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Senior Survey, 1998

Changes over time across colleges

The percent of seniors who would recommend UCB to a friend with "no reservations" has increased over time in all colleges except Architecture and Planning, which recorded a downturn in 1998. The percent of seniors recommending UCB to a friend without reservation increased dramatically for Engineering and Journalism.

Across colleges, managing time and tasks remains a universally highly-rated skill area for post-graduation success.

A&S, Business, Engineering, and Journalism showed an increase in general computing achievement over time; however, Architecture and Planning and Music showed a decrease in general computing achievement in 1998.

Advising, both career and academic, is perennially low-rated among seniors in all colleges (Display 12); however, both types of advising have posted a recent increase in satisfaction among Engineering seniors. Satisfaction with academic advising posted a dramatic increase in 1998 for Music seniors, and career advising may be on the rise for Architecture and Planning seniors as well.

Not surprisingly seniors’ use of e-mail has increased dramatically since 1993. All colleges have shown gains, with the largest gains in the schools of Architecture and Planning (20% in 1993 to 94% in 1998) and A&S (25% in 1993 to 94% in 1998).

All colleges except A&S and Music posted a decrease in the use of the library for researching papers. The drop was largest for the School of Journalism. A general decline in the use of library facilities may result from a greater availability of information on the internet, and an on-going UCB initiative to incorporate more technology into the classroom.

A majority of seniors in all colleges, except Journalism and Music, said they would spend more time interacting with faculty if they could start over at UCB. Interestingly, both Journalism and Music seniors are more likely to say they would devote more time to social activities. 1996 seniors were the first to be asked what they would do differently if they could start over and the item on the 1996 questionnaire was open-ended (the 1998 question listed options and asked seniors to check all that they would do differently.) In contrast to 1998 seniors, 1996 seniors most frequently mentioned "paying more attention to academics/studying." Overall, only 4% of the 1996 seniors mentioned interacting with faculty more. However, Music seniors ranked "spending more time on social activities" high in 1996 as well as 1998.

Most seniors in all colleges expect to be employed full time one year after graduation as opposed to enrolled in a graduate program. There has been little change over time except that a smaller percentage of 1998 Architecture and Planning seniors expect to be employed full time after graduation as compared to prior years, and a much larger percent of 1998 Journalism seniors, as compared to prior years, report that it is "highly likely" they will be employed full time.

Last revision 07/30/03