North Carolina State University
2007-2008 Graduating Senior Survey:
Executive Summary
Survey Methods
NC State conducted its annual survey of graduating seniors during the 2007-2008 academic year (AY07-08). Eligible students were those who were graduating in December 2007 or May 2008. 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 AY07-08 graduates, excluding those from the College of Design.
The web survey's response rate among all AY07-08 graduates (excluding the College of Design) was 56.9%, with a margin of error of ±0.9 percent. The survey results slightly overrepresent women due to their relatively high response rate. Respondents did not differ from the AY07-08 graduating senior class in terms of race/ethnicity. The Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Education, and Natural Resources are slightly underrepresented among survey respondents, while the College of Humanities and Social Sciences is overrepresented.
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%) or to "prepare for graduate/professional school" (39.4%). Three-fourths of all respondents (75.2%) 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 (21.7%) or part-time (5.0%) after graduation. Only 13.5 percent reported having already accepted a new job to start after graduation. However, this figure is 24.5 percent among those who completed the survey less than 2 months prior to graduation, as compared to only 7.5 percent among those who completed the survey 4 or more months prior to graduation.
One-half of respondents (50.5%) 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. The most commonly reported curricular reasons for taking longer than four years to graduate was changed majors (40.3%), followed by double major/minor (25.8%), and lost credits when transferred (22.2%). Time spent working was also frequently reported, with more than one-fifth (22.6%) giving this reason. Students also reported personal and financial reasons as contributing to their delayed progress.
More than one-fifth of all respondents said they had considered withdrawing or transferring from NC State (19.4%), or had actually left and returned (3.0%). The most commonly reported reasons for considering leaving NC State were personal reasons, (e.g., health, family, or friends) and curriculum/program reasons (e.g., program or major offered), with one-third or more each giving such reasons.
Academic Environment
About 90 percent of respondents (89.6%) said they would recommend NC State to a friend. More than three-fourths (76.7%) of all respondents said they would choose NC State again if they could start over, and 64 percent said they would choose the same major again.
Over 90 percent of respondents rated the intellectual environment on campus as "strong" (63.2%) or "very strong" (30.0%). Similar ratings were given to the overall education at NC State, with 49.9 percent rating it as "excellent" and 44.7 percent rating it as "good."
Respondents gave higher ratings to the quality of instruction in their major (56.4% saying "excellent") than to the overall quality of instruction (33.8% saying "excellent").
Respondents were most likely to give ratings of "excellent" to faculty in setting high expectations for learning (51.7%) and to encouraging that time and energy be devoted to coursework (48.8%). 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., encouraging student-faculty interaction and giving frequent and prompt feedback).
More than 60 percent of respondents indicated having had at least one of several different types of mentoring relationships with a faculty member. About 45 percent reported regularly meeting with a faculty member to get academic guidance (45.7%). Slightly fewer said they regularly met with a faculty member to get professional guidance (38.1%). A substantial number of students also reported working with faculty on campus activities (20.1%) and participating in independent study projects with faculty (21.7%). 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. Virtually all (98.0%) of whites agree (57.5% "strongly") that NC State is committed to helping minority students succeed, compared to 85.4 percent of African Americans (among whom just 27.4% agree "strongly"). Similarly, as compared to 86 percent of whites, 71 percent of African Americans "agree" that NC State leaders foster diversity on campus.
Seventy percent or more 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, and students with disabilities). In contrast, only half of respondents (51.2%), 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 lower ratings to service related to research support 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 interview preparation skills and opportunities to do research/creative projects.
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 three-fourths or more respondents. University Career Center (37.9%), opportunities for recreational activities (37.1%), and registration process (37.1%) were most likely to be rated as "excellent." Staff associated with the non-academic services also received positive ratings from more than 70 percent of respondents. Most likely to be rated "excellent" were staff associated with the University Career Center (41.0%) and the campus counseling (not career) services (37.8%).
Almost half (48.8%) of those respondents receiving financial aid were "very satisfied" with their aid package, with another 43.9 percent saying they were "moderately satisfied." One-third or more respondents also rated financial aid advisor staff (43.6%), reception staff (39.3%), and phone staff (36.0%) as "excellent."
Knowledge, Skills and Personal Development
More than two-thirds of respondents (68.1%) 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 (56.7%) and even less likely to say that their career training needs were "very well" met (41.7%).
Respondents were asked to rate NC State's contribution to 37 specific goals for undergraduate education. 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 general education goals of contributing to their ability to critically analyze ideas and information (65.9%) and to plan and carry out projects independently (65.4%), and the personal development goals of developing potential for success (67.2%), personal growth (66.2%), and independence and self-reliance (65.4%).
Respondents were least likely to say NC State contributed "very much" to their development of public responsibility/community service (35.2%), commitment to personal health/fitness (37.3%), and an appreciation of the arts (39.9%).
Employment and Extra-Curricular Involvement
Three-fourths of respondents (75.9%) indicated that they were employed during their graduation year. Overall, about two-thirds of employed respondents worked off campus only (64.8%), about 17 percent worked both on and off campus, and 18 percent worked on campus only. Respondents most commonly reported working in order to pay basic living expenses, such as rent and groceries.
Employed students worked an average of 22 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 (38.8% vs. 8.7%).
Students working on campus (33.1%) were slightly more likely than those working off campus (28.9%) to have jobs directly related to their major.
More than one-third of respondents (36.8%) had a co-op, internship, practicum or field experience while at NC State, and more than two-thirds of those respondents (68.9%) said it made an "excellent" contribution to their personal or professional growth. More than one-third of all respondents with such experience said they received a job offer from their employer (34.2%).
From a list of 17 extracurricular activities, respondents were most likely to report participation in organizations/clubs related to their major (49.7%), followed by participation in intramural/recreational sports/club teams (41.5%). More than one-third of respondents said they had attended a University Theatre performance (34.4%), and more than one-fourth a Gallery of Art and Design exhibit (27.2%), and a Music Department concert (28.6%).
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, 2009
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