North Carolina State University
2001-2002 Graduating Senior Survey:
All Respondents
(Report No. 3)

This report presents findings from the 2001-2002 Graduating Senior Survey. It describes the overall responses to each survey question within the following topics: student goals and intentions; academic environment and faculty contribution; campus climate, evaluation of student services; knowledge, skills and personal development; and employment and extracurricular activities. For a full discussion of the survey�s methodology, see "2001-2002 Graduating Senior Survey: Introduction, Methods, and Student Demographic Profile." Responses broken down by gender, race/ethnicity, and college, as well as a copy of the survey instrument with exact question wording, are available on the web.

• Educational Goals
• Post-Graduate Plans

Academic Environment and Faculty Contributions

• Satisfaction with Education
• Evaluation of Education
• Faculty Contributions

Campus Climate

Services for Students

• Academic Services
• Non-academic Services
• Financial Aid

Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Development

• General Growth and Training
• Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Growth

Employment and Extracurricular Activities

• Number of Hours Worked
• Job Relationship to Major
• Co-op Experience
• Extracurricular Involvement

Educational Goals (Table 3-1)

Students were asked questions regarding their primary goal or objective in attending NCSU and to what degree that goal or objective was accomplished. Table 3-1 shows goals/objectives and accomplishment. The majority of respondents� primary goal in attending NC State was either to prepare for a career (43.1%) or for graduate or professional school (35.4%). Over 70 percent (70.6%) of all respondents said they "fully accomplished" their goal.

Respondents who said their primary goal was to earn a bachelor�s degree or certificate were most likely to fully accomplish that objective (82.1%). Over 70 percent (71.7%) of the 843 seniors who said their primary goal was to prepare for a new career said they "fully accomplished" their goal. Slightly fewer of those whose primary objective was to prepare for graduate or professional school said they "fully accomplished" their goal (64.7%).

Off-Campus Degree Program (Table 3-2)

Respondents pursuing their degree through an off-campus degree program were asked their likelihood of graduating if the off-campus program had not been available. Just under half of the 107 respondents in an off-campus degree program said that they "probably would not" have graduated (15.0%) or that it was "not likely" that they would have done so (30.8%) had the program not been available.

Post-Graduation Plans (Table 3-3)

At the time they completed the survey 13.5 percent of respondents said they had either already accepted a job for after graduation (9.6%) or would continue in their current position (3.9%). About 40 percent (38.0%) were still seeking employment. About one-fourth said they plan to go on to graduate or professional school, either full-time (20.9%) or part-time (4.2%).

Satisfaction with Education (Table 3-4)

The majority of students appeared to be satisfied with their education at NC State. Almost 90 percent (88.0%) say they would recommend NC State to a friend. More than three-fourths (77.4%) said if they could start over, they would choose NC State again. About two-thirds (63.7%) said they would choose the same major again. Less than 10 percent said they would not choose NC State again (8.4%), and 15.8 percent would not choose the same major again.

Evaluation of Education (Tables 3-5 and 3-6)

Students were asked to give their opinions of the academic environment at NC State. Specifically, they rated the overall education they received, instruction in their major and overall, and the intellectual environment on campus.

Most respondents (91.1%) gave positive ratings to the overall education they had received at NC State. The majority of students were also happy with the quality of instruction they had received, although ratings were much higher for instruction within their major than overall. Forty-five percent of respondents said instruction in their major was "excellent" and another 45.3 percent said it was "good." In comparison, just 15.5 percent rated their overall instruction as "excellent," while two-thirds (66.1%) said it was "good." Finally, over 90 percent of respondents agreed that the intellectual environment on campus was "strong" (69.0%) or "very strong" (20.7%).

Faculty Contributions (Table 3-7)

Students were asked to evaluate how well faculty members in their major department do each of various tasks, using a scale from 1 ("poor") to 4 ("excellent"). "Don�t know" responses were not included in calculations of average ratings. Overall, students were very positive about the contributions faculty in their major department make toward their education. Highest average ratings were given to faculty setting high expectations to learn (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.

Campus Climate (Tables 3-8 and 3-9)

Students were asked to rate what they perceived to be the general attitude on campus towards various groups of people. A majority of respondents felt the campus climate was at least "mildly supportive" toward each of the groups asked about, with one exception. Just one-third of respondents felt the campus climate was at least "mildly supportive" towards gay and lesbian students, while another 17.3 percent thought it was either "mildly" (12.1%) or "strongly nonsupportive" (5.2%) towards them.

Most respondents (92.8%) agreed either "strongly" (39.3%) or "somewhat" (53.5%) that NC State is committed to helping minority students succeed. They were slightly less likely to agree that NC State has visible leadership from the Chancellor and other administrators to foster diversity on campus (28.3% "agree strongly," 50.9% "agree somewhat").

Table 3-9: Support for Diversity

	Mean	4: Agree strongly	3: Agree somewhat	2: Disagree somewhat	1: Disagree strongly
NCSU is committed to minority students succees	3.31	39.3%	53.5%	5.8%	1.4%
NCSU leaders foster diversity on campus	3.02	28.3%	50.9%	15.1%	5.7%

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Survey respondents were instructed to evaluate various academic and non-academic services provided by NC State, based on their experiences within the last two years on campus. Ratings ranged from 1 ("poor") to 4 ("excellent"). The "don�t know/did not use" option available for those students with insufficient experience to evaluate a service area was excluded from analyses.

Academic Services (Table 3-10)

Academic services encompassed six primary areas: academic advising, research support, technology services, library services, career-related services, and employment search assistance. In general respondents gave highest ratings to technology, library, and career-related services, and lowest ratings to research support. However, each of the 28 individual academic service items asked about received positive ratings. Among the individual items highest ratings were give to the library's hours of operation and access to the Internet, with average ratings of 3.7 and 3.6 respectively. Only 3 items, all related to training, had average ratings less than 3.0: access to trained technology staff (2.8), technology training classes (2.9), and to training to use the library (2.9).

Academic Advising: About three-fourths or more of the respondents gave high ratings to each of the various aspects of academic advising in their major asked about. Forty-five percent or more rated access to advisor (47.4%), accurate information about degree requirements and course sequencing (45.8%), and sufficient time with advisor (44.7%) as "excellent."

Research Support: Although this area received lower ratings in general than the other five areas asked about , each of the three items related to research support received an average rating of 3.0

Technology Services: Almost 70 percent (68.1%)of respondents rated access to the Internet as "excellent." More than 45 percent of respondents rated hours of operation for computer center, labs, and help desks (47.4%) and access to up-to-date facilities (45.8%) as "excellent." Access to trained technology staff for help (2.8) and technology training classes (2.9), however, had among the lowest average ratings of all academic services asked about. Over one-third of respondents rated access to trained technology staff for help as either "fair" (27.0%) or "poor" (9.1%).

Library Services: Almost three fourths (72.2%) of respondents rated library hours of operation as "excellent." About half rated staff responsiveness (47.3%) and access to databases and collections (51.0%) as excellent. Training to use the library received lower ratings with almost 30 percent rating it as "fair" (21.8%) or "poor" (6.8%).

Career-related Services: All career related services received an average rating of between 3.1 and 3.2.

Employment Services: Highest average ratings for employment services were for access to career fairs, job listings, etc. (3.2). Respondents gave slightly lower ratings to interview preparation skills (3.0), with about one-fourth rating this service as "fair" (16.9%) or "poor" (6.5%).

Non-academic Services (Tables 3-11 and 3-12)

Students were also asked to evaluate a range of non-academic services. For those services involving interaction with staff members (secretaries, tutors, counselors, office workers, etc.), students were also instructed to evaluate the responsiveness of the staff.

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.

Financial Aid (Tables 3-13 and 3-14)

Over 60 percent of respondents (61.2%) said they received some sort of financial aid. The vast majority of these respondents said they were either "very" (43.4%) or "moderately satisfied" (47.6%) with the aid package received. Majorities of those receiving aid gave positive ratings to financial aid staff. Financial aid advisor staff (2.9) and reception staff (2.8) got slightly higher average ratings than did the phone staff (2.7).

Table 3-14: Satisfaction with Financial Aid Staff

	Mean	4: Excellent	3: Good	2: Fair	1: Poor
Rate financial aid advisor staff	2.87	24.5%	46.9%	20.1%	8.5%
Rate financial aid reception staff	2.80	19.7%	49.2%	22.9%	8.3%
Rate financial aid phone staff	2.66	16.1%	45.8%	26.3%	11.8%

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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General Growth and Training (Table 3-15)

A majority of respondents (56.0%) said NC State contributed "very well" to their intellectual growth. Respondents were less positive about the university�s contribution to their personal growth (48.3%) and career training (31.6%). More than 20 percent of respondents said that NC State contributed only "somewhat adequately" (17.8%) or "poorly" (5.1%) to their career training.

Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Growth (Table 3-16)

Graduating seniors rated the extent to which NC State contributed to 35 factors related to their general education, world views, and personal development, using a scale of 1 ("none") to 4 ("very much"). The majority of respondents said NC State contributed at least "somewhat" to all factors listed. In general, respondents were more likely to say NC State contributed "very much" to their development of general education and personal growth goals than to their development of world view goals.

The general education goals 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) received the highest average ratings of all 35 goals asked about. 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).

Number of Hours Worked (Table 3-17)

Eightly percent respondents indicated they were employed during their graduation year. Almost 45 percent (44.1%) of those who worked during their graduation year worked an average of 20 or more hours per week while at NC State.

Job Relationship to Major (Table 3-18)

Less than one-third (31.6%) of respondents who worked during graduation year were working in jobs directly related to their academic major. The majority of those working in areas unrelated to their major said they were doing so by choice (66.6%).

Co-op Experience (Table 3-19)

Almost half of respondents (48.9%) had a co-op, internship, practicum, or field experience while at NC State. Almost two-thirds (64.0%) of those said the experience made an "excellent" contribution to their personal or professional growth, and almost one-third (31.2%) said they received a job offer from their employer.

Extracurricular Involvement (Table 3-20)

Students were asked to indicate all school-related groups in which they had been involved while at NC State. The most frequent responses were organizations/clubs related to your major (54.6%), intramural/recreational sports, club teams (40.6%), and academic (honors program, etc.) (36.3%).

For more information on the 2001-2002 Graduating Senior Survey reports contact:
Dr. Nancy Whelchel, Associate Director for Survey Research
Office of Institutional Planning and Research
Campus Box 7002
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27965-7002
Phone: (919) 515-4184
Email: Nancy_Whelchel@ncsu.edu

Posted: September, 2002

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