Recent Alumni Survey

1996 Graduating Class

Introduction

This is the twentieth annual report of the survey of recent graduates of the University of Connecticut. This survey, a continuing effort to evaluate the University's effectiveness, has been conducted every year by the Office of Institutional Research since 1979. While the questionnaire focuses primarily on the academic experiences of graduates, it also allows them to report their current activities. During the past twenty years, the survey results have yielded much valuable information pertinent to both graduates' experience at the University of Connecticut and their post graduate activities.

The responses from the 1996 survey have been tabulated and summarized in four sets of attached tables. Part I displays respondents' demographic and general information. Part II contains evaluations of the graduates' academic experiences. Part III summarizes their post graduate activities. Part IV measures the opinions of graduates regarding the importance of separate academic skills and student learning outcomes, and their assessment of the University of Connecticut's delivery of those skills.

Number of Respondents and Response Rate

In September 1996, graduates who received bachelor's degrees in May 1996 were sent a questionnaire concerning their experience at the University of Connecticut and their post graduate activities. Follow-up mailings were also mailed to non-responding graduates. Because of the extra mailing, 1996 graduates had more than five months to respond.

In 1996, a total of 2841 bachelor's degrees were awarded to 2810 students (31 dual degrees). The initial request for information was by means of a survey form. A follow-up letter was sent to those who did not respond by two months from the initial survey mailing. As a result, 1128 alumni returned a completed questionnaire, for a total response rate of 40%. Although the response rate has been consistently low, the stability of trends in the responses across the last twenty years gives some reassurance that, at least, any response bias has also been consistent across the years.

Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents

Tables in Part I and figures on the following page provide data on the respondents' demographics and general perceptions of the University. Of the 1128 respondents to the survey, 60% (680) were female, as compared to 53% of all graduates. This tendency for higher female response is consistent with previous Recent Alumni Surveys.

With regard to ethnicity, the overwhelming majority of respondents to the survey were white (89%), as were the majority of all graduates of the 1995 class (83%). As for other ethnic groups, Hispanics were roughly the same percent among respondents as in the graduating class (3%), but the 5% of alumni who were Asian-Pacific and 3.5% of Black alumni were both under-represented in the sample (3% of respondents were Asian-Pacific, and 2% were black).

The respondents did not differ from the graduating class in age, at least as measured in the broad categories used in the survey. Three quarters of the alumni, and respondents, are 21 to 24 years old. One percent of both groups were over 50 years of age.

The percentage of respondents that reported entering the University at Storrs was 74%, and the percent who entered as freshmen was 76%, roughly the same as in previous years. Similar to prior year's surveys, a large majority of General Studies respondents entered from regional campuses (87%). Conversely, for all other schools, the majority entered at the Storrs campus. Among the transfers, the majority (74%) came from institutions in Connecticut or other New England states. As in previous years, the greatest numbers of respondents from outside New England were found in Allied Health (13%), Arts and Sciences (10%), andGeneral Studies (21%).

Table 1: Percent of Schools' Graduates Who Entered Storrs Campus as Freshmen, and of Transfers Who Transferred from Schools Outside of New England

School	Percent of Respondents Who Entered UConn as Freshmen	Percent of Transfers from Outside of New England	Percent of all Respondents Who Transferred from Outside New England
Agriculture	76%	33%	7%
Allied Health	56%	30%	13%
Arts and Sciences	78%	47%	10%
Business	86%	44%	7%
Education	87%	36%	5%
Engineering	79%	38%	8%
Fine Arts	86%	33%	5%
Family Studies	86%	27%	5%
General Studies	13%	27%	21%
Nursing	65%	30%	9%
Pharmacy	76%	40%	6%

In summary, this sample is generally representative of the graduating class except in that it over-represents women and under-represents African-American and Asian-American alumni. These two sample biases necessitate further analysis since there are significant differences between the genders and ethnic groups in their expectations of the collegiate experience, and their satisfaction with various elements of the UConn education.

General Questions

In order to obtain some indication of the reasons for attending the University, the graduates were given a list of nine factors from which they could designate the primary reason for attending UConn. When asked to recall why they originally selected the University of Connecticut, the percent of respondents who choose UConn for its educational programs continues to surpass the number who choose UConn for "cost-tuition."

Table 2: Reasons Respondents Gave for Initially Coming to UConn

	Educational Programs (Quality, Variety, or a Specific Program)	Cost/Tuition	Other Reasons or No Reason
1979	34.7%	33.5%	31.8%
1980	36.3%	34.2%	29.5%
1981	37.4%	33.5%	29.1%
1982	35.3%	35.3%	29.5%
1983	35.1%	37.4%	27.6%
1984	36.5%	33.0%	30.5%
1985	34.3%	35.9%	29.8%
1986	36.2%	34.7%	29.1%
1987	32.9%	38.5%	28.6%
1988	32.9%	35.4%	31.7%
1989	31.8%	36.1%	32.2%
1990	27.5%	34.9%	37.6%
1991	27.3%	34.0%	38.7%
1992	27.5%	34.0%	38.4%
1993	28.2%	31.2%	40.7%
1994	29.7%	28.4%	41.9%
1995	31.0%	27.8%	41.2%
1996	32.1%	26.2%	41.8%

This table shows that, since the late 1980s, increasing numbers of entering students have been attracted to UConn because of its educational programs. On the other hand, since the early 1980s, a declining percent of entering students have seen UConn as economically attractive. This may reflect the rising cost of tuition which has been plaguing all universities, even the University of Connecticut which has relatively low tuition for its level of academic excellence.

Reasons for attending vary importantly by school. Pluralities of graduates of the Allied Health (46%) and Pharmacy (49%) programs all said they chose UConn because of these programs. Engineering, Nursing and Arts and Sciences graduates had been the most sensitive to costs and tuition.

Table 3: Reasons for Originally Attending UConn

School	Educational Programs (Quality, Variety, or a Specific Program)	Cost/Tuition
Agriculture	37.5%	26.4%
Allied Health	56.3%	16.7%
Arts and Sciences	22.8%	31.7%
Business	32.1%	27.4%
Education	40.7%	18.6%
Engineering	20.6%	39.7%
Fine Arts	36.4%	27.3%
Family Studies	40.0%	18.5%
General Studies	45.3%	2.3%
Nursing	26.5%	35.3%
Pharmacy	63.6%	18.2%

The survey also asked graduates about the importance of a range of potential benefits of collegiate education, and whether they believed that UConn provided these benefits for them. Although the two questions are not exactly the same, the results reveal that students would have liked their collegiate experience to provide more of all the mentioned types of benefits. (The results below aggregate the responses of the 1995 and 1996 surveys, which are the first two years in which these questions have been asked.)

Table 4: Collegiate Priorities, Fulfilled and Unfulfilled

Priorities Fulfilled, Relative to Importance	Priorities Least Well Met, Relative to Importance
Art, music, literature appreciation Understanding philosophies, cultures and ways of life (cosmopolitanism) Understanding scientific process Quantitative thinking Understanding history	Leadership and supervision of others Formulate creative and original ideas Develop own ethical standards Career training, knowledge, skills applicable to a specific job or type of work Acquire familiarity in the use of computers

Table 5: Importance of Goals to Respondents, and Degree to Which UConn Helped Fulfill Goals

	Importance to Respondent 1=Not Important, 7=Very Important		UConn Helped 1 = Not Helpful, 7=Very Helpful		Fulfillment of Goals, Relative to Importance
Goal	Score	Rank	Score	Rank	Score	Rank
Understanding of literature, art, music, drama	4.8	20	4.6	12	-0.2	1
Understand science and experimentation	4.9	18	4.5	15	-0.4	2
Awareness of different philosophies, cultures	5.4	12	5.0	6	-0.4	3
Think in quantitative terms	4.9	17	4.4	17	-0.5	4
Understand importance of history	5.1	14	4.6	11	-0.6	5
Awareness of consequences of science, tech	4.8	19	3.9	20	-0.9	6
Understand scientific, technical developments	5.0	16	4.1	18	-0.9	7
Think analytically and logically	6.1	7	5.0	5	-1.0	8
Understand others, and ability to get along	6.1	8	5.1	3	-1.0	9
Learn on own, pursue ideas, find information	6.3	1	5.3	1	-1.0	10
Preparation for graduate education	5.1	15	4.7	10	-1.1	11
Public speaking, group participation, teamwork	6.1	6	5.0	4	-1.1	12
Write clearly and effectively	6.2	4	5.1	2	-1.2	13
Understand self, abilities, interests, personality	6.2	3	4.8	9	-1.3	14
Gain information relevant to a career	6.2	5	4.9	7	-1.3	15
Leadership and supervision of others	5.9	11	4.5	14	-1.4	16
Formulate creative and original ideas	6.2	2	4.8	8	-1.4	17
Develop own ethical standards	6.0	10	4.5	13	-1.5	18
Career training, knowledge, skills applicable to a specific job or type of work	5.4	13	4.4	16	-1.8	19
Acquire familiarity in the use of computers	6.1	9	4.0	19	-2.1	20

Clearly, students are relatively satisfied with their exposure to the arts, natural sciences, social sciences, and history in the curriculum, but are very dissatisfied with their acquisition of computer skills, creative thinking, values clarification, managerial skills and general job readiness.

After respondents are asked why they remember coming to UConn, they are asked why they now believe they should have come to UConn. While less than a third of students remember attending UConn initially because of the educational programs available here, in retrospect, two of three graduates say they should have attended UConn because of the educational programs.

Most graduates would also recommend the University of Connecticut to others planning to attend college (89%). Recommending UConn also varied from school to school, and was roughly correlated with the percent of a school's graduates who thought that they should have attended UConn because of the educational program.

Table 6: Assessment of UConn Programs and Recommending UConn to Others

School	Percent of Grads Who Believe They Should Have Attended UConn Because of the Educational Programs	Would Recommend UConn
Agriculture	67%	92%
Allied Health	88%	88%
Arts and Sciences	65%	88%
Business	71%	93%
Education	77%	90%
Engineering	57%	92%
Fine Arts	59%	64%
Family Studies	75%	92%
General Studies	74%	94%
Nursing	68%	76%
Pharmacy	73%	82%

The relatively low number of Fine Arts Graduates who would recommend UConn is hopefully a one-year fluke, since previous Fine Arts graduates have recommended UConn in roughly the same proportions as other schools' graduates. There were only 22 Fine Arts respondents in 1996.

Chart 1: Trends in Fine Arts Graduates Recommendation of the University

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Enthusiasm about referring friends to UConn declined slightly in the 80s, and has been increasing again since 1993. This may reflect trends in graduates' experiences of the labor market, cultural trends among young people, or trends at the University itself.

Chart 2: Percent of Recent Graduates Who Would Recommend UConn

Evaluation of Academic Experiences

Tables in Part II reflect how the graduates of 1996 evaluated their academic experience at the University of Connecticut. Students responded with answers from 1 (Extremely Dissatisfied) to 7 (Extremely Satisfied).

Graduates are generally highly satisfied with their academic experiences, in particular with the department and school within which they majored; their highest marks go to the quality of instruction and access to instructors in their major. On the other hand, as has been true since the beginning of this survey eighteen years ago, students expressed their greatest dissatisfaction with the quality of freshmen advising. Graduates were also relatively dissatisfied with the quality of upperclass advising, though not as dramatically. Another source of dissatisfaction is the number of required courses, both in and outside of their majors.

The graduates' assessment of their program in terms of preparation for finding a position appropriate to their major field was satisfactory. However, mean scores varied substantially by school. Respondents in the health related fields, Allied Health, Pharmacy and Nursing, reported the highest levels of satisfaction with their ability to find positions in their fields. In fact, all but three of the employed graduates of these three schools were employed in their fields. Liberal Arts and Fine Arts reported the lowest satisfaction with career preparation.

Table 7: Satisfaction with Major

	Satisfaction with.... (1=Extremely Dissatisfied, 7 = Extremely Satisfied)
School	Overall experience with courses in major	Quality of instruction in major	Range of courses in major	Access to instructors in major	Grad school preparation	Finding position in field	Cum. Satis-faction
Agriculture	5.5	5.7	4.7	6.0	4.3	4.3	5.1
Allied Health	6.4	6.3	6.0	6.5	5.0	6.0	6.0
Arts and Sciences	5.7	5.7	5.1	5.6	4.3	4.0	5.1
Business	5.3	5.7	4.7	5.6	4.1	5.0	5.1
Education	5.6	5.7	5.2	6.1	5.3	4.8	5.5
Engineering	5.6	5.4	5.0	5.3	4.8	5.1	5.2
Fine Arts	5.3	6.0	4.5	6.1	3.8	4.1	5.0
Family Studies	6.2	6.0	5.5	6.0	4.5	4.6	5.5
General Studies	5.3	5.7	4.7	5.5	3.8	3.9	4.8
Nursing	5.2	5.0	4.4	4.9	4.4	5.5	4.9
Pharmacy	4.8	5.0	4.7	5.1	3.8	5.5	4.8
University Mean	5.6	5.7	5.0	5.7	4.3	4.5	5.1

Evaluation of Post Graduate Experiences

The 1996 Recent Alumni Survey was sent in Fall 1996 to alumni who graduated in May 1996. Therefore, while Part III tables focuses on employment and graduate school, the survey may be too soon after graduation for some students to gauge success or intentions in these areas.

The percent of alumni respondents who reported full-time employment was up a full 5% from 1995, to 70%. Of those who were not employed full-time, 55% were in graduate school and 33% intended to continue their studies. Only 4% of respondents reported not having any employment, and not being in a graduate program.

Table 8: Employment and Graduate School, 1996

	Full-time Graduate Student	Part-time Graduate Student	Intend to Enter Grad Program	Not In, and No Intent to Enter, Graduate Program	All Respondents
Full-time	2.8% 31	5.4% 61	46.7% 524	14.8% 166	69.7% 782
Part-time	4.8% 54	1.2% 14	7.2% 81	2.6% 29	15.9% 178
None	10.2% 115	.5% 6	2.9% 32	.8% 9	14.4% 162
All Respondents	17.8% 200	7.2% 81	56.8% 637	18.2% 204	100.0% 1122

Chart 3: Trends in Employment and Graduate School Among Recent Graduates

Employment and graduate school varied significantly between the different schools' alumni. Education was the only school where the majority of the graduates went immediately into graduate work. Fine Arts and Nursing appear to have large minorities of alumni who are pursuing part-time employment and education. Allied Health, Engineering, Business and Pharmacy graduates almost all immediately enter full-time employment in their fields.

Table 9: Employment and Graduate School, by School, 1996

School	Fully-Employed	Full-time Grad School (and not fully-employed)	Partially-employed and/or part-time grad school	No employment and no grad school	Total
Education	33%	52%	12%	3%	100%
Fine Arts	55%	5%	36%	5%	100%
Agriculture	61%	18%	14%	7%	100%
Nursing	62%	3%	29%	6%	100%
Arts and Sciences	65%	18%	13%	4%	100%
Family Studies	71%	15%	14%	0%	100%
General Studies	76%	2%	14%	8%	100%
Allied Health	83%	6%	10%	0%	100%
Engineering	83%	11%	2%	5%	100%
Business	89%	5%	3%	3%	100%
Pharmacy	94%	3%	3%	0%	100%

Table Part III (2) presents how full-time employed graduates perceived their UConn degrees and their current employment. In keeping with the positive evaluations of their academic experience at the University, over three quarters of the graduates (79%) considered UConn degrees helpful when applying for jobs. About 74% of them were satisfied with their current positions, and 75% said their positions were career-related. The percent of alumni who felt their positions were career-related fell between 1989 and 1991 from a consistent 80% to around 70%, reflecting trends in the job market. The percent in career-related positions, and the percent satisfied with their positions and with UConn's help in getting a position, has been increasing since 1992. Health-related graduates are especially satisfied, since they are more likely to be employed, and those who are fully employed are almost all in their fields.

Chart 4: Satisfaction with Job and UConn's Assistance in Finding Work

The type of employer where graduates found jobs followed previous survey patterns. Business (43%) again was the number one employer in 1995, followed by health related employers.

Table 10: Type of Employer of Alumni

	All Respondents	Fully Employed Respondents
Business	33%	43%
Health Industry	14%	16%
Agriculture	9%	10%
Education	8%	7%
Non-Profit	5%	5%
State/Local Government	4%	5%
Other	3%	4%
None Given	17%	2%
Media	2%	2%
Self-Employed	2%	2%
Federal Government	1%	2%
Military Service	0%	1%
Factory/Industry	1%	1%
	100%	100%

"Business" has been declining slightly as an employer over the last fifteen years, while non-profits and other categories have increased.

Chart 5: Trends in Type of Employer

As in all prior studies, the majority of 1996 graduates chose jobs in Connecticut (71%). Massachusetts (9%) and New York (5%) were the second and third most popular work locations reported by responding graduates.

Conclusion

Recent Alumni Survey data are a good resource of information about UConn's graduates and their opinions on various aspects of the University. Besides completing the questionnaire, many respondents commented on various aspects of the University life. Due to the variety of the topics covered, the comments are not summarized here. They are filed in the Office of Institutional Research. Appropriate departments and offices are welcome to look at these comments.

A brief summary of the survey, which was mailed to all respondents, is attached to the end of this report.