North
Carolina State University
2004-2005 Graduating Senior Survey:
Executive Summary
Survey Methods
- NC State conducted its annual
survey of graduating seniors during the 2004-2005 academic year (AY04-05).
Eligible students were those who were graduating in December 2004 or May 2005.
However, due to extremely low participation rates, College of Design graduates
have been excluded from the survey population and all analyses. Results, therefore,
are generalizable to all NC State AY04-05 graduates, minus those from the
College of Design.
- The web survey's response rate
among all AY04-05 graduates (minus the College of Design) was 61.4%. The survey
results slightly overrepresent women due to their relatively high response
rate. Respondents did not differ from the AY04-05 graduating senior class
in terms of race/ethnicity. Each college included in the survey population
is accurately represented among survey respondents, with similar proportions
of survey respondents and graduating class members.
- The margin of error for the survey
is +0.8 percent for all respondents.
- With few exceptions, results are
similar to those from last year's survey.
Student Goals and Intentions
- Respondents were most likely to
have said their primary goal for attending NC State was to "prepare for
a new career or profession" (43.4%). Over one-third of respondents (35.3%)
said their primary goal was to "prepare for graduate or professional school."
Women were more likely than men (39.5% vs. 31.2%) to say their goal was to
prepare for further education.
- Almost three-fourths of all respondents
(73.9%) said they "fully accomplished" their primary goal. Racial/ethnic minorities
were less likely than whites to have said they "fully accomplished" their
goal.
- When asked their plans following
graduation, close to one-fourth of respondents said they planned to go to
graduate or professional school either full-time (19.2%) or part-time (4.9%)
after graduation. Only 10 percent reported accepting a new job to start after
graduation. However, this figure is 22 percent among those who completed the
survey less than 2 months prior to graduation, as compared to only 6 percent
among those who completed the survey 4 or more months prior to graduation.
- More than half of respondents
(54.4%) said it took them longer than four years to graduate. While there
were no substantial racial differences in time to graduate, men were much
more likely than women to report taking longer than four years. Among all
respondents "changed majors" and "hours spent working" were the most common
reasons for taking longer than four years to graduate, but there were noteworthy
gender and racial/ethnic variations in reasons given. Men were more likely
than women to say the reasons for doing so were "wanted or advised to take
a lighter course load," while women were more likely than men to say the reasons
for doing so were "hours spent working" or "personal reasons." African American
respondents were more likely than others to say it was due to "personal reasons"
or "hours spent working," white respondents were more likely to say it was
because they "lost credits when transferred," and non-African American
minorities were more likely to say it was because they had a "double
major or minor" or participated in "study abroad." Both African
American and white respondents were more likely than non-African American
minorities to report "changing majors" as a reason for taking more
than four years to graduate.
- Close to one-fourth of all respondents
said they had considered withdrawing or transferring from NC State (19.5%),
or had actually left and returned (4.0%). African American respondents were
much more likely than whites and non-African American minorities to have left
or considered leaving.
Academic Environment
- Almost 90 percent of respondents
(89.6%) said they would recommend NC State to a friend. More than three-fourths
(77.4%) of all respondents said they would choose NC State again if they could
start over, and close to two-thirds (64.1%) said they would choose the same
major again. Racial minorities were less likely than whites to say they would
choose NC State again if they could start over.
- Over 90 percent of respondents
rated the intellectual environment on campus as "strong" (65.6%) or "very
strong" (26.2%). Similar ratings were given to the overall education at NC State, with 43.6 percent saying "excellent" and 50.6 percent saying "good."
- Respondents gave higher ratings
to the quality of instruction in their major (50.9% saying "excellent")
than to the overall quality of instruction (27.3% saying "excellent").
- Respondents were most likely to
give ratings of "excellent" to faculty in setting high expectations for
learning (48.3%) and to encouraging that time and energy be devoted
to coursework (46.9%). Although still rated as "excellent" or "good" by
majorities of respondents, factors related to faculty involvement with students
on a more individual basis received somewhat lower ratings. Women gave higher
ratings than men and white respondents gave higher ratings than racial/ethnic
minority respondents on all quality of instruction measures.
Campus Climate
- With one exception, more than
60 percent of respondents said they believe the campus environment is at least
mildly supportive of various groups of students (e.g., women, African Americans,
those with disabilities, etc.) at the university. Only 43.8 percent of respondents
rated the campus climate as at least "mildly supportive" of gay and lesbian
students. Women were much more likely than men to say the campus is "strongly
supportive" of men. Whites were much more likely than African Americans
and slightly more likely than non-African American minorities to say the campus
is "strongly supportive" of all groups other than men.
- As compared to more than 50 percent
of white respondents, only about one-fourth of African American and non-African
American students "agree strongly" that NC State is committed
to helping minority students succeed. Similarly, as compared to more than
one-third of white respondents, only 20 percent of African American respondents
and 15 percent of non-African American respondents "agree strongly" that
NC State leaders foster diversity on campus. African American respondents
were six times more likely and non-African American minority respondents three
times more likely than whites to disagree that NC State is committed to minority
student success (23.8%, 10.6%, and 3.6% respectively). African Americans are
about two times more likely than either non-African American minorities or
whites to disagree that NC State leaders foster diversity on campus (35.5%,
19.1%, and 17.5% respectively).
Services for Students
- Respondents were asked to evaluate
academic service items relating to academic advising, research support, technology
services, library services, career-related services, and employment search
assistance. Respondents tended to give the highest ratings to technology
and library services and the lowest ratings to research support
services, although a large majority of respondents gave positive ratings
of "good" or "excellent" to each of the 28 individual items. Among the individual
items, access to the Internet received the highest ratings, followed
by library hours of operation. Lowest ratings were given to access
to trained technology staff, access to faculty involved in research,
and interview preparation skills. Overall, there were few gender or
racial/ethnic differences in ratings for the various services. Women gave
notably higher ratings than men to each of the items related to research support.
White respondents gave notably higher ratings than both African American and
non-African American minority respondents to access to faculty involved
in research.
- Although non-academic services
tended to receive lower ratings than academic services, with the exception
of campus food services, each of the non-academic services asked about
was rated as at least "good" by two-thirds or more respondents. Library
services (43.6%), opportunities for recreational activities (41.9%),
and registration process (39.3%) were most likely to be rated as "excellent."
Women gave lower ratings than men to personal safety on campus and
campus health services. African American respondents gave higher average
ratings than white respondents to library services, bookstore services
and products, campus health services, and campus counseling
(not career) services.
- In general,
respondents gave higher ratings to non-academic services than to the staff
associated with a given service. Staff associated with the registration
process and recreation activities received notably lower ratings
than their respective services. Staff associated with campus food services,
however, received notably higher ratings than did the service itself. Consistent
with ratings for corresponding services, women gave lower ratings than men
to staff associated with personal safety on campus and campus health
services. Ratings for staff varied notably by respondent's race/ethnicity.
African Americans gave higher ratings than whites to staff associated with
financial aid application and award process, financial aid disbursement
process, campus food services, library services, campus
bookstore, campus health services, residence life programs,
and recreation activities, and lower ratings than whites to staff associated
with personal safety on campus, university career center, and
college/department placement services.
- The vast majority of those respondents
receiving financial aid were satisfied with their aid package (92.2%). Three-fourths
or more respondents also gave positive ratings to the financial aid advisor
staff (85.5%), reception staff (80.8%), and phone staff (77.9%).
Knowledge, Skills and Personal Development
- A majority of respondents (60.8%)
said NC State met their intellectual growth needs "very well." Respondents
were slightly less likely to report that their personal growth needs
were "very well" met (51.8%) and even less likely to say that their
career training needs were "very well" met (35.9%). Women
gave higher ratings than men to NC State's contribution to their personal
growth. African American respondents gave lower ratings than both white
and non-African American minority respondents to how well NC State met their
career training needs.
- Respondents were asked to rate
NC State's contribution to 37 goals for their undergraduate education. A majority
of respondents said NC State contributed "very much" to 31 of the 37 goals.
Higher ratings were given to goals related to general education and personal
development than to world view goals.
- Respondents were most likely to
report that NC State contributed "very much" to the personal development goals
of potential for success (72.0%), personal growth (71.4%), and
independence and self-reliance (70.7%), and the general education goals
of ability to plan and carry out projects independently (70.3%), critical
analysis of ideas and information (70.0%), and enhancing analytic skills
(69.4%).
- Women consistently rated goals
related to personal development and to a world view higher than did men. African
American respondents rated NC State's contribution to their development of
world view goals higher than did whites. Non-African American minority respondents
tended to give higher ratings to personal development goals than did whites
and African Americans.
Employment and Extra-Curricular Involvement
- More than three-fourths of respondents
(77.9%) indicated that they were employed during their graduation year. Women
were much more likely than men to have reported being employed during the
year (83% vs. 73%). African Americans (82%) were slightly more likely than
whites (78%) and non-African American minorities (77%) to have been employed.
Respondents most commonly reported working for pay in order to pay living
expenses, such as rent, bills, and groceries.
- Overall, about two-thirds of employed
respondents worked off-campus only. White respondents were much more likely
than African American respondents to be employed off campus only, while African
Americans were much more likely than whites to be employed either on campus,
or both on and off campus.
- Overall, those employed on-campus
worked an average of about 14 hours per week, compared to about 21 hours per
week off-campus, and 29 hours for those working both on- and off-campus. African Americans who worked off-campus only were more likely than whites to report working more than 20 hours per week.
- Among those who worked on campus,
white respondents were more likely than other respondents to be in jobs directly
related to their major. Among those who worked off campus, non-African American
minorities were much more likely to than other respondents to be in jobs directly
related to their major. African Americans were more likely than others to
be in off-campus jobs that were unrelated to their major. They were also more
likely to report that such a situation was "not by choice."
- More
than forty percent of respondents (42.4%) had a co-op, internship, practicum
or field experience while at NC State, and about 70 percent of those respondents
(72.1%) said it made an "excellent" contribution to their personal
or professional growth. African American respondents were slightly less likely
than white respondents to say the experience made an "excellent"
contribution to their personal or professional growth. About 30 percent of
all respondents with such experience (31.4%) said they received a job offer
from their employer. Men, however, were more likely than women to report receiving
such an offer.
- About one-fifth of respondents
(19.4%) reported having participated in a research project with an NC State
faculty member, and a majority of those (55.2%) said such experience made
an "excellent" contribution to their personal and professional growth. Non-African
American minority respondents were most likely, and African American respondents
were least likely to rate such an experience as "excellent."
- Respondents were most likely to
report participation in organizations/clubs related to their major
(49.2%), followed by participation in intramural/recreational sports/club
teams (39.3%) and academic/honors/scholars programs (32.0%). More
than one-fourth of respondents said they had attended University Theatre
performances (39.7%), Gallery of Art and Design exhibits (30.5%),
and Music Department concerts (26.4%).
For more information on the 2004-2005 Graduating Senior 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: October, 2005
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