North Carolina State University
2002 Sophomore Student Survey:
Executive Summary
(Report No. 1)

Survey Methods

• NC State conducted its annual survey of sophomore students during the spring 2002 semester. Eligible students had completed 45-59 credit hours, with at least 30 at NC State.
• The response rate for the survey was 76.4 percent. 72.1 percent of Sophomores completed the survey on the World Wide Web, and another 4.3 percent completed paper and pencil copies distributed by their academic advisors.
• Respondents did not differ from the sophomore student class in gender, race/ethnicity, or college.
• The margin of error for the survey is +0.6 for all respondents, and about +3.0 for small subgroups (e.g., African Americans).

Trend Analyses

• With few exceptions, results from the 2002 Sophomore Survey are more positive than those from the 2000 Sophomore Survey.
• For reports on the 1998, 1999, and 2000 Sophomore Surveys, go to https://isa.ncsu.edu/srvy . The Sophomore Trend report will be updated to include the 2002 survey results by January, 2003.

Background and Interests

• 90 percent of respondents plan to complete their degree at NC State. White respondents, however, were more likely than minority respondents to say they would definitely choose to attend NC State if they could start over.
• About 14 percent of respondents were employed and working 20 hours per week or more, and 47 percent were employed and working less than 20 hours per week. About 40 percent of employed respondents were working in jobs related to their major. Non-African American minority students were somewhat more likely than whites and African Americans to be working in jobs not directly related to their major. However, employed non-African American minority respondents reported working slightly fewer hours per week than employed whites and African Americans.
• The vast majority of students who feel it is "very important" to experience a sense of belonging to NC State said they have that experience to at least some extent (88.3%).
• More than one-third of respondents said they participated in intramurals/recreational sports/club teams (38.9%), organizations/clubs related to [their] major (37.9%), and academic (Honor Programs, etc.) groups (31.2%). Women were more likely than men to participate in all activities except those related to sports or student government -- activities in which men were more likely than women to participate. For the most part participation in the activities asked about reflects the racial distribution at NC State. Large numbers of minority respondents, however, reported participating in residence hall council, Union Activities Board/student media, and minority student groups.

Campus Climate

• While respondents were generally satisfied with issues related to diversity at NC State, on average African Americans and other minority respondents were less satisfied than whites. White respondents' opinion that NC State leadership fosters diversity on campus has grown increasingly more positive since the question was first asked on the 1998 Sophomore Survey, while ratings from African Americans' have held fairly steady since the 1999 survey. In the current survey Whites were three times more likely than minority respondents to strongly agree that NC State leadership fosters diversity on campus (34.5% vs 10.7% [African Americans] and 11.3% [other minorities]). Whites were also much more likely than African Americans and other minority respondents to strongly agree that NC State is committed to helping minorities succeed (44.2%, 13.1%, and 21.8%, respectively).
• Of the different student groups asked about, respondents were most likely to say the campus is most supportive of men, women, and African Americans, and least supportive of gay and lesbian students. White respondents were consistently more likely than minority respondents to say the campus is "strongly supportive" of the different groups asked about. Women were more likely than men to say the campus is "strongly supportive" of men.

Academic Environment

• About 90 percent of respondents said that NC State is satisfying their goals for intellectual growth (90.1%), and rated the overall education they were getting at NC State as good or excellent (89.4%). Whites, however, gave higher ratings than minority respondents to both areas.
• About 90 percent of respondents, with no differences between racial/ethnic groups, rated the intellectual environment as strong or very strong (89.4%).
• Over one-fourth of respondents (27.9%) said that during their time at NC State they had had 3 or more classes which had been too large to learn effectively, a decrease from 36.3 percent in the 2000 Sophomore Survey. In the current survey over one-fourth of respondents (27.5%) said they had had 3 or more classes in which the instructor�s spoken English was difficult to understand, an increase from 20 percent in the 2000 survey.
• Over 80 percent of respondents (83.4%) gave positive ratings to the overall quality of instruction. Ratings given faculty contributions to student learning were slightly more positive than those found in the 2000 Sophomore Survey, A majority of respondents in the current survey rated faculty�s contribution to their educational experience as at least "good" in all areas asked about. Respondents gave highest average ratings for setting high expectation for students to learn and for encouraging students to devote time to coursework. Lowest ratings were given to faculty caring about your academic success. Women and whites gave higher ratings than their respective counterparts to faculty on each of the 9 areas asked about.

Student Services

• A large majority of respondents (83.8%) felt the campus has taken sufficient steps to ensure their physical safely. Whites, however, were more likely than minority respondents to feel this way.
• Ratings for academic advising, academic assistance and tutoring, and the bookstore were all more positive in the 2002 survey than in the 2000 survey, while ratings for career services declined. Overall, sophomore respondents in the current survey were most satisfied with library and technology services, and least satisfied with new student orientation services and the bookstore. However, while their ratings have improved since the 2000 survey, training services to use both the library and campus technology were also given relatively low ratings.
• Highest ratings for non-academic services were given to extra-curricular activities, the registration process, and campus health services, and lowest ratings to campus food services. African Americans and women gave notably higher average ratings than their respective counterparts to opportunities to develop leadership skills and opportunities to participate in community service projects.
• More than 80 percent of African Americans (83.1%) and two-thirds of other minorities (65.6%), compared to 51 percent of white respondents, had some form of financial aid at NC State. Majorities of all those with financial aid gave positive ratings to the customer service skills of financial aid staff.

Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Development

• One-third or more of respondents said NC State had met their needs for intellectual growth (45.9%), personal growth (37.6%), and career training (34.1%) "very well."
• On a scale of 1 ("not at all") to 4 ("very much"), NC State�s contribution to 33 of 35 knowledge, skills and personal development goals was rated 3.0 or higher on average. Ratings for NC State's contribution to respondents' growth in various aspects of personal development and in having a broad world view generally increased from those given in the 2000 Sophomore Survey, while ratings for general education goals declined. In general, in the current survey goals related to general education and personal development received higher ratings than goals related to students' world view. African Americans gave slightly higher ratings than whites to NC State's contribution to their development of all general education and personal development goals. Women gave notably higher ratings than men to all goals other than those related to technical or analytic skills.
• Almost two-thirds of respondents (63.4%) said NC State had contributed "very much" to helping them develop their independence and self-reliance.
• Over one-third of respondents said NC State had contributed "very little" or "not at all" to advancing their appreciation of the arts (34.7%), and over one-fourth said NC State had contributed "very little" or "not at all" to their exercising public responsibility (27.0%).

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