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Report of the Results of the 2005 New Student Transition Questionnaire


BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY

The BGSU New Student Transition Questionnaire was developed in Fall 1997 as a means of gathering information about how well first year first time students were becoming acclimated to college life within their first six weeks at BGSU. This report describes the results of the ninth administration of the survey in Fall 2005.

The 2005 survey was administered to all new freshmen at BGSU main campus who enrolled in English 110, 111, and 112H classes in the middle of September. Two thousand seven hundred and thirty-six surveys were returned. This represents 76% of first time first year new students at BGSU's main campus. Of the 2,736 respondents, 1,954 provided PID numbers, which allowed us to identify respondents' gender, ethnicity, college, as well as the first year program in which most of them are participating (see Table 1 and Table 2 below).

Table 1. Students Characteristics - Overall And By Gender, Race, and College
  Overall Gender Ethnicity College
Female Male Minority White Other A&S* ACE* BA* EDHD* HHS* MUS* TEC*
Population of New Full-Time Fall 2005 Main Campus First Year Students:
   Total Number 3585 1991 1594 652 2802 131 974 634 520 814 353 89 201
   Percentage 100% 56% 44% 18% 78% 4% 27% 18% 15% 23% 10% 2% 6%
Survey Respondents:
   Total Number 2863* 1099 855 377 1519 58 505 357 297 445 201 38 111
   Percentage 100% 56% 44% 19% 78% 3% 26% 18% 15% 23% 10% 2% 6%
* Total survey respondents included those who reported PID numbers and those who didn't.

* A&S: College of Arts and Sciences
* ACE: Academic Enhancement
* BA: College of Business Administrations
* EDHD: College of Education and Human Development
* HHS: College of Health and Human Services
* MUS: College of Musical Arts
* TEC: College of Technology

Table 2. Students Characteristics - By First Year Program*
  ART_
VILLAG		 BATCH
_MUS		 BA
 150   		BGX CHAP-
MAN		  CMAI   HSRC HONORS  LSL   PCC PMA SMART SPRING
BOARD		 UNIV
100		 UNIV
131		 UPAS
Population of New Full-Time Fall 2005 Main Campus First Year Students in Different First Year Program:
   Total Number 86 68 306 3530 170 383 148 237 140 32 419 186 332 1008 84 214
Survey Respondents in Different First Year Program:
   Total Number 46 27 183 1941 103 229 93 87 84 20 236 105 183 557 42 121
* First year programs with fewer than 20 respondents were excluded.

* ART_VILLAG: Arts Village
* BATCH_MUS: Batchelder Music Community
* BA 150
* BGX: BGeXperience
* CHAP-MAN: Chapman Community
* CMAI: Center for Multicultural and Academic Initiatives
* HSRC: The Health Sciences Residential Community
* HONORS: University Honors Program
* LSL: Literacy Serve and Learn
* PCC: Partners in Context & Community
* PMA: Pre-Major Advising
* SMART: Students of Color Mentoring, Aiding, Retaining, and Teaching
* SPRINGBOARD
* UNIV 100: a two-credit course designed to help students deal with transitional issues
* UNIV 131: a two-credit career and life planning course
* UPAS: The University Program for Academic Success


SURVEY RESULTS

The survey results are shown on Table 3 and Table 4 below. The results were analyzed by noting the percentages of participants who provided various responses to each questionnaire item. Percentages may not always sum to 100 due to rounding. In addition, group differences were investigated and significant differences are noted where they occurred.

RESULTS 1: OVERALL AND DIFFERENCE BY GENDER, RACE, AND COLLEGE

Table 3.  Overall and Differences by Gender, Race, and College
  Overall Gender Ethnicity College
Female Male Minority White A&S ACE BA EDHD HHS MUS TEC
% % % % % % % % % % % %
I am finding it easy to adjust to the University

Strongly Disagree

 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 2 3 1
Somewhat Disagree 4 4 3 5 4 4 6 4 2 6 5 3
Neutral 11 10 11 14 10 12 13 7 8 10 8 11
Somewhat Agree 41 40 43 39 42 39 45 39 41 42 47 44
Strongly Agree 43 45 42 41 44 45 36 49 48 41 37 41
I have figured out how to study effectively

Strongly Disagree

 3 3 4 5 3 4 4 1 3 4 5 3
Somewhat Disagree 11 11 13 15 11 11 15 12 11 10 13 10
Neutral 36 33 37 37 35 33 40 35 34 36 16 39
Somewhat Agree 41 44 40 36 44 44 38 44 41 43 58 42
Strongly Agree 9 9 7 7 8 9 3 9 12 8 8 6
I am satisfied with my roommate

Strongly Disagree

 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 3 2 3 3 6
Somewhat Disagree 6 6 6 5 6 8 6 6 5 5 6 6
Neutral 18 15 16 19 15 17 16 18 11 18 8 20
Somewhat Agree 21 19 24 22 21 22 22 17 23 21 17 18
Strongly Agree 51 57 50 50 55 49 53 56 59 54 67 50
I am satisfied with my living accommodations

Strongly Disagree

 3 2 3 2 2 2 4 2 1 2 0 4
Somewhat Disagree 7 7 6 8 6 7 8 7 4 8 6 8
Neutral 19 16 20 16 19 18 19 20 15 17 14 23
Somewhat Agree 40 41 42 39 42 42 43 37 44 39 47 37
Strongly Agree 31 35 29 35 31 31 27 34 36 35 33 28
                         
  Overall Gender Ethnicity College
Female Male Minority White A&S ACE BA EDHD HHS MUS TEC
% % % % % % % % % % % %
I am making friends easily

Strongly Disagree

 2 2 2 1 2 3 1 1 2 1 0 2
Somewhat Disagree 5 5 4 5 4 5 4 5 3 6 0 7
Neutral 15 13 15 11 15 15 16 13 12 14 11 14
Somewhat Agree 35 35 36 31 37 33 38 37 34 37 27 43
Strongly Agree 43 45 44 52 42 44 41 45 49 43 62 34
I am not concerned about alcohol use among students

Strongly Disagree

 6 6 6 7 6 6 5 7 6 6 11 5
Somewhat Disagree 9 11 7 8 9 11 8 8 9 8 21 5
Neutral 30 34 25 33 29 31 27 29 32 31 34 23
Somewhat Agree 26 25 28 21 27 26 24 26 27 24 18 36
Strongly Agree 30 25 35 32 29 27 36 31 26 32 16 32
I feel lonely, left out, or isolated

Strongly Disagree

 56 58 58 64 56 51 57 64 62 57 47 60
Somewhat Disagree 23 22 25 18 25 23 27 18 22 25 29 23
Neutral 11 10 10 8 10 11 9 9 9 10 16 13
Somewhat Agree 8 9 7 8 8 13 5 7 6 7 5 5
Strongly Agree 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 3 0
I find my classes challenging

Strongly Disagree

 3 2 3 6 2 3 3 2 3 1 0 4
Somewhat Disagree 10 9 9 12 8 10 5 11 10 7 8 12
Neutral 35 35 34 37 34 33 38 37 36 25 26 34
Somewhat Agree 42 43 44 37 45 42 43 42 44 48 42 41
Strongly Agree 10 11 10 7 11 11 10 9 7 20 24 10
  Overall Gender Ethnicity College
Female Male Minority <