North Carolina State University
2007 First-Year Student Survey:
Frequency Distributions of Survey Item #4
(Factors Influencing Decision to Attend)

This document reports the frequency distributions by gender and race/ethnicity of survey item #4 of the Fall 2007 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		4.10	4.11	4.09	4.33	4.09	3.98
5: Very strong influence	%	35.6	36.0	35.3	54.0	34.0	32.1
4: Strong influence	%	42.2	42.5	42.0	28.6	44.1	39.6
3: Moderate influence	%	19.5	19.2	19.7	15.1	19.3	24.0
2: Weak influence	%	1.8	1.4	2.0	0.5	1.8	2.6
1: Very weak influence	%	0.9	0.9	1.0	1.8	0.7	1.6
Total	N	4376	1969	2407	398	3486	492

Availability of program		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.84	3.80	3.88	3.94	3.85	3.69
5: Very strong influence	%	35.9	34.5	37.0	40.8	36.3	29.1
4: Strong influence	%	28.5	28.7	28.3	27.9	28.1	32.0
3: Moderate influence	%	23.6	24.0	23.2	20.8	23.8	24.7
2: Weak influence	%	7.9	7.9	7.9	5.4	8.3	7.5
1: Very weak influence	%	4.1	4.8	3.5	5.1	3.6	6.7
Total	N	4248	1912	2336	390	3380	478

Level of support for my intended major		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.81	3.71	3.90	4.00	3.81	3.68
5: Very strong influence	%	36.3	32.5	39.3	43.2	36.3	30.6
4: Strong influence	%	27.3	27.2	27.3	27.5	27.1	28.5
3: Moderate influence	%	23.0	24.7	21.7	19.4	23.0	26.1
2: Weak influence	%	8.4	9.8	7.2	6.3	8.6	8.5
1: Very weak influence	%	5.0	5.8	4.5	3.7	5.0	6.4
Total	N	4166	1856	2310	382	3313	471

Acceptance into First Year College		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.78	3.86	3.70	3.92	3.75	3.89
5: Very strong influence	%	34.7	39.2	30.3	42.2	33.5	35.8
4: Strong influence	%	28.6	27.4	29.7	24.1	29.2	28.4
3: Moderate influence	%	23.4	20.8	25.9	20.5	23.5	25.9
2: Weak influence	%	6.9	5.8	8.1	9.6	6.3	8.6
1: Very weak influence	%	6.4	6.8	5.9	3.6	7.5	1.2
Total	N	735	365	370	83	571	81

Facilities and resources available		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.72	3.70	3.74	3.95	3.71	3.64
5: Very strong influence	%	26.5	25.9	26.9	39.9	25.3	23.4
4: Strong influence	%	33.5	33.3	33.7	27.5	34.2	33.6
3: Moderate influence	%	28.8	29.2	28.5	23.9	29.3	29.3
2: Weak influence	%	8.1	8.3	7.8	4.8	8.1	10.8
1: Very weak influence	%	3.1	3.3	3.0	3.8	3.1	2.9
Total	N	4291	1932	2359	393	3416	482

Location		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.60	3.69	3.52	3.72	3.58	3.62
5: Very strong influence	%	24.7	27.6	22.4	29.4	24.0	25.9
4: Strong influence	%	31.5	32.1	30.9	30.2	31.5	32.2
3: Moderate influence	%	28.2	26.3	29.8	27.9	28.5	26.6
2: Weak influence	%	10.0	9.3	10.6	7.8	10.4	8.9
1: Very weak influence	%	5.6	4.6	6.3	4.8	5.5	6.4
Total	N	4308	1959	2349	398	3428	482

Recommended		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.36	3.42	3.32	3.30	3.39	3.27
5: Very strong influence	%	21.6	22.9	20.6	21.4	22.2	17.9
4: Strong influence	%	26.8	27.2	26.5	23.9	27.1	27.0
3: Moderate influence	%	27.3	27.3	27.3	29.7	26.6	30.3
2: Weak influence	%	14.9	14.3	15.3	13.6	15.2	13.5
1: Very weak influence	%	9.4	8.3	10.3	11.4	8.9	11.3
Total	N	4044	1833	2211	360	3225	459

Campus visit prior to orientation		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.20	3.34	3.07	3.62	3.18	2.98
5: Very strong influence	%	15.9	19.8	12.7	30.8	14.8	11.9
4: Strong influence	%	26.6	27.9	25.5	24.9	27.2	23.5
3: Moderate influence	%	30.5	29.0	31.7	27.8	30.8	30.0
2: Weak influence	%	15.2	13.4	16.7	9.2	15.3	19.6
1: Very weak influence	%	11.8	10.0	13.4	7.4	11.9	15.0
Total	N	3695	1677	2018	338	2970	387

Cost		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.14	3.07	3.19	3.21	3.09	3.41
5: Very strong influence	%	15.8	14.1	17.1	19.9	14.6	20.9
4: Strong influence	%	22.5	21.9	23.0	18.9	22.0	29.0
3: Moderate influence	%	33.9	34.6	33.3	35.6	34.4	28.6
2: Weak influence	%	15.4	15.8	15.1	13.3	15.9	13.5
1: Very weak influence	%	12.4	13.5	11.5	12.2	13.1	8.0
Total	N	4141	1862	2279	376	3300	465

Contact with a current student		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.09	3.23	2.98	3.07	3.11	2.93
5: Very strong influence	%	15.8	19.7	12.6	18.1	16.0	12.9
4: Strong influence	%	23.6	25.3	22.3	20.4	24.3	21.4
3: Moderate influence	%	29.1	26.3	31.4	27.8	29.1	29.8
2: Weak influence	%	16.6	15.2	17.8	18.4	16.3	17.7
1: Very weak influence	%	14.8	13.5	15.9	15.4	14.3	18.2
Total	N	3476	1582	1894	299	2798	379

Size		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.97	3.10	2.86	3.20	2.95	2.86
5: Very strong influence	%	11.0	12.4	9.7	16.1	10.4	10.4
4: Strong influence	%	20.8	23.5	18.6	20.7	21.2	18.2
3: Moderate influence	%	34.9	35.2	34.6	39.1	34.5	34.3
2: Weak influence	%	20.8	19.2	22.1	15.8	21.2	21.5
1: Very weak influence	%	12.6	9.7	15.1	8.3	12.7	15.6
Total	N	4173	1904	2269	386	3326	461

Extracurricular opportunities		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		3.03	3.12	2.97	3.48	3.00	2.92
5: Very strong influence	%	12.7	14.5	11.3	24.4	11.8	9.4
4: Strong influence	%	22.7	22.8	22.6	28.9	22.0	22.3
3: Moderate influence	%	33.1	33.7	32.7	26.1	33.8	33.8
2: Weak influence	%	18.1	18.0	18.3	12.2	18.7	19.5
1: Very weak influence	%	13.3	11.1	15.2	8.5	13.6	15.0
Total	N	3754	1705	2049	353	2975	426

Scholarships/financial aid available		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.94	3.02	2.87	3.84	2.78	3.16
5: Very strong influence	%	18.7	21.5	16.3	43.9	14.8	22.8
4: Strong influence	%	14.1	13.4	14.7	15.6	13.5	17.1
3: Moderate influence	%	27.3	27.3	27.4	26.2	27.5	26.8
2: Weak influence	%	22.0	21.0	22.9	9.4	23.9	20.4
1: Very weak influence	%	17.9	16.9	18.7	4.9	20.3	12.9
Total	N	3728	1699	2029	385	2917	426

Contact with a graduate		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.78	2.84	2.73	2.70	2.81	2.59
5: Very strong influence	%	12.8	14.7	11.4	15.1	13.2	7.6
4: Strong influence	%	18.1	19.0	17.3	14.1	18.5	17.0
3: Moderate influence	%	26.4	23.7	28.3	24.9	26.3	28.0
2: Weak influence	%	19.8	21.0	18.9	17.1	19.9	21.2
1: Very weak influence	%	23.0	21.6	24.0	28.8	22.1	26.1
Total	N	2702	1167	1535	205	2233	264

Campus recreation programs		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.89	2.87	2.91	3.20	2.87	2.80
5: Very strong influence	%	9.4	9.3	9.4	16.7	8.8	7.2
4: Strong influence	%	20.4	19.7	21.0	22.8	20.4	18.6
3: Moderate influence	%	35.5	35.4	35.6	35.9	35.1	37.9
2: Weak influence	%	19.4	20.4	18.5	12.8	20.0	19.8
1: Very weak influence	%	15.3	15.2	15.5	11.9	15.6	16.6
Total	N	3637	1625	2012	329	2904	404

Contact with a faculty or staff member		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.42	2.49	2.37	2.76	2.38	2.43
5: Very strong influence	%	6.6	7.1	6.2	9.6	6.1	7.4
4: Strong influence	%	13.7	14.8	12.9	20.9	13.4	10.0
3: Moderate influence	%	24.8	24.8	24.8	28.5	23.7	29.4
2: Weak influence	%	24.9	26.1	23.9	18.1	25.8	24.5
1: Very weak influence	%	30.0	27.1	32.2	22.9	31.0	28.6
Total	N	2502	1106	1396	249	1984	269

Attendance at a College Fair		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.28	2.34	2.24	2.78	2.21	2.31
5: Very strong influence	%	4.1	4.8	3.5	12.3	3.2	2.8
4: Strong influence	%	10.3	10.3	10.4	14.6	9.6	11.4
3: Moderate influence	%	27.4	28.4	26.5	32.8	26.5	28.3
2: Weak influence	%	26.2	27.0	25.5	19.8	26.7	29.1
1: Very weak influence	%	31.9	29.4	34.1	20.6	34.1	28.3
Total	N	2282	1037	1245	253	1775	254

Publications from NC State		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.23	2.25	2.21	2.73	2.16	2.27
5: Very strong influence	%	3.6	3.4	3.8	8.0	3.0	3.8
4: Strong influence	%	8.6	9.2	8.1	15.6	7.7	8.3
3: Moderate influence	%	27.4	27.4	27.3	37.4	25.9	28.8
2: Weak influence	%	28.1	28.9	27.3	19.4	29.1	28.8
1: Very weak influence	%	32.3	31.0	33.4	19.7	34.3	30.4
Total	N	2815	1283	1532	289	2213	313

Number of hours transferred/credited		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.24	2.23	2.24	2.54	2.17	2.44
5: Very strong influence	%	4.6	3.9	5.1	8.6	3.9	6.0
4: Strong influence	%	8.3	9.4	7.3	14.7	7.3	10.1
3: Moderate influence	%	26.1	25.9	26.2	25.7	25.3	31.3
2: Weak influence	%	28.2	27.3	29.0	24.1	28.9	27.1
1: Very weak influence	%	32.8	33.4	32.3	26.9	34.6	25.6
Total	N	2753	1271	1482	245	2172	336

Letter from outside Admissions Office		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		2.19	2.25	2.13	2.69	2.11	2.25
5: Very strong influence	%	4.8	4.8	4.7	10.2	4.1	4.2
4: Strong influence	%	8.8	10.4	7.4	16.1	7.7	9.3
3: Moderate influence	%	22.7	22.4	23.0	27.7	21.5	26.6
2: Weak influence	%	27.5	29.2	26.0	24.5	28.0	27.3
1: Very weak influence	%	36.2	33.1	38.8	21.5	38.7	32.5
Total	N	2539	1187	1352	274	1976	289

Other		NCSU	Women	Men	AfAm	White	Other
Mean		4.04	4.41	3.80	4.02	4.11	3.52
5: Very strong influence	%	56.9	70.3	48.2	56.6	59.8	35.7
4: Strong influence	%	13.6	13.9	13.4	17.0	12.1	21.4
3: Moderate influence	%	15.3	7.3	20.6	9.4	15.5	21.4
2: Weak influence	%	4.8	3.6	5.5	5.7	5.0	2.4
1: Very weak influence	%	9.3	4.8	12.3	11.3	7.7	19.0
Total	N	418	165	253	53	323	42

Back to Means by Gender/Ethnicity for Survey Item #4
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For more information on the 2007 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: March, 2008

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