Executive Summary
First Year Success Survey, 2017[1]

More than 3,000 first-year CMU students, scheduled for summer Orientation, were invited during late spring and summer 2017 to complete a web-based survey on their high school experiences and expectations about college. The survey invitation, along with reminders, was sent to students’ CMU email addresses. While they were on campus for their Orientation session, faculty and staff asked students in person to complete the survey, and laptops were conveniently available for students. Surveys were started by 78% of the students who received a survey invitation and were completed by 71% (N=2,187).

A Demographic Profile: Factors Associated with Likelihood of Graduation

We know that students with highly educated parents are more likely to graduate from college and that graduation rates for CMU students,who self identity as White, have historically been higher than those for students of color. Likewise, students who find it difficult to pay for college are less likely than those with significant financial support to receive bachelor’s degrees.

While 33% of CMU’s first-year students report that their parent with the highest level of education has a bachelor’s degree and 29% indicate that their parent has at least some graduate education, fully 13%of first-year students’ most highly educated parent has at most a high school degree and 25% of students’ most highly educated parent has some collegebut not a bachelor’s degree.

Almost 80% of these first-year students indicate that their race/ethnicity is White (or Caucasian), with African Americans/Blacks the largest group of students of color (11%), followed by Latino/a/x or Hispanic (4%).

Fewer than one in five of CMU’s first-year students (19%) indicate confidence that “I will have sufficient funds” to finance a college education, while 64% have some concerns about college finances, and 17% have major concerns.

Although we know that most students at CMU do not graduate in four or fewer years (only 24% do so), fully 86% of these beginning CMU students expect to graduate in four years or less.

Choosing Majors and Careers

The higher education literature suggests that college graduation is most likely for students with clearly defined goals.

About 10% of CMU’s first-year students have not decided on a major/field of study or on a career, with more than one half of the first-year student sample saying it is “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that they will change their major (44%) or their career (48%).

When thinking about their first job after college, more than 50% said that a “stable, secure future” was “essential.” Fewer than one quarter of students reported that “intellectually stimulating work,”“working for social change,”“social status,” or “high income potential” were essential.

Intellectual Preparation for College

A great deal has been written about whether American high school students are adequately prepared for the intellectual rigor of college work, with concerns about poor student preparation dominating the debate. First-year students were asked about their “critical thinking” skills.

Almost one half of students report that they have “very often” in the last year supported “opinions with logical argument,” and 30% indicate that they have very often “accepted mistakes as part of the learning process.” By contrast, fewer than 20% indicate that they very often “feel challenged to think more broadly about an issue;” “seek alternative solutions to a problem;” “analyze multiple sources of information before coming to a conclusion;” “evaluate the quality or reliability of information you received;” or“apply concepts from classes to real life situations.”

Time Use in High School and Expectations about College

CMU’s first-year students were asked how many hours they spent doing a variety of activities in a typical week in Grade 12 of high school and what their expectations are for time use at CMU. Seventy five percent spent five or fewer hours studying in Grade 12, while more than one third (37%) spent 11 or more hours playing on a sports team or with a sports club and almost one half (46%) worked for pay for 11 or more hours in a typical week. Thirty percent of first-year students reported spending no time with sports teams/clubs, and 24% did not work for pay. More than one half(54%) of students did not volunteer in the community or did so for fewer than two hours in a typical weekwhile in Grade 12.

These first-year students expect their time use to change at CMU. Although more than one quarter (28%) expect to spend five or fewer hours studying and almost two thirds (64%) intend to spend 10 or fewer hours studying, more than one third (36%) anticipate studying for 11 or more hours each week at CMU. Only 12%of these studentsexpect to spend more than10 hours involved with a sports team or club at CMU, although 37% expect to be employed for more than 10 hours per week.

These first-year students are actively involved with social media; with more than 60% of them indicating that they have used Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook in the “last 24 hours.”

Promoting Diversity

Many college students find their university environment to be more diverse than the one they experienced growing up, and diverse learning environments can both prepare students for their post-baccalaureate lives and promote their higher order thinking. Are CMU’s first-year students well positioned to learn in a more diverse setting?

At most, 20% of these first-year CMU students indicate that they “very often”(prior to college) do any of the following: “Make an effort to educate others about social issues;” “make an effort to get to know people from diverse backgrounds;” “challenge others on issues of discrimination;” “recognize the biases that affect your own thinking;” “critically evaluate your own position on an issue,” and “discuss issues related to sexism, gender differences, or gender equity.” More than one quarter of these students “seldom” or “never” discuss gender/sexism issues (27%) or challenges others on discrimination issues (29%).

Post-test Survey

In late Spring 2018, these students will be asked to complete a second survey, both to understand better their experiences during their first year at CMU and to chart the extent to which students have grown in terms of factors such as Citizenship, Collaboration, Social Perspective Taking, and Consciousnessof Self—constructs measured on the initial survey but not reported here.

[1]This survey was funded by Provost Michael Gealt and Vice President Steven Johnson and is part of the Reimagining the First Year (RFY) project and assessment initiatives in the ESS Division. Dr. Frim Ampaw of Educational Leadership played a key role in survey design and analysis, along with Dr. Anne Hornak, Dr. Matt Johnson, and Dr. Ethan Kolek of EDL, with support from Dr. Mary Senter and Kathy Rise of the Center for Applied Research and Rural Studies (CARRS).