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CU-Boulder Master's degree students,   1997-98

GRADUATE STUDENT SURVEY - UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO-BOULDER
From the Graduate School Survey of graduating MASTERS students, Fall 1997-Summer 1998

*NOTE:  Means are based on values of 1 to 4 (eg. 'poor' to 'excellent')

Aspects of graduate studies:
                                                                                        --Of those responding, pct who said--
                                               Not
                                           Answered/Not      Number              Std
                                            Applicable     Responding    Mean*   Dev    Poor    Adequate    Good    Excellent

1) Quality of instruction: grad courses                        469       3.2     0.7     1%       15%       49%        33%
2) Quality of faculty mentoring                 1%             462       2.9     1.0    10%       23%       37%        29%
3) Quality of research experience              22%             364       2.9     0.9     7%       25%       39%        26%
4) Departmental advising/guidance               1%             463       2.7     1.0    16%       21%       34%        27%
5) Assistance finding profes employment        36%             297       2.3     1.0    28%       31%       24%        15%


Overall Level of Financial Support Received while at CU-Boulder:

                                              Not                                                Less
                                          Answered/Not      Number              Std              than
                                           Applicable     Responding    Mean*   Dev    Poor    Adequate    Adequate    Excellent

16) Overall level of financial support        29%             333       2.9     0.9     9%       13%         52%          24%


Primary reason for taking a formal leave of absence during graduate studies:

                                                Not
                                            Answered/Not      Number                 
                                             Applicable     Responding                   Other    Research-related    Personal  Financial
                                             Financial

20) If left: reason for leave of absence        84%              73                       16%           11%             53%        19%


Agreement with the following statements about your thesis advisor or dissertation chair:

                                                Not
                                            Answered/Not      Number              Std    Strongly                         Strongly
                                             Applicable     Responding    Mean*   Dev    Disagree    Disagree    Agree     Agree

21) Willing spend time on acad advising         26%             345       3.4     0.8       5%          4%        35%       54%
22) Met on reg basis to discuss research        40%             278       3.1     1.0       9%         13%        36%       41%
23) Made eff get financial supprt for me        57%             199       3.0     1.1      15%         15%        25%       43%
24) Encouraged and supported my research        37%             294       3.4     0.8       3%          9%        32%       54%


Which of the following BEST describes your time-to-degree?
                                                                 --Of those responding, pct who said--

                          Not                                      Shorter                  Longer
                      Answered/Not      Number                       than      Expected      than
                       Applicable     Responding                   Expected     Length     Expected

34) Time-to-degree         3%             453                         4%         73%         22%


Satisfaction with the following services provided by the Graduate School (not your department):

                                                Not                                                Less
                                            Answered/Not      Number              Std              than
                                             Applicable     Responding    Mean*   Dev    Poor    Adequate    Adequate    Excellent

35) Advising for thesis/diss + deg reqs         30%             326       2.8     0.9    11%       16%         50%          20%
36) Financial aid advising                      44%             260       2.3     1.0    25%       25%         39%          10%
37) Student support (travel/diss grants)        50%             231       2.4     1.0    22%       27%         38%          11%
38) Grad student awards (teach,research)        50%             235       2.3     1.0    26%       26%         37%          10%


Experiences as a Teaching or Research Assistant during graduate study:

                                                Not                                                Less
                                            Answered/Not      Number              Std              than
                                             Applicable     Responding    Mean*   Dev    Poor    Adequate    Adequate    Excellent

39) How effective TA or prof dev exprnc?        62%             176       3.5     0.7     2%        4%         35%          58%
40) How useful was Grad Teacher Program?        70%             140       2.7     0.9    12%       19%         50%          17%
41) How useful traing fr dept lead GPTI?        75%             117       2.6     1.0    18%       17%         47%          16%
42) How effective rsch asst as prof dev?        77%             104       3.4     0.7     2%        3%         42%          51%


Average # of Articles Published and Average # of Years to Complete Degree:
                                                                                                       Pct Publishing X Number of Articles

                                          N          Mean       Std Dev       Minimum       Maximum        None       One     Two or More
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    -----------------------------------
30: Number of articles published        467           0.3           1.5           0.0          26.0         86%        6%          8%

31: Number of years to complete MA      453           2.4           0.9           1.0           6.5


                                                      *Note: Four outliers were removed from the Mean # of articles published.
                                                             These four respondents reported: 35, 65, 70, and 100 published articles.


If starting your graduate career over--Would you select:

                                              Dont
                                            Know/Not       Number
                                           Applicable    Responding    No     Yes

6) CU-Boulder                                 19%            378       16%    83%
7) The same field of study                    10%            421       14%    85%
8) The same thesis/dissertation advisor       34%            307       20%    79%
9) Would recommend department to friend       20%            375       16%    84%


Indicate the types of support you received in Graduate School:

                                                        Number
                                                      Responding    No     Yes

10) Fellowship                                            471       74%    25%
11) Teaching assistantship                                471       63%    36%
12) Research assistantship                                471       81%    18%
13) Need-based financial aid/loans                        471       56%    43%
14) Personal/family ONLY                                  470       76%    23%
15) Other funding (identify)                              471       75%    24%


Questions about the financial assistance you received at CU-Boulder:

                                                Not
                                            Answered/Not      Number
                                             Applicable     Responding    No     Yes

17) Fin support w/i dept awarded fairly?        18%             383       29%    70%


                                                              Number
                                                            Responding    No     Yes

18) Work off-campus during grad study?                          471       44%    55%


                                               Not
                                           Answered/Not       Number
                                            Applicable      Responding    No     Yes

19) Was work related to grad program?          22%              366       64%    35%


Questions regarding graduate opportunities:

                                                Not
                                            Answered/Not      Number
                                             Applicable     Responding    No     Yes

25) Seminars for grad stdnts prsnt rsch?        26%             344       20%    79%
26) Ever present research at a seminar?         31%             321       75%    24%
27) Ever receive funding to go natl mtg?        33%             311       80%    19%
28) Ever deliver paper at national mtng?        32%             320       83%    16%
29) Faculty encourage you publish rsrch?        46%             251       51%    48%


Did you receive adequate instruction or experience in the following areas?

                                              Not
                                          Answered/Not      Number
                                           Applicable     Responding    No     Yes

43) Research ethics?                          38%             288       44%    55%
44) Responsible conduct in your field?        31%             324       40%    59%
45) Sexual harassment (training)?             32%             319       53%    46%
46) Diversity?                                30%             325       54%    45%


Which item best describes your current status? (mark one item only):

                                                            Total N of    Percent who
                                                            Respondents   marked ...

47) Postdoc fellowship/traineeship                              471           1%
48) Faculty position in college/univer                          471           3%
49) Research position in academia/indus                         471           5%
50) Professional service career                                 471          25%
51) Non-research pos in private industry                        471          19%
52) Other position (SEE WRITE-INS)                              471          37%

                                                                             90% answered Qs 47-52 (10% missing)

                                                Not
                                            Answered/Not      Number
                                             Applicable     Responding    No     Yes

53) Position directly related to degree?        18%             382       19%    80%

Last revision 12/19/03