Overall, 69% of respondents entered UConn as freshmen; 31% entered as transfer students. Table 21 concerns within-school freshman entrance rates, given as percentages and ranked.

Table 21. Freshman Entrance Rate, Ranked Within-School Percentages.

 Within school

 Pharmacy has the highest freshman entrance rate (91%), followed by Education (82%).

The low freshman entrance rate for General Studies (9%) is consistent with age data. In General Studies, the age category with the largest number of respondents (55%) is 35-49 years; within all other schools, the most common age category is 21-24 years.

Overall, 75% of respondents lived in a residence hall on campus at some point during their time at UConn; 25% did not. Table 22 concerns residence hall habitation rates for respondents who entered UConn as freshmen and graduated in exactly four years, or four-year respondents.

 Table 22. Semesters Lived in Residence Halls for Four-year Respondents.

For the four-year respondents, 29% lived in a residence hall for the entire eight semesters; 10% did not live in a residence hall at any point.

A large group of four-year respondents (24%) lived in a residence hall exactly 4 semesters. Assuming these students entered residence halls when they arrived on campus, apparently they decided to change their living situations after their first two years of university life.

 2.3. Point at which Major Decided

Table 23 concerns the point at which students decide their major; both overall and within-school percentages are given for the time categories.

Table 23: Point at which Major Decided, Overall and Within-School Percentages.

Overall, one third of respondents decided their major before entering college; another third decided as a sophomore. Within each school, except for General Studies, respondents who decided their majors either before college or as sophomores form a majority.

For Allied Health, Engineering, Fine Art, Nursing, and Pharmacy, the highest within-school percentage of respondents decided their major before college. Pharmacy (85%) and Engineering (69%) especially stand out in this respect. For Agriculture, Arts and Sciences, Business, and Family Studies, the highest within-school percentage of respondents decided their major as a sophomore. For General Studies, respondents generally decided their majors later than in other schools, with 31% deciding as a junior (a large group (31%) did not remember).

Respondents were asked to take into account their experience at UConn and indicate what they felt should have been the single major reason for attending UConn. Overall, 35% of the respondents indicated reasons relating to educational programs, either (i) variety of programs, (ii) the quality of programs, or (iii) specific programs offered. On the other hand, 26% indicated the low level of tuition and fees as the single major reason for attending UConn. Graph 24 concerns the trend of these responses over previous 18 years.

Graph 24: Retrospective reasons for choosing UConn, 1980-1998.

Retrospective indication of reasons for attending UConn related to educational programs oscillates with a slight downward trend from 1980 to 1988. Toward the end of the 1980's, the percentage decreases sharply, dropping from 36% to 27%. In the 1990's, the percentage increases from 27% to 32%.

 Retrospective indication of tuition and fees as the single major reason for attending UConn oscillates with a slight upward trend from 1980 to 1988. After 1988 to the present, the percentage decreases from 36% to 26% linearly at 1% per year. Table 24 concerns within-school indication rates, given as percentages and ranked.

Table 24: Retrospective Reasons for Attending UConn, Ranked Within-School Percentages.

For retrospective indication of reasons for attending UConn related to educational programs, Pharmacy (73%) and Allied Health (65%) rank highest. For retrospective indication of tuition and fees, Engineering (39%) ranks highest.

 Respondents were asked to rate the importance of 21 potential benefits of a college education and the extent to which they believed that UConn had helped to provide each benefit. Table 31 gives both rating averages and also ranks for both benefit importance and perceived helpfulness of UConn. Relative helpfulness, average perceived helpfulness rating minus average benefit importance rating, is also given and ranked.

Table 31: Benefit Importance, Perceived Helpfulness of UConn, and Relative Helpfulness, Rating Averages and Ranks.

 Based on relative UConn helpfulness, the most highly ranked benefits are (d) "develop an understanding and enjoyment of literature, art, and drama" and (l) "understand the nature of science and experimentation". Note, however, that these benefits rank at the bottom with respect to perceived importance: (d) is ranked 21 and (l) is ranked 20.

 Based on perceived importance, the most highly ranked benefits are (e) "write clearly and effectively", (q) "learn on your own, pursue ideas and find information you need", (a) "obtain career training", (c) "gain a range of information that might be relevant to a career", and (u) "formulate creative and original ideas".

 Benefit (a) "obtain career training" is the lowest ranked based on relative UConn helpfulness. However, the relative UConn helpfulness ratings vary across schools to a statistically significant degree. Table 32 ranks the average relative UConn helpfulness ratings by school. The ratings for Allied Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy are significantly higher than those for Agriculture, Family studies, Arts and Sciences, and General Studies.

Table 32: Relative UConn Helpfulness for Obtaining Career Training, Average Rating by School (1 = Not Helpful; 7 = Very Helpful).

 Respondents were asked to rate their overall UConn experience in the areas of general education requirements, required courses outside of their major field, and required courses in their major field. Table 33 summarizes the average ratings by school; ratings in each are ranked.

Table 33: Average Satisfaction Ratings

(1 = Extremely Dissatisfied; 7 = Extremely Satisfied).

For each school, the highest average rating appears in column (c) for courses within the respondents' major field.

Respondents were also asked to rate the appropriateness of the number of required courses. Graph 31 represents average appropriateness ratings for number of courses as general education requirements and as major field requirements.

Graph 31: Appropriateness Ratings for Number of Courses.

(1 = too few; 4 = about right; 7 = too many)

Appropriateness ratings for the majority of schools are clustered in the upper left quadrant of graph 31, indicating an average perception of too few courses as major field requirements and too many courses as general education requirements.

Recall from section 3.1 that based on relative UConn helpfulness "obtain career training" is the lowest ranked potential benefit. Presumably, this low ranking is related to the perception of too few courses as major field requirements.

 Ratings for Engineering, General Studies, and Pharmacy indicate too many courses as both major field and general education requirements.

Overall, 88% of the respondents would recommend UConn to friends or relatives. Table 33 summarizes the UConn recommendation rates by school.

 Table 33: Recommendation Rate, Ranked Within-School Percentage

 Recommendation rates do not vary across schools to a statistically significant degree. The overall rate has been approximately 90% for the past two decades.

Overall, 86% of respondents are employed either full-time or part-time; 97% are either employed or have entered graduate school. Only 3% of respondents are either unemployed or did not answer this question. Table 41 ranks percentages by school in each of these three categories.

Table 41: Employment and Graduate School Rates by School.

For the full-time or part-time employment rate in column (a), all schools except Education are above 80%. For the employment or graduate school rate in column (b), all schools except Nursing are above 94% or above. Education does not stand out in column (b), with a rate of 100%. Graph 41 shows full-time and full- or part-time employment rates from 1987 to 1998.

Graph 41: Employment Rates since 1987.

 From the mid to late 1980's, the full-time employment rate exhibits a pronounced peak, reaching toward 80%. From 1989 to 1991, full-time employment decreases sharply by 15% through. After 1991 to 1998, full-time employment rate increases at roughly 1% per year. The part- or full-time employment rate mirrors the full-time employment rate at an approximately 10% higher level.

 4.2. Use of UConn Career Services

Respondents are asked if they had used UConn Career Services when seeking job information. Overall, 42% of respondents have used Career Services; 58% have not.

Table 42 shows that Business and Engineering have the highest percentage of using the service (both 76%); Allied Health and General studies have the lowest (both 10%).

Table 42: Use of Career Services

Respondents were questioned about their current employment; they were asked to either choose from a list of eleven general types of employer or specify some other type. Table 43 ranks the results for 1997 and 1998 for respondents who were employed full-time. The results are generally stable across the two years.

The largest number of respondents (33%) held a position in business, followed by the health industry (16%) and education (10%). Other types of employer identified by respondents include ski resort, casino, and child care facility.

Table 43: Employment Rate, Ranked by General Type of Employer