North Carolina State University
2001-2002 Graduating Senior Survey:
Executive Summary
(Report No. 1)

• NC State conducted its annual survey of graduating seniors during the 2001-2002 academic year (AY01-02). Eligible students were those who were graduating in December 2001 or May 2002. The survey's response rate among all AY01-02 graduates was 58.9%.
• Academic units chose whether their seniors would take Web or paper versions of the survey. Spring graduates were more likely than fall graduates to have completed the survey.
• Respondents did not differ from the AY01-02 graduating senior class in gender or race/ethnicity. College of Design and College of Textiles graduates were underrepresented in the sample due to the relatively low response rates among students in these colleges.
• The margin of error for the survey is +0.9 percent for all respondents.
• With few exceptions results are similar to those from last year's survey.

• Non-African American minorities were more likely than African Americans and whites to say their primary goal in attending NC State was to "prepare for graduate or professional school" (43.8%, 37.2% and 34.7%, respectively). Women were also much more likely than men to say their primary goal was to "prepare for graduate or professional school" (44.4% vs. 28.5%), while men were more likely than women to say their primary objective was to "prepare for a new career" (45.2% vs 39.8%).
• Over 70 percent of all respondents (70.6%) said they "fully accomplished" their primary goal. Racial minorities were less likely than whites to have said they "fully accomplished" their goal.
• Almost half of those earning their degree through an off-campus degree program said they "probably would not" have completed their degree if not for the off-campus program (15.0%), or that it was "not likely" (30.8%) that they would have done so.
• One-fourth of all respondents said they were planning on going to graduate or professional school either full-time (20.9%) or part-time (4.2%). Non-African American minorities were more likely than whites and African Americans to plan on going to graduate/professional school full time (25.7%, 20.7%, and 19.4%, respectively).

• Almost 90 percent of respondents (88.0%) said they would recommend NC State to a friend.
• While more than three-fourths (77.4%) of all respondents said they would choose NC State again if they could start over, African Americans were more than twice as likely as whites to say they would not do so (18.8% vs 7.3%).
• Almost two-thirds (63.7%) of all respondents said they would choose the same major again. African American and non-African American minorities, however, were more likely than whites to say they would not choose the same major (25.7%, 20.3%, and 14.5% respectively).
• About 90 percent of respondents rated the intellectual environment on campus as "strong" (69.0%) or "very strong" (20.7%). Large majorities of respondents also gave positive ratings to the overall education they received at NC State.
• Although large majorities gave positive ratings to instruction, respondents were much more likely to rate the quality of instruction in the major as "excellent' (45.3%) than they were to rate the overall quality of instruction as "excellent" (15.5%). In general whites gave higher ratings to the various academic environment measures than did minority respondents.
• Highest average ratings were given to faculty setting high expectations for learning (3.3) and to encouraging that time and energy be devoted to coursework (3.3). 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.

• While majorities of students said they believe the campus environment is at least moderately supportive of various groups of people at the university, almost 20 percent said the campus is either "mildly" (12.1%) or "strongly nonsupportive" (5.2%) 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.
• Less than 10 percent of African American respondents (8.3%) "strongly agree" that NC State is committed to helping minority students succeed, compared to 25.4 percent of non-African American minorities and 43.5 percent of whites. Over one-third of African Americans "disagree somewhat" (30.1%) or "disagree strongly" (5.1%) that NC State is committed to helping minority students succeed. Similarly, about 45 percent of African American respondents disagree either "somewhat" (30.3%) or "strongly" (14.8%) that there is visible leadership on campus to foster diversity. About 20 percent of white respondents (18.0%) and 25 percent of non-African American minority respondents gave such ratings.

• Respondents gave positive ratings to the different types of academic services listed. Respondents tended to give highest ratings to technology, library, and career-related services, and lowest rating to research support services. Among the 26 individual items highest ratings were given to the library's hours of operation and access to the Internet. The three lowest ratings all went to items related to training: access to trained technology staff, technology training classes, and to training to use the library. In general women and African Americans tended to give slightly higher ratings to academic services than did their respective counterparts.
• Non-academic services tended to receive lower ratings than academic services. However, each of the non-academic services asked about was rated as at least "good" by two-thirds or more respondents with two exceptions: campus food services, and financial aid services disbursement process. Opportunities for recreational activities (43.9%), library services (39.4%), and registration process (37.6%) were most likely to be rated as "excellent."
• In general, respondents were slightly more likely to rate the staff associated with a given service as "excellent" than they were to rate the service itself as "excellent." Largest differences in ratings were for staff associated with campus food services, non-career campus counseling and university planning and placement services. Staff associated with the registration process, however, received notably lower ratings than did the registration process more generally.
• The vast majority of those respondents receiving financial aid were satisfied with their aid package (91.0%). Majorities also gave positive rating to the financial aid advisor staff (71.4%), reception staff (68.9%), and phone staff (61.9%).

• A majority of respondents (56.0%) said NC State met their intellectual growth needs "very well." Respondents were slightly less positive about the other areas; 48.3 percent said their personal growth needs were met "very well," and only 31.6 percent said this about their career training needs. Women were more likely to have given high ratings to NC State's contribution to their personal growth, and whites were more likely than racial minorities to have done so in the area of intellectual growth.
• Respondents were asked to rate NC State's contribution to 35 goals for their undergraduate education. On a scale of 1 ("none") to 4 ("very much"), only 1of the 35 items received mean ratings below 3.0. Higher ratings were given to general education and personal development goals than to world view goals.
• Women tended to rate personal development and world view goals higher than did men. Racial minorities tended to rate NC State's contribution to world view and general education goals higher than did whites.
• On average, highest ratings were given by all respondents to enhancing analytic skills (3.7), ability to plan and carry out projects independently (3.6), ability to critically analyze ideas and information (3.6), and developing computer skills (3.6).
• Lowest ratings were given to the university�s contribution to a number of world view goals: appreciating gender equity (3.1), appreciating racial equity (3.1), and advancing appreciation of the arts (2.8), and to the personal development goals commitment to personal health and fitness (3.0), and exercising public responsibility and community service (3.0).

• 80 percent of respondents indicated that they were employed during their graduation year. 60 percent of African American respondents, 42.9% of whites, and 39.6% of non-African American minorities who were employed were working more than 20 hours per week. Less than one-third (31.6%) of all employed respondents were working in jobs that were directly related to their major, although women and African Americans were less likely than their respective counterparts to have said this was the case.
• Almost half (48.9%) of respondents had a co-op, internship, practicum or field experience while at NC State, and almost two-thirds of them (64.0%) said it made an "excellent" contribution to their personal or professional growth. About one-third (31.2%) of those with such experience said they received a job offer from their employer. African Americans tended to rate their co-op experiences less positively than did white and non-African American minorities, and fewer reported that they had received a job offer from their employer.

For more information on the 2001-2002 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