• NC State conducted its annual survey of entering first-year students during New Student Orientation sessions held in June and August 2001. The survey had a response rate of 89.8 percent, and a margin of error of under 1 percent (+.1) at the 95 percent confidence level.

• Over 90 percent of respondents were "moderately" or "very satisfied" with the university (93.4%) and departmental (93.1%) admissions process. The factors rated most influential in the decision to attend NC State were academic reputation, level of support for my intended major, availability of program, and location. Among the least important influences were NC State publications, attendance at a college fair, and letters from outside the Admissions Office.

• Slightly more than half (52.5%) of respondents stated that their primary goal for attending NC State was to obtain a Bachelor's degree as "preparation for graduate or professional school." Women, African Americans and those in the Colleges of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Humanities and Social Sciences were more likely than their respective counter parts to say they planned on going beyond the Masters' level.

• About 13 percent of all respondents reported taking less than a 15 hour credit hour enrollment status in their first semester. The most common reasons given for doing so were that the respondent wants better grades (54.6%), and that the courses they wanted were not available (30.5%).

• Non-African American minorities were more likely than either African American or white respondents to be employed their first semester (41.9%, 35.9%, and 31.1% respectively).

• Respondents consistently gave higher ratings to the importance of various knowledge, skills, and personal development goals than to their current level of development of those goals. While the goal of taking more responsibility for my own behavior ranked high compared to other goals in both current development and importance, managing my time ranked high in importance but low in current development. Goals central to the University's core general education curriculum received the lowest ratings for both perceived importance and the student's current development (understanding the present as it relates to history, developing an appreciation of the arts, understanding diverse cultures, and developing the ability to apply scientific principles).

For more information on the 2001 First-Year Student Survey contact:
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: December, 2001

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