a margin of sampling error of +1.3 at a 95 percent confidence level.
Overall Satisfaction
Overall, respondents were satisfied with the quality of the undergraduate education provided by NC State. About 96 percent of respondents said the undergraduate education they received from NC State was either "very strong" (51.1) or "strong" (45.1%). The vast majority of respondents said they would recommend NC State to a friend (95.7%). Slightly fewer said they would still choose NC State if they were starting again (85.5%). Although still a majority, notably fewer respondents said they would still choose the same field of study (56.3%).
Involvement While at NC State
Close to two-thirds of alumni (62.7%) received work-related experience, such as through a cooperative education program, internship, or research, while at NC State. Respondents most commonly reported having had an internship (32.7%) or summer or part-time employment in major (27.4%). Three-fourths of respondents who had work-related experience said the experience helped secure their current employment position. Alumni who received work-related experience at NC State were more likely than those who did not to be both initially employed and currently employed in jobs directly related to their field of study (52.0% vs 35.4%, and 47.4% vs 36.0%, respectively).
Less than one-fifth of respondents said they participated in study abroad as an undergraduate at NC State. Among those who participated, three-fourths said the experience contributed "a great deal" to a better understanding of world problems and issues (76.7%) and to positive work attitudes and skills (74.9%). Respondents were less likely to say the experience contributed "a great deal" to the improvement of problem solving skills (52.7%). The most commonly reported reasons for not participating in study abroad were too expensive (44.8%) and not enough free time in curriculum (39.0%).
Seventy percent of alumni said they had participated in one or more of 17 different groups/activities while at NC State. Over one-third of the alumni said they had participated in organizations/clubs related to major (36.3%), 29.3 percent in intramural/recreational sports or club teams, and 22.2 percent in honor or professional fraternity/sorority.
Post-Graduation Activities
More than two-thirds of respondents (68.3%) said their primary activity during the year after completion of their undergraduate degree was "working full-time." About one-fifth reported attending graduate/professional school either "full-time" (17.6%) or "part-time" (2.3%). "Other" activities commonly reported were "searched for employment," "took more undergraduate courses," "internship," and "volunteer work."
College of Education (82.7%) respondents were most likely and Physical and Mathematical Sciences respondents (48.9%) least likely to say their primary activity after graduation was "working full-time." More than one-fourth of respondents in the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences (27.7%) and Physical and Mathematical Sciences (34.8%) said their primary activity was attending graduate/professional school either full-time or part-time. This figure was a low of 7.4 percent among College of Education respondents.
Over 90 percent of respondents say that they are currently employed and/or enrolled in graduate/professional school (92.5%).
Further Education
More than one-third of respondents are currently enrolled in (19.5%), have already completed (15.9%), or have been accepted into (2.2%) graduate or professional school. The proportion of alumni who have having ever applied to graduate or professional school ranges from a high of about 51 percent among alumni from the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences to a low of about 23 percent among alumni from the College of Natural Resources. Among those who have never applied, about two-thirds have either a "high" (32.1%) or "moderate" (34.6%) interest in continuing their education through graduate or professional school.
The majority of those who are currently enrolled in graduate/professional school are enrolled full-time (68.6%). NC State University was by far the most commonly reported institution for graduate/professional school (31.6%), followed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (6.8%). The most commonly reported disciplines in which respondents reported completing and/or seeking a degree were Business and Engineering.
More than 80 percent of those who are or were enrolled in graduate or professional school said they received "excellent" (40.1%) or "good" (43.1%) preparation for graduate school. There were notable racial/ethnic differences in this figure, with white respondents being much more likely than African American and non-African American minorities to say they received "excellent preparation" (42.6% vs. 27.6% and 25.8%, respectively). The proportion of respondents saying they had "excellent preparation" for graduate or professional school also varies for college, ranging from a high of about 57 percent among College of Education respondents to a low of 32 percent among Design respondents.
More than one-half of respondents who have attended or are currently attending graduate or professional school reported receiving some type of scholarship, honor, award, or assistantship while in graduate school (58.8%).
Employment
While 40 percent of all respondents had a permanent full-time position before (11.1%) or upon (29.6%) graduation, this was more likely for men (48.0%) and whites (41.9%) than for women (33.2%), African Americans (31.8%) and non-African American minority students (35.8%). The proportion of alumni who had a permanent full-time position before or upon graduation also varies by college, ranging from about 53 percent among College of Engineering alumni to about 25 percent among College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences alumni.
Three-fourths of respondents said their first full-time job was either "directly" (46.2%) or "somewhat" (29.0%) related to the degree they received from NC State. Of the 25 percent of those whose first job was "not related" to their degree, about half said they chose to be employed outside their field of study (52.6%).
Alumni from the College of Design were most likely (72.9%) and those from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences least likely (22.7%) to report that their first job was "directly related" to the degree they received from NC State.
Of 17 items asked about, alumni most commonly reported "family/friends/classmates/co-workers" (24.5%) as being instrumental in helping locate and/or get their first job. This was closely followed by "personal connection(s) within company" (22.2%).
More than three-fourths of respondents reported either "excellent" (31.7%) or "good" (45.7%) preparation by NC State for their first job. Alumni from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences gave the lowest average rating (3.88) and those from the College of Textiles the highest (4.33) to how well NC State prepared them for their first job.
One-third of alumni reported starting salaries of under $30,000 for their first full-time position after graduation (33.0%), and one-fifth reported starting salaries of $50,000 or higher (19.4%). Alumni from the College of Engineering were most likely to report starting salaries of $50,000 or higher (46.8%). About half of alumni in the Colleges of Education (53.9%) and Humanities and Social Sciences (52.4%) reported a starting salary of less than $30,000 at their first job.
About 87 percent of respondents are currently employed either full-time (79.4%) or part-time (7.3%). Three-fourths of respondents reported that their current job is either "directly " (43.5%) or "somewhat" (31.9%) related to the degree they received from NC State. Of the 25 percent of respondents whose current job is "not related" to their degree, two-thirds report that they chose to be employed outside their field of study (66.2%).
Alumni from Design (65.2%) were the most likely, and those from Humanities and Social Sciences (22.8%) least likely, to currently hold jobs that are "directly related" to the undergraduate degree they received from NC State. However, the majority of those from each college that are not currently employed in their field of study, choose to be employed outside their field of study. Interestingly, respondents in the Colleges of Education and Textiles were much more likely to have had first jobs directly related to their major than to be currently employed in jobs directly related to their major.
More than three-fourths of currently employed respondents report "excellent" (30.3%) or "good" (46.2%) preparation by NC State for their current positions. Respondents from the College of Natural Resources (3.85) gave the lowest average rating, and those from the College of Textiles the highest (4.27), to how well NC State prepared them for their current position.
While about 45 percent of all alumni reported current salaries of $50,000 or more, there were notable college-level differences in current salary figures. The proportion of alumni currently earning $50,000 or more was a high of 84 percent among College of Engineering alumni and a low of 19.5 percent among College of Education alumni.
As would be expected, alumni who received their bachelors' degrees more recently have lower current incomes than those who graduated earlier. As compared to 52 percent of alumni who graduated during academic year 2003-2004 and 49 percent of alumni who graduated during academic year 2004-2005, only 34 percent of alumni who graduated during academic year 2005-2006 currently earn $50,000 or more per year.
Professional Preparation
Respondents were asked to rate the importance of 32 professional skills
and the extent to which they were prepared in each area through their program of study at NC State. Two-thirds or more respondents
rated the following skills as "very important" in their current professional
positions:
Conducting work activities in an ethical manner (72.7%)
Comprehension skills (70.2%)
Being dependable and punctual (66.6%)
Solving problems (65.8%)
Working under pressure (65.5%)
One-fifth or more respondents rated the following skills as "not
important" or "of limited importance" in their current professional positions:
Ability to apply scientific methods of inquiry (22.5%)
Ability to apply mathematics skills (20.1%)
Forty-five percent or more respondents reported "excellent" preparation by NC State in the following areas:
Ability to work independently (51.4%)
Ability to work in teams (48.2%)
Ability to learn independently (47.3%)
Finding relevant information/ideas from multiple sources (46.1%)
Conducting work activities in an ethical manner (45.3%)
A very small minority of respondents (less than 10%) rated their preparation by NC State for any of the items as "fair" or "poor".
The differences in the 'importance' versus 'preparation' average ratings were most notable for leadership and management skills, ability to adjust to new job demands, ability to grow on the job, professionalism, and making decisions under pressure.
Goals of Undergraduate Education
Respondents were asked to rate the importance of 25 undergraduate educational goals and their satisfaction with the extent to which their undergraduate education at NC State met each goal. Similar to the 'professional' goals discussed above, large majorities of alumni gave very positive ratings to both the importance of and the extent to which NC State met each goal. Two-thirds or more respondents rated the following goals as "very important" for an undergraduate education:
Preparing for a career (79.1%)
Understanding my own abilities and interests (76.9%)
Ability to critically analyze/evaluate idea/information (70.8%)
Recognizing and acting upon ethical principles (68.6%)
Most of the goals were rated as "not important" or "of limited importance" for an undergraduate education by only a very small minority of respondents (less than 10%). More than 10 percent of respondents rated the following as "not important" or "of limited importance:"
Appreciating the arts (e.g., music, art, theater, etc.) (15.5%)
Understanding issues associated with racial inequality (13.8%)
Applying social science methods to understand human behavior (13.8%)
Understanding issues associated with gender inequality (13.7%)
Appreciating the humanities (e.g., literature, philosophy, religion, history, etc.) (11.5%)
While goals ranked relatively high in importance were usually also ranked relatively high in satisfaction, and vice versa, again similar to the 'professional' goals, alumni gave consistently higher ratings to the importance of a goal than to their satisfaction with the extent to which NC State met that goal. Forty-five percent or more respondents said they were "very satisfied" that their undergraduate education met the following goals:
Ability to use technologies/search strategies to access info (49.9%)
Ability to critically analyze/evaluate idea/information (47.8%)
Understanding basic concepts in a broad range of disciplines (47.5%)
Ability to collect relevant data (46.9%)
Valuing learning as a lifelong process (46.3%)
Having tolerance for different points of view (46.1%)
Recognizing and acting upon ethical principles (44.7%)
With the following three exceptions, less than 10 percent of respondents were either "somewhat" or "very" dissatisfied that their undergraduate education met each of the goals asked about.
Preparing for a career (16.7%)
Developing and sustaining an active and healthy lifestyle (10.8%)
Appreciating the arts (e.g., music, art, theater, etc.) (10.1%)
Differences in "importance" and "satisfaction" ratings were especially large for preparing for a career, understanding my own abilities and interests, and developing and sustaining an active and healthy lifestyle.
General Education Preparation
Respondents were asked about the success of several general education goals emphasized by NC State. More than 80 percent of alumni agree or tend to agree that their NC State education prepared them to be competitive with graduates from other institutions (83.7%), encouraged creative/innovative thinking (86.9%), and helped their ability to access/use information in their profession (90.6%). Although still a majority, respondents were much less likely to agree that physical exercise courses positively influenced current exercise/health habits (55.5%) and that foreign language helped them gain an appreciation of other cultures (65.5%).
Teaching and Learning Technologies
A majority of respondents said that the various teaching and learning technologies used at NC State helped "a great deal" with their ability to:
use information from the internet, books, journals, etc. (61.4%)
use skills/technologies in field of study (55.3%)
answer questions in field of study (50.4%)
solve problems in field of study (50.4%)
The majority of respondents had not taken any distance education or online courses while an undergraduate at NC State (56.0%). Respondents in the College of Management (59.1%) were most likely and those in the College of Design (26.5%) least likely to have taken at least one distance education or online course while an undergraduate at NC State. Of those who had taken distance education or online courses, close to three-fourths reported being either "very" (30.6%) or "somewhat" (43.0%) satisfied with the variety of such courses offered by NC State.
Reading, Physical Exercise, and Volunteerism
Ninety percent of respondents agreed that they routinely keep up with current events in the news (89.7%) and more than 70 percent agreed that they read for leisure on a regular basis (73.3%).
Only a very small minority of alumni reported that they "never" engage in physical exercise (2.3%). Among those who do engage in physical exercise, two-thirds do so twice a week or more (66.8%).
More than three-fourths of respondents reported that they volunteered at least a few times during the past year (77.5%).
Alumni Services
More than one-fourth of respondents reported being a member of the NC State Alumni Association. Alumni were asked the extent to which they would value various services offered by the NC State Alumni Association. Respondents gave the highest rating to Career planning assistance and job postings (mean rating=2.97) and the lowest rating to NC State alumni reunions (2.42).
Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Associate Director for Survey Research
Office of Institutional Planning and Research
Box 7002
NCSU
Phone: (919) 515-4184
Email: Nancy_Whelchel@ncsu.edu
Posted: May, 2009
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