North Carolina State University
2002-2003 Graduating Senior Survey:
All Respondents

This report presents findings from the 2002-2003 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 "2002-2003 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.

Table of Contents:

Student Goals and Intentions

• Educational Goals
• Post-Graduate Plans
• Time to Graduate
• Withdrawal/Transfer from NCSU

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

• On- and Off-Campus Employment
• Number of Hours Worked
• Job Relationship to Major
• Co-op Experience
• Research with NCSU Faculty
• Extracurricular Involvement

Learning with Technology

• Learning Management Systems
• Technology in the Classroom

Student Goals and Intentions

Educational Goals (Table 1)

Students were asked questions regarding their primary goal or objective in attending NC State and to what degree that goal or objective was accomplished. Table 1 shows goals/objectives and accomplishment. The majority of respondents� primary goal in attending NC State was either to prepare for a career (43.5%) or for graduate or professional school (33.6%). Almost three-fourths (72.1%) 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 (85.6%). Over 70 percent (71.3%) of the 1,097 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 (66.6%).

Table 1: Goals and Objectives at NC State

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Time to Graduate (Table 2)

More than half of the respondents (58.3%) reported that it took them longer than four years to graduate. Roughly one-third of them chose only one of the reasons listed for doing so, one third chose two, and another third chose three or more. The most commonly chosen reason for taking more than four years to graduate was changing majors (51.4%), followed by personal reasons (48.6%). Financial reasons were least likely to be reported as a reason for taking longer than four years to graduate (22.7%). Of the 40.7 percent who selected other reasons for taking longer than four years to graduate, a plurality stated that having multiple majors and minors played a role in their taking longer to graduate. Other reasons given included issues related to working while in school, poor advising, time off from school, and participating in study abroad programs.

Table 2: Time to Graduate

*Respondents could select more than one reason

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Withdrawal/Transfer from NCSU (Table 3)

Nearly three-fourths of respondents (72.7%) reported that they had never considered withdrawing or transferring from NC State before graduation. Of those who did consider withdrawal or transfer, most reported that they had not seriously considered doing so.

Table 3: Withdrawal/Transfer from NCSU

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Post-Graduation Plans (Table 4)

At the time they completed the survey, 11.8 percent of respondents said they had either already accepted a job for after graduation (8.5%) or would continue in their current position (3.3%). About 40 percent (39.9%) were still seeking employment. Nearly one-fourth said they plan to go on to graduate or professional school, either full-time (19.3%) or part-time (4.0%).

The relatively high percentage of respondents who reported that they were still seeking employment or did not know yet what their post-graduation plans were may be related to the fact that most respondents (63%) completed the survey three or more months prior to their graduation date. For example, two-thirds of those who responded that they were still seeking employment were three or more months away from graduation. Among those who responded that they "Don't know yet" what their post-graduation plans are, 55 percent were four or more months away from graduation. In contrast, half of those who responded that they had already accepted a job completed the survey one month or less away from graduation.

Table 4: Plans Following Graduation

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Academic Environment and Faculty Contributions

Satisfaction with Education (Table 5)

The majority of students appeared to be satisfied with their education at NC State. Almost 90 percent (87.6%) say they would recommend NC State to a friend. Three-fourths (74.9%) said if they could start over, they would choose NC State again. Over 60 percent (61.6%) said they would choose the same major again. Less than 10 percent said they would not choose NC State again (8.5%), and 14.2 percent would not choose the same major again.

Table 5: Satisfaction with Education

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Evaluation of Education (Tables 6 and 7)

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 (92.6%) 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 higher for instruction within their major than overall. Close to half of the respondents said instruction in their major was "excellent" and another 44.2 percent said it was "good." In comparison, about one-fourth (24.7%) rated their overall instruction as "excellent," while 63.2 percent said it was "good." Finally, over 90 percent of respondents agreed that the intellectual environment on campus was "strong" (66.8%) or "very strong" (25.2%).

Table 6: Evaluation of Education

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Table 7: Campus Environment

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Faculty Contributions (Table 8)

Students were asked to evaluate how well faculty members in their major department do 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 (3.4) 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.

Table 8: Faculty Contributions

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Campus Climate (Tables 9 and 10)

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. Less than 40 percent of respondents felt the campus climate was at least "mildly supportive" towards gay and lesbian students, while 15.8 percent thought it was either "mildly" (11.4%) or "strongly nonsupportive" (4.4%) towards them.

Most respondents (94.0%) agreed either "strongly" (45.1%) or "somewhat" (48.9%) 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 (31.9% "agree strongly," 47.2% "agree somewhat").

Table 9: Campus Climate

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Table 10: Support for Diversity

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Services for Students

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 11)

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 and library 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 the highest rating was given to access to the Internet, with an average rating of 3.7. A number of services recieved the next highest rating of 3.4, including hours of operation for computer labs, access to up-to-date technology facilities, library hours of operation, library staff responsiveness, access to databases and collections in the library, and library services overall. Only 4 items, all related to training, had average ratings less than 3.0: access to trained technology staff (2.9), technology training classes (2.9), training to use the library (2.9), and interview preparation skills (2.9).

Academic Advising: Four of the five items related to academic advising received an average rating of 3.1. Highest average ratings went to access to advisor (3.2), with 46.2% of respondents giving a rating of "excellent."

Research Support: Each of the three items related to reseach support received an average rating of 3.0. One-third of respondents (32.3%) rated access to faculty involved in research as "excellent."

Technology Services: As noted above, access to trained technology staff for help (2.9) and technology training classes (2.9) had among the lowest average ratings of all academic services asked about. Over one-fourth of respondents rated access to trained technology staff for help as either "fair" (23.1%) or "poor" (7.2%). However, the other technology services received average ratings of between 3.3 and 3.7. Over 70 percent (71.9%) of respondents rated access to the Internet as "excellent." Close to half of the respondents rated hours of operation for computer center, labs, and help desks (48.2%) and access to up-to-date facilities (48.7%) as "excellent."

Library Services: With the exception of training to use the library (2.9), each of the library services asked was rated, on average, 3.4. Slightly more than half (52.1%) of respondents rated library hours of operation as "excellent." However, this represents a drop of 20 precentage points from last year's survey. About half rated access to databases and collections (48.9%) as excellent. Almost 30 percent rated training to use the library as "fair" (21.7%) or "poor" (6.9%).

Career-related Services: The highest mean rating for career services went to information available through computers/Internet and other technology (3.2), while lowest went to resources available to explore options (3.0). The other 3 career services items each received an average rating of 3.1.

Employment Services: Highest average ratings for employment services were for access to career fairs, job listings, etc. (3.1) and resume preparation (3.1). Respondents gave slightly lower ratings to interview preparation skills (2.9), with more than one-fourth rating this service as "fair" (20.4%) or "poor" (7.3%).

Table 11: Academic Service Areas

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Non-academic Services (Tables 12 and 13)

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 one exception, campus food services. Library services (40.0%), opportunities for recreational activities (39.2%), and registration process (38.3%) were most likely to be rated as "excellent." In addition to campus food services (2.5), university planning and placement services (2.7), business services/cashier/student accounts (2.8), residence life programs (2.8), and personal safety on campus (2.9) also receive relatively low average ratings.

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 college/department placement services and campus food services. Staff associated with the registration process and financial aid disbursement process, however, received notably lower ratings than did the respective services more generally.

Table 12: Non-Academic Services

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Table 13: Staff Responsiveness

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Financial Aid (Tables 14 and 15)

Over 60 percent of respondents (62.2%) said they received some sort of financial aid. The vast majority of these respondents said they were either "very" (44.3%) or "moderately satisfied" (46.4%) with the aid package received. Majorities of those receiving aid gave positive ratings to financial aid staff. On average, financial aid advisor staff were rated most highly (3.0), followed by reception staff (2.9), then phone staff (2.8).

Table 14: Financial Aid Received

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College

Table 15: Satisfaction with Financial Aid Staff (among those receiving financial aid, N=1,571)

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Development

General Growth and Training (Table 16)

A majority of respondents (55.7%) said NC State contributed "very well" to their intellectual growth. Respondents were less positive about the university�s contribution to their personal growth (47.9%) and career training (32.4%). Nearly one-fourth of respondents said that NC State contributed only "somewhat adequately" (18.5%) or "poorly" (6.1%) to their career training.

Table 16: NC State's Ability to Meet Needs

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Growth (Table 17)

Graduating seniors rated the extent to which NC State contributed to 36 factors related to their general education, world views, and personal development, using a scale of 1 ("not at all") 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. "Do not know" responses were excluded from the following analyses.

The general education goal enhancing analytic skills (3.7) received the highest overall rating of all 36 goals asked about. Next highest were the general education goals ability to plan and carry out projects independently (3.6) and ability to critically analyze ideas and information (3.6), and the personal development goals ability to function as part of a team, personal growth, valuing learning as a life-long process, independence and self-reliance, and potential for success, all receiving an average rating of 3.6. Lowest ratings were given to the university�s contribution to the world view goals appreciating racial equity (3.1), and advancing appreciation of the arts (2.9), and to the personal development goals commitment to personal health and fitness (3.1), and exercising public responsibility and community service (3.0).

Table 17: Contribution to Knowledge, Skills, and Personal Growth

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Employment and Extracurricular Activities

On- and Off-Campus Employment (Table 18)

Nearly eighty percent of respondents indicated that they were employed during their graduation year. The majority of employed respondents worked off-campus.

Table 18: On- and Off-Campus Employment

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Hours Worked (Table 19)

Those respondents who worked only on campus generally reported a lower average of hours worked per week (13.6) in comparison to those respondents who worked only off campus (20.8) and who worked both on and off campus (30.1).

Table 19: Number of Hours Worked (among employed respondents, N=2,007)

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Job Relationship to Major (Table 20)

Slightly more than one-third (33.6%) of those respondents employed on campus were working on jobs directly related to their major. That percentage dropped to 27.1% for those respondents employed off campus. In either case, when the job was unrelated to the respondent's major, it was likely to be by choice.

Table 20: Job Relation to Academic Major

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Co-op Experience (Table 21)

Over 40 percent of respondents (42.8%) had a co-op, internship, practicum, or field experience while at NC State. More than two-thirds (68.3%) of those said the experience made an "excellent" contribution to their personal or professional growth, and 30 percent said they received a job offer from their employer.

Table 21: Co-op Experience

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Research Involvement (Table 22)

Close to twenty percent of respondents reported that they participated in research (not as a subject) with an NC State faculty member. A majority of those respondents (59.2%) said it was an "excellent" experience in terms of personal and professional growth.

Table 22: Research Involvement

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Extracurricular Involvement (Table 23)

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 (53.6%), intramural/recreational sports, club teams (40.7%), and academic (honors program, etc.) (36.5%).

Table 23: Extracurricular Involvement at NCSU

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Learning with Technology

Learning Management Systems (Tables 24, 25, and 26)

Respondents were asked the number of courses they took during their junior and senior years that used Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Wolfware or WebCT. Those who took three or fewer LMS courses were asked why they had not taken more, and those who took four or more were asked why they had taken as many as they had.

Almost 85 percent (83.3%) of respondents had taken at least one LMS course during their junior and senior years, with one-third taking more than three. Of those who took three or fewer courses using LMS, respondents were by far most likely to agree that courses I needed/wanted didn't use LMS (80.1%) was a reason for not taking more. Less than one-fourth of those taking three or fewer LMS courses agreed with any of the other reasons listed for not taking more. Respondents were least likely to agree that the reason they had not taken more LMS courses was that they are not comfortable using/do not like using technology in the learning environment (9.0%).

Of those who took four or more courses using learning management systems, respondents were most likely to agree that the reason they took so many was because courses I needed/wanted used LMS (93.3%) and because of easy access to course materials (87.8%). Respondents were least likely to say the reason they took as many courses as they did was because courses that use LMS tend to be easier (26.9%).

Table 24: Exposure to Learning Management Systems

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Table 25:Reasons for Not Taking (more) Courses using LMS
(Among those who took 3 or fewer LMS courses during their junior and senior years, N=1,683)

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Table 26: Reasons for Taking Courses Using LMS
(Among those who took 4 or more LMS courses during their junior and senior years, N=842)

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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Technology in the Classroom (Tables 27 and 28)

Respondents were asked how many of the courses they took during their junior and senior years used various technologies. If they had taken any courses using a given technology, they were asked what effect the technology had on their ability to learn.

Static electronic presentations (e.g., PowerPoint) were by far the most commonly encountered teaching/learning technology among respondents, with nearly three-fourths (73.5%) having had "some" or "all/most" of their courses use this technology. Electronic feedback to the instructor during class was the least commonly encountered technology, with more than three-fourths of respondents (77.5%) saying that had had no courses using this technology.

Respondents generally reported that the various technologies they had been exposed to in their courses made no difference in their ability to learn. However, respondents were more likely to report that they learned better using a given technology than to say that they didn't learn as well using it. The one exception was for computerized exams/quizzes, for which respondents were equally divided on whether they learned better or not as well with the technology.

Table 27: Exposure to Technology in the Classroom

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Table 28: Effect of Technology on Learning
(Among those students who reported having taken courses during their junior and senior years in which the technology was used)

Comparisons and Frequencies: Gender/Ethnicity, College
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For more information on the 2002-2003 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, 2003

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