North Carolina State University
2006 First-Year Student Survey:
Frequency Distributions of Survey Item #5
(Factor Influence on Decision to Attend)

This document reports the frequency distributions by gender and race/ethnicity of survey item #5 of the Fall 2006 First-Year Student Survey. The exact wording of the survey item is as follows:

To what extent did each of the following factors influence your decision to attend NC State? Using the scale below, please enter the number closest to your opinion for each factor listed. (Scale: 5="very strong influence," 4="strong influence," 3="moderate influence," 2="weak influence," 1="very weak influence," 0="not applicable")

Note: "Not applicable" responses were excluded from the analyses.

Academic reputation		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		4.12	4.15	4.11	4.33	4.11	4.06
5: Very strong infl.	%	36.7	38.4	35.4	52.6	35.5	33.8
4: Strong influence	%	42.4	41.2	43.3	30.9	43.5	43.3
3: Moderate infl.	%	18.2	17.6	18.6	14.1	18.5	19.1
2: Weak influence	%	1.9	2.1	1.7	1.5	1.8	2.8
1: Very weak infl.	%	0.8	0.6	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.9
Total	N	3892	1736	2156	327	3142	423

Availability of program		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.84	3.81	3.86	3.93	3.83	3.84
5: Very strong infl.	%	34.8	34.5	35.0	37.8	34.8	32.3
4: Strong influence	%	29.4	27.9	30.6	31.1	28.7	33.8
3: Moderate infl.	%	24.3	25.0	23.8	22.8	24.6	23.6
2: Weak influence	%	7.4	8.6	6.3	2.9	8.1	5.5
1: Very weak infl.	%	4.1	3.9	4.2	5.4	3.8	4.7
Total	N	3764	1669	2095	312	3050	402

Level of support for my intended major		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.77	3.62	3.88	3.73	3.78	3.69
5: Very strong infl.	%	34.5	30.4	37.7	34.7	34.8	32.1
4: Strong influence	%	28.0	26.0	29.6	28.4	28.2	26.2
3: Moderate infl.	%	22.6	25.9	20.0	19.5	22.4	26.5
2: Weak influence	%	9.3	10.9	8.0	10.2	9.3	8.7
1: Very weak infl.	%	5.6	6.8	4.7	7.3	5.3	6.4
Total	N	3651	1603	2048	303	2959	389

Acceptance into First Year College		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.73	3.88	3.56	3.36	3.82	3.55
5: Very strong infl.	%	32.1	38.3	24.5	27.2	33.8	26.3
4: Strong influence	%	30.4	30.0	30.9	21.0	31.6	32.5
3: Moderate infl.	%	22.7	18.2	28.2	25.9	22.4	21.3
2: Weak influence	%	8.3	8.0	8.7	12.3	7.4	10.0
1: Very weak infl.	%	6.5	5.5	7.7	13.6	4.8	10.0
Total	N	661	363	298	81	500	80

Facilities and resources available		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.69	3.67	3.71	3.80	3.69	3.62
5: Very strong infl.	%	24.9	24.6	25.1	32.6	24.5	21.8
4: Strong influence	%	35.0	34.3	35.6	33.5	35.1	35.6
3: Moderate infl.	%	28.1	28.6	27.7	22.2	28.5	29.2
2: Weak influence	%	8.4	8.5	8.4	4.7	8.6	9.7
1: Very weak infl.	%	3.6	4.0	3.3	7.0	3.3	3.7
Total	N	3786	1692	2094	316	3066	404

Location		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.61	3.73	3.51	3.79	3.58	3.70
5: Very strong infl.	%	25.8	28.9	23.3	33.4	24.2	31.9
4: Strong influence	%	30.5	31.8	29.5	27.3	31.4	26.9
3: Moderate infl.	%	28.3	26.8	29.5	28.5	28.5	26.7
2: Weak influence	%	9.3	8.2	10.3	6.7	9.7	8.3
1: Very weak infl.	%	6.0	4.2	7.4	4.0	6.2	6.2
Total	N	3837	1721	2116	326	3091	420

Recommended		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.46	3.54	3.39	3.20	3.48	3.44
5: Very strong infl.	%	25.5	27.9	23.5	22.5	26.2	22.3
4: Strong influence	%	26.1	26.3	26.0	20.4	26.5	27.3
3: Moderate infl.	%	26.4	25.6	27.0	27.0	25.7	30.5
2: Weak influence	%	12.6	11.9	13.1	15.2	12.4	11.4
1: Very weak infl.	%	9.5	8.3	10.4	14.9	9.0	8.5
Total	N	3529	1596	1933	289	2863	377

Campus visit prior to orientation		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.20	3.38	3.05	3.44	3.20	3.00
5: Very strong infl.	%	15.4	19.4	12.0	21.3	15.1	12.5
4: Strong influence	%	25.9	28.4	23.8	30.8	25.9	21.7
3: Moderate infl.	%	33.0	31.4	34.3	26.9	33.3	35.3
2: Weak influence	%	14.9	12.7	16.7	12.6	15.2	13.9
1: Very weak infl.	%	10.9	8.2	13.2	8.3	10.5	16.6
Total	N	3176	1438	1738	253	2628	295

Cost		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.14	3.09	3.18	3.10	3.10	3.48
5: Very strong infl.	%	16.4	15.5	17.2	19.4	15.3	22.1
4: Strong influence	%	23.0	21.3	24.3	17.1	22.7	29.3
3: Moderate infl.	%	31.6	33.6	30.0	31.9	31.7	30.3
2: Weak influence	%	16.1	15.8	16.4	17.4	16.8	10.6
1: Very weak infl.	%	12.9	13.9	12.2	14.2	13.5	7.7
Total	N	3723	1666	2057	310	2997	416

Contact with a current student		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.12	3.26	3.00	3.05	3.13	3.10
5: Very strong infl.	%	17.0	21.5	13.2	16.8	17.4	13.8
4: Strong influence	%	23.9	24.4	23.5	21.0	24.0	25.4
3: Moderate infl.	%	27.4	25.5	29.0	28.0	26.9	30.7
2: Weak influence	%	17.4	15.3	19.1	18.2	17.3	17.2
1: Very weak infl.	%	14.3	13.3	15.2	15.9	14.4	12.9
Total	N	2964	1349	1615	214	2431	319

Size		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.03	3.15	2.93	3.22	3.02	2.94
5: Very strong infl.	%	12.9	15.0	11.2	16.1	12.7	12.1
4: Strong influence	%	21.7	23.7	20.0	23.9	21.9	17.8
3: Moderate infl.	%	33.1	33.3	32.9	34.8	32.4	36.6
2: Weak influence	%	19.8	17.0	22.1	15.8	20.4	18.3
1: Very weak infl.	%	12.6	11.0	13.9	9.4	12.5	15.1
Total	N	3718	1678	2040	310	3004	404

Extracurricular opportunities		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.95	3.02	2.89	3.25	2.93	2.84
5: Very strong infl.	%	11.4	13.3	9.8	21.3	10.6	9.2
4: Strong influence	%	21.2	22.6	20.0	22.3	21.2	19.9
3: Moderate infl.	%	33.4	31.4	35.1	29.1	33.5	35.6
2: Weak influence	%	19.1	18.7	19.5	14.9	19.9	16.6
1: Very weak infl.	%	14.9	14.1	15.6	12.4	14.7	18.7
Total	N	3287	1515	1772	282	2668	337

Scholarships/financial aid available		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.91	3.00	2.84	3.73	2.78	3.11
5: Very strong infl.	%	18.7	21.4	16.4	40.4	15.8	20.6
4: Strong influence	%	15.0	15.0	15.0	21.5	13.9	17.3
3: Moderate infl.	%	25.0	24.3	25.6	19.2	25.0	30.2
2: Weak influence	%	21.2	20.3	22.0	8.5	23.5	15.9
1: Very weak infl.	%	20.1	19.0	21.0	10.4	21.8	15.9
Total	N	3252	1470	1782	307	2581	364

Contact with a graduate		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.88	2.94	2.83	2.80	2.91	2.67
5: Very strong infl.	%	16.0	18.2	14.3	13.2	16.6	12.9
4: Strong influence	%	18.2	17.8	18.5	17.0	18.8	13.8
3: Moderate infl.	%	25.7	25.9	25.6	27.0	25.4	27.6
2: Weak influence	%	17.7	15.6	19.3	22.0	17.2	19.0
1: Very weak infl.	%	22.4	22.5	22.3	20.8	22.0	26.7
Total	N	2284	995	1289	159	1915	210

Campus recreation programs		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.80	2.77	2.82	2.97	2.78	2.78
5: Very strong infl.	%	9.1	9.5	8.8	13.4	8.8	7.8
4: Strong influence	%	17.7	16.8	18.5	19.0	17.6	17.4
3: Moderate infl.	%	34.1	33.6	34.5	34.3	33.7	37.6
2: Weak influence	%	22.0	21.9	22.0	17.2	22.8	19.3
1: Very weak infl.	%	17.1	18.2	16.2	16.0	17.1	18.0
Total	N	3181	1448	1733	268	2591	322

Contact with a faculty or staff member		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.46	2.51	2.41	2.85	2.42	2.37
5: Very strong infl.	%	8.3	10.5	6.7	15.5	7.8	5.8
4: Strong influence	%	13.6	13.8	13.4	16.5	13.6	10.1
3: Moderate infl.	%	23.8	22.8	24.6	25.8	22.9	29.0
2: Weak influence	%	24.2	22.4	25.6	22.2	24.3	25.6
1: Very weak infl.	%	30.1	30.5	29.8	20.1	31.4	29.5
Total	N	1992	869	1123	194	1591	207

Attendance at a College Fair		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.30	2.36	2.25	2.70	2.26	2.28
5: Very strong infl.	%	4.6	5.8	3.7	12.2	3.9	4.0
4: Strong influence	%	10.3	11.8	9.1	13.4	9.9	10.7
3: Moderate infl.	%	27.6	27.3	27.8	30.8	27.0	29.8
2: Weak influence	%	25.2	22.7	27.2	19.8	26.4	20.4
1: Very weak infl.	%	32.2	32.3	32.2	23.8	32.7	35.1
Total	N	2047	907	1140	172	1650	225

Publications from NC State		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.30	2.35	2.26	2.74	2.26	2.33
5: Very strong infl.	%	3.6	4.0	3.2	9.1	3.1	2.3
4: Strong influence	%	10.3	11.3	9.5	16.4	9.5	11.6
3: Moderate infl.	%	30.2	30.0	30.3	35.0	28.9	36.0
2: Weak influence	%	25.0	25.5	24.5	18.2	26.6	17.1
1: Very weak infl.	%	31.0	29.2	32.5	21.4	31.8	32.9
Total	N	2587	1191	1396	220	2109	258

Number of hours transferred/credited		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.25	2.25	2.24	2.41	2.20	2.48
5: Very strong infl.	%	4.4	4.8	4.1	6.7	4.0	5.2
4: Strong influence	%	9.5	9.3	9.6	11.2	8.5	14.9
3: Moderate infl.	%	26.2	26.0	26.4	27.4	25.6	29.9
2: Weak influence	%	26.2	26.4	26.0	25.7	26.7	22.8
1: Very weak infl.	%	33.8	33.6	33.9	29.1	35.1	27.2
Total	N	2349	1027	1322	179	1902	268

Letter from outside Admissions Office		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.18	2.22	2.15	2.63	2.13	2.14
5: Very strong infl.	%	4.9	5.8	4.1	11.9	4.2	3.2
4: Strong influence	%	9.0	9.2	8.9	11.0	8.5	11.1
3: Moderate infl.	%	22.8	23.1	22.5	31.9	21.6	23.0
2: Weak influence	%	26.1	25.1	26.9	19.0	27.5	21.7
1: Very weak infl.	%	37.2	36.8	37.5	26.2	38.1	41.0
Total	N	2137	983	1154	210	1710	217

Other		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.92	4.24	3.70	3.93	3.96	3.71
5: Very strong infl.	%	49.5	56.9	44.4	50.0	50.7	41.7
4: Strong influence	%	20.7	24.4	18.1	18.2	21.3	18.8
3: Moderate infl.	%	14.0	11.3	15.9	15.9	12.3	22.9
2: Weak influence	%	4.3	1.3	6.5	6.8	4.3	2.1
1: Very weak infl.	%	11.5	6.3	15.1	9.1	11.3	14.6
Total	N	392	160	232	44	300	48

Back to Means by Gender/Ethnicity for Survey Item #5
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For more information on the 2006 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: February, 2007

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