North Carolina State University
2005-2006 Graduating Senior Survey:
Executive Summary
Survey Methods
NC State conducted its annual survey of graduating seniors during the 2005-2006 academic year (AY05-06). Eligible students were those who were graduating in December 2005 or May 2006. However, due to 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 AY05-06 graduates, minus those from the College of Design.
The web survey's response rate among all AY05-06 graduates (minus the College of Design) was 60.8%, with a margin of error of +0.8 percent. The survey results slightly overrepresent women due to their relatively high response rate. Respondents did not differ from the AY05-06 graduating senior class in terms of race/ethnicity. Agriculture and Life Sciences and Engineering students are slightly underrepresented in the survey population due to their relatively low response rates, while Humanities and Social Sciences students are slightly overrepresented due to their relatively high response rate.
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" (38.8%) or to "prepare for graduate/professional school" (38.8%). Over three-fourths of all respondents (76.3%) said they "fully accomplished" their primary goal.
Over one-fourth of respondents said they planned to go to graduate or professional school either full-time (22.0%) or part-time (4.8%) after graduation. Only 11 percent reported having already accepted a new job to start after graduation. However, this figure is 29.4 percent among those who completed the survey less than 2 months prior to graduation, as compared to only 5.8 percent among those who completed the survey 4 or more months prior to graduation.
About half of respondents (52.2%) said it took them longer than four years to graduate. Respondents gave various reasons for taking longer than 4 years to graduate, most of which were related to academic or curriculum issues, such as changing majors (43.7%), taking a lighter course load (24.7%), having a double major or minor (21.3%), or not being able to get needed classes (20.7%). Significant numbers of students also mentioned various personal reasons (27.3%) and/or hours spent working (25.7%) as contributing to their delayed progress.
One-fourth of all respondents said they had considered withdrawing or transferring from NC State (20.8%), or had actually left and returned (4.2%).
Academic Environment
Almost 90 percent of respondents (89.3%) said they would recommend NC State to a friend. Three-fourths (75.8%) of all respondents said they would choose NC State again if they could start over, and 63.1 percent said they would choose the same major again.
Over 90 percent of respondents rated the intellectual environment on campus as "strong" (66.3%) or "very strong" (26.6%). Similar ratings were given to the overall education at NC State, with 44.3 percent rating it as "excellent" and 50.1 percent saying "good."
Respondents gave higher ratings to the quality of instruction in their major (54.3% 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 (47.5%) and to encouraging that time and energy be devoted to coursework (46.0%). 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 (e.g., giving frequent and prompt feedback, encouraging student-faculty interaction).
About 60 percent of respondents indicated having had at least one of several different types of mentoring relationships with a faculty member. Almost 40 percent reported regularly meeting with a faculty member to get academic guidance (39.1%), and 30.8 percent said they regularly met with a faculty member to get professional guidance. Participating in independent study projects (20.3%), working with faculty on campus activities (18.5%) and non-course related research projects (15.0%) were also reported by a significant number of students. Regardless of the type of mentoring experience, majorities of respondents said it contributed "a great deal" to their personal and/or professional growth.
Campus Climate
There are large racial/ethnic differences in the extent to which students agree that NC State is committed to helping minority students succeed and that NC State leaders foster diversity on campus. Virtually all (97.9%) of whites agree (55.7% "strongly") that NC State is committed to helping minority students succeed, compared to 77.8 percent of African Americans (among whom just 19.3% agree "strongly"). Similarly, close to 90 percent of whites "agree" (38.7% "strongly") that NC State leaders foster diversity on campus, compared to two-thirds of African Americans (among whom just 17.4% agree "strongly").
At least two-thirds of respondents said they believe the campus environment is supportive of 6 out of 7 different groups of students asked about at the university (i.e., women, men, African Americans, ethnic minorities, international students, students with disabilities, and gay and lesbian students). Only about half of respondents, however, rated the campus climate as supportive of gay and lesbian students.
Services for Students
Large majorities of respondents gave positive ratings to academic services related 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 relatively low ratings to research support services and academic advising. 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 and interview preparation skills.
Although non-academic services tended to receive slightly 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 (40.8%) and opportunities for recreational activities (40.6%) were most likely to be rated as "excellent." Staff associated with the non-academic services also received positive ratings from at least two-thirds of respondents. Most likely to be rated "excellent" were staff associated with the library (37.9%) and the University Career Center (37.4%).
Almost half (44.7%) of those respondents receiving financial aid were "very satisfied" with their aid package, with another 44.7 percent reporting being "moderately satisfied." One-third or more respondents also rated financial aid advisor staff (41.6%), reception staff (35.5%), and phone staff (32.6%) as "excellent."
Knowledge, Skills and Personal Development
A majority of respondents (61.2%) 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 (51.1%) and even less likely to say that their career training needs were "very well" met (34.7%).
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 half 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 independence and self-reliance (64.9%), potential for success (64.7%), and personal growth (63.4%), and the general education goals of ability to plan and carry out projects independently (60.8%), critical analysis of ideas and information (59.1%), using library/Internet resources for research (58.8%), and enhancing analytic skills (57.9%).
Respondents were least likely to say NC State contributed "very much" to their development of public responsibility/community service (32.3%), commitment to personal health/fitness (35.2%), and an appreciation of the arts (35.8%).
Employment and Extra-Curricular Involvement
More than three-fourths of respondents (79.2%) indicated that they were employed during their graduation year. Overall, about two-thirds of employed respondents worked off campus only, 16.6 percent worked on campus only, and 15.6 percent worked both on and off campus. Respondents most commonly reported working in order to pay basic living expenses, such as rent, bills, and groceries.
Employed students worked an average of 21.4 hours per week. Students working only off campus were far more likely than those working only on campus to be working more than 20 hours per week (38.9% vs. 9.7%).
Over one-third (35.4%) of students working on campus were in jobs directly related to their major, compared to one-fourth (25.2%) of those working in jobs off campus.
Forty percent of respondents had a co-op, internship, practicum or field experience while at NC State, and about 70 percent of those respondents (69.2%) said it made an "excellent" contribution to their personal or professional growth. About 30 percent of all respondents with such experience said they received a job offer from their employer.
Respondents were most likely to report participation in organizations/clubs related to their major (50.7%), followed by participation in intramural/recreational sports/club teams (38.0%) and academic/honors/scholars programs (31.0%). More than one-third of respondents said they had attended a University Theatre performance (36.2%), and more than one-fourth a Gallery of Art and Design exhibit (28.6%), and a Music Department concert (28.1%).
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, 2006
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