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CU-Boulder by college/division and class level

NSSE data for CU-Boulder were analyzed to identify college-level differences or similarities in responses to 14 multiple-item scales¹ among freshmen and seniors. Data for the college of Arts and Sciences were analyzed collectively as a group and broken into the following four divisions: Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Open Option (no declared major, freshmen only). The other five colleges are business, engineering, journalism, music, and architecture and planning. Some degree of caution should be used when interpreting results for students in the colleges of Architecture and Planning, Journalism, and Music, because the total numbers of respondents from these colleges that were included in the analyses are relatively small (13, 31, and 9 freshmen, respectively; and 15, 31, and 26 seniors, respectively).

Scores on four of the 14 scales--cognitive skills, academic emphasis, general satisfaction, and community engagement--were very similar across colleges/divisions at both class levels. Highlights of differences among seniors include:

• Engineering students and architecture & planning students gave somewhat higher ratings on computing/IT and course availability and lower ratings on general education and diversity, compared with students in other colleges. For engineering students, ratings were particularly low on the diversity scale item that assesses the extent to which they have included diverse perspectives in class discussions or writing assignments.
• Music students provided higher ratings on academic advising, faculty engagement, and satisfaction with class size, especially in comparison with business students. The latter effect is particularly strong with respect to lower division class size.
• Journalism students provided higher ratings on general education, outdistancing other students in their positive assessment of the extent to which their education has contributed to their writing and speaking skills.
• Business students and engineering students gave higher ratings on practical academics, especially with respect to carrying out a senior project, working with others outside of class, and assessment of the university's contribution to enhancing ability to work well with others.

Highlights of differences among freshmen:

• Music students provided considerably higher ratings on course availability (especially courses required for the major) and satisfaction with class size (especially of lower division classes), as was also the case for seniors, and considerably lower ratings on general education and personal development, compared with students in other colleges.
• A&S social science students provided higher ratings on diversity, and engineering students gave lower ratings, compared with students in the other colleges. As was the case for seniors, engineering students gave particularly low ratings on the diversity scale item that assesses the extent to which they have included diverse perspectives in class discussions or writing assignments.
• Music students and A&S social science students provided higher ratings on the measure of faculty engagement. In particular, students in both of these colleges, as compared with all other freshmen, were considerably more likely to report working with faculty members on activities other than coursework.
Business students, engineering students, and music students gave lower ratings on general education overall and on the three component items--the extent to which their educational experience has contributed to the acquisition of a broad general education, writing skills, and speaking skills.
• Architecture & planning students were more likely to plan to study abroad, compared with other freshman students, and music and engineering students were considerably less likely to plan to do so.

Summary of general differences by class level:

• Comparisons of freshman students with seniors indicate consistent similarities between the two groups. There are essentially no differences on measures of course availability, academic emphasis, diversity, personal development, community engagement, and satisfaction with class size. Compared with freshmen, seniors have modestly higher scores on measures of computing/IT, general education, cognitive skills, and faculty engagement, and modestly lower scores on measures of general satisfaction, academic advising, and satisfaction with class size. Scores on the indicator of study abroad represent a departure from these general cross-class similarities. Although high proportions of freshmen report planning to study abroad, considerably lower proportions of seniors report actually doing so. This discrepancy is especially marked for architecture & planning students.

CU-Boulder NSSE 2006 Main Page

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Last revision 07/19/07