North
Carolina State University
2003-2004 Graduating Senior Survey:
Executive Summary
Survey Methods
- NC State conducted its annual
survey of graduating seniors during the 2003-2004 academic year (AY03-04).
Eligible students were those who were graduating in December 2003 or May 2004.
The web survey's response rate among all AY03-04 graduates was 64.0%.
- The survey results slightly overrepresent women due to their relatively high response rate, but respondents did not differ from
the AY03-04 graduating senior class in terms of race/ethnicity. College of
Design and College of Education graduates were slightly underrepresented, while College of Humanities
and Social Sciences and College of Textiles graduates were slightly overrepresented in the sample due to the relatively
low and high response rates among students in these respective colleges.
- The margin of error for the survey
is +0.7 percent for all respondents.
- With few exceptions, results are
similar to those from last year's survey.
Student Goals and Intentions
- Over one-third of respondents (36.5%)
said their primary goal in attending NC State was to "prepare for graduate
or professional school." African American respondents were more likely than
non-African American minority respondents and whites (43.5%, 40.9% and 35.4%,
respectively), and women more likely than men (41.8% vs. 31.6%) to say this.
- Almost three-fourths of all respondents
(73.2%) said they "fully accomplished" their primary goal. Racial minorities
were much less likely than whites to have said they "fully accomplished" their
goal.
- When asked their plans following
graduation, one-fourth of all respondents said they were going to graduate
or professional school either full-time (20.5%) or part-time (4.4%).
- Just over half of respondents (51.8%)
said it took them longer than four years to graduate. The reasons most often
given for doing so were "changed majors" (53.1%) and "personal
reasons" (48.9%). Men were more likely than women to say it took them
longer than four years to graduate. Men were also more likely than women to
say the reasons for doing so were "wanted or advised to take a lighter
course load," "participated in a co-op, internship,
etc., and "couldn't get needed classes." While there were no significant racial differences
in whether it took more than four years to graduate, among those who did report
taking longer, African American respondents were more likely than others to
say it was due to "personal reasons" or "financial reasons." White respondents were more
likely than African American respondents to say it was because they "couldn't get needed classes," "lost transfer credit, or had "participated
a co-op, internship, etc."
- One-fourth of all respondents
(25.8%) said they had considered withdrawing or transferring from NCSU, or
had actually left and returned. African American respondents were more likely
than whites to have considered leaving.
Academic Environment
- Almost 90 percent of respondents
(87.7%) said they would recommend NC State to a friend. Three-fourths (75.4%) of all respondents
said they would choose NC State again if they could start over, and 60 percent (60.8%) said they would choose the same major again.
- Over 90 percent of respondents
rated the intellectual environment on campus as "strong" (65.4%)
or "very strong" (26.3%). Respondents gave similar ratings to the
overall education they received at NC State (52.6% "good;" 39.5%
"excellent").
- Respondents
were much more likely to rate the quality of instruction in their major
as "excellent" (49.4%) than they were to rate the overall
quality of instruction as "excellent" (24.6%).
- Respondents were most likely to give ratings of "excellent" to faculty in setting high expectations for learning
(46.0%) and to encouraging that time and energy be devoted to coursework
(43.7%). 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. Women gave higher
ratings than men and white respondents
gave higher ratings than racial/ethnic minority respondents on all quality of instruction measures.
Campus Climate
- More than half of the respondents
said they believe the campus environment is at least mildly supportive of
various groups of people (e.g., women, African Americans, disabled students,
etc.) at the university. The one exception is that only 39.2 percent of respondents
rate the campus as at least "mildly supportive" 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 fifteen percent of African American
respondents (13.9%) "strongly agree" that NC State is committed
to helping minority students succeed, compared to 27.8 percent of non-African
American minorities and 52.3 percent of whites. About 20 percent of African
Americans disagree either "somewhat" (17.3%) or "strongly"
(4.6%) that NC State is committed to helping minority students succeed.
- About 10 percent (12.3%) of African American respondents "strongly agree"
that NCSU leaders foster diversity on campus, compared
to 19.4 percent of non-African American minority respondents and 33.5 percent of whites. More than one-third of African American respondents disagree either "somewhat" (25.7%) or "strongly" (4.7%) that NCSU leaders foster diversity on campus.
Services for Students
- Respondents gave positive ratings
to the different types of academic services listed. Respondents tended to
give highest ratings to technology and library services, and
lowest ratings to research support services.
Among the 28 individual service items, highest ratings were given to access
to the Internet. The four lowest ratings all went to items related to
training: access to trained technology staff, technology training
classes, training to use the library, and to interview preparation
skills. African American
respondents gave somewhat higher average ratings than did whites and non-African
American minority respondents to career- and employment-related
services. On average, women gave higher ratings than men to research
support services and to career-related services.
- Although non-academic services
tended to receive 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 two-thirds or more respondents.
Library services (43.5%), opportunities for recreational activities
(41.0%), and registration process (39.9%) were most likely
to be rated as "excellent." On average, women gave
higher ratings than men to opportunities to develop leadership skills, opportunities
for community service, and bookstore services/products. African American respondents gave higher average ratings than whites to opportunities for community service, opportunities to develop leadership skills, and residence life programs.
- 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, campus health services,
and college/department planning and placement services. Staff associated
with the registration process and the financial aid disbursement
process, however, received notably lower ratings than did the respective
services more generally. There were widespread variations in staff ratings by racial/ethnic background of respondents. White respondents gave higher ratings than African American respondents to staff associated with college/department placement services, university planning and placement services, business services/cashier/student accounts, library services, and bookstore services/products. African American respondents gave notably higher ratings than white respondents to residence life programs and campus food services staff. Non-African American minority respondents gave higher ratings than others to staff associated with the registration process, financial aid disbursement, financial aid application/award process, and campus health services.
- The vast majority of those respondents
receiving financial aid were satisfied with their aid package (91.7%). Majorities
also gave positive ratings to the financial aid advisor staff (82.1%), reception
staff (73.6%), and phone staff (74.0%).
Knowledge, Skills and Personal Development
- A majority of respondents (57.7%)
said NC State met their intellectual growth needs "very well." Respondents
were slightly less positive about the other areas; 50.2 percent said their
personal growth needs were met "very well," and only 30.7 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.
Minority respondents gave lower ratings than whites to how well NC State met their career training needs.
- Respondents were asked to rate
NC State's contribution to 36 goals for their undergraduate education. A majority of respondents said NC State contributed "very much" to 29 of the 36 goals. Higher ratings
were given to goals related to general education and personal development
than to world view goals.
- Respondents were most likely to report NC State contributed "very much" to enhancing analytic skills (70.9%), closely followed by ability to plan/carry out projects independently (69.3%), ability to critically analyze ideas/information (66.6%), independence and self-reliance (68.5%), personal growth (67.9%), potential for success (67.4%), and value learning as life-long process (67.4%).
- Women tended to rate goals related
to personal development and to a world view higher than did men. African American respondents consistently rated NC State's contribution to their development of world view goals higher than did whites.
Employment and Extra-Curricular Involvement
- More than three-fourths of respondents (77.3%)
indicated that they were employed during their graduation year. The majority of employed respondents worked off-campus only. Regardless of whether they worked on- or off-campus, white respondents were more likely than African American respondents to be in jobs directly related to their major. White respondents were more likely than African American respondents to be
employed off-campus only, while African American respondents
were more likely than whites to be employed either on-campus only or both on- and off-campus.
There were no notable racial differences in the number of hours worked, with those employed on-campus working an average of about 14 hours per week, compared to about 21.5 hours per week off-campus, and 29 hours for those working both on- and off-campus. Among all employed respondents the most common reason for working was to pay living expenses, such as rent, bills, and groceries.
- Forty percent of respondents had a co-op, internship, practicum or field experience
while at NC State, and more than two-thirds of them (67.5%) said it made an "excellent"
contribution to their personal or professional growth. One-fourth of those
with such experience said they received a job offer from their employer.
- About 20 percent of respondents (19.1%) reported having participated in a research project
with an NCSU faculty member. About 60 percent with such experience (61.9%)
rated it as "excellent."
- More than half of respondents reported they had participated in organizations/clubs related to their major (51.8%), more than one-third in academic/honors clubs (36.7%), and more than one-fourth in honor/service/professional fraternities/sororities (27.3%).
For more information on the 2003-2004 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
Posted: September, 2004
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