North Carolina State University
2002 First-Year Student Survey:
Highlights
- NC State conducted its annual survey of entering first-year students during New Student Orientation sessions held in July and early August 2002. The survey had a response rate of 87.8 percent, and a margin of error of under 1 percent (+.2) at the 95 percent confidence level.
- Over 90 percent of respondents were "moderately" or "very satisfied" with the university (94.1%) and departmental (92.6%) admissions process. The factors rated "most influential" in the decision to attend NC State were academic reputation, availability of program, level of support for my intended major, and location. Among the least important influences were NC State publications, attendance at a college fair, number of hours transferred/credited, letters from outside the Admissions Office, and contact with an NC State faculty or staff member.
- Slightly more than half (55.5%) 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 counterparts 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 (48.7%), and that the courses they wanted were not available (25.5%).
- Non-African American minorities were more likely than either African American or white respondents to be employed their first semester (51.9%, 40.5%, and 33.4% 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 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, developing the ability to communicate ideas in writing, developing the ability to apply scientific principles, and being involved with public and community affairs).
For more information on the 2002 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: April, 2003
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