FRESHMEN STUDENTS ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS

In the last issue of the DATAWave, first-time students self-reported needs for, or participation in, remedial coursework was discussed. In this issue, students’ self-reports of academic abilities and expectations are reported and compared to national norms. Once again, the data for this report is from the Cooperative Institutional Research Project (CIRP) Freshman Survey which has been conducted at Eastern since 1987, and is nationally given to more than 200,000 students at over 400 colleges and universities.

When asked to rank their academic abilities, more Eastern incoming freshmen report their abilities as above average when compared to the national norms for public universities with low admission selectivity (see Tables I and II). On average, more than 40% of Eastern students state that their academic abilities are above average. Students were further asked to rate their abilities in writing, public speaking, and mathematics.

Only in the area of mathematics do students consistently rate their abilities as above average more often than do students nationwide. In the area of writing skills, fewer students proportionally rank their abilities above average. Overall, Eastern students are more often confident in their public speaking skills than the national samples, but not to the same degree as seen in the data for mathematics. Should readers reflect on previous editions of the DATAWave, these may seem somewhat inconsistent.

The Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) results showed that Eastern students performed best in the area of writing, and when identifying a need for remedial assistance, students were more likely to indicate a need for assistance in mathematics than in English. When students’ self-report of academic abilities were compared to their reported need for remediation, not surpassingly, the higher the ranking in ability, the less the perceived need for remediation. Further post hoc analysis revealed an association between students’ perceptions of ability and performance in coursework, and CAAP results (these will be further discussed in future editions of the DATAWave).

Students were also asked to report on their expectations of making a “B” average. Eastern students are consistently more confident than students nationally on their ability to perform, and on average more than 40% of students expect to exceed a 3.00 GPA. Only 12% of students anticipate they will graduate with honors, and this result is consistent with the national average. The number of students who expect to graduate with honors is consistent with the percentage of students who expect to be elected to an academic honor society. Also consistent with the national average, is the number of students who expect to earn a bachelor’s degree. For the 7 years of CIRP data reported here, 70% of incoming students each year expect to graduate. This figure is extremely inconsistent with the number who do actually graduate (estimated as approximately 40%).

Two percent of any freshman class anticipate they will fail one or more classes, drop out temporarily, or drop out permanently. These expectations are inconsistent with the actual results.

Eastern students are also somewhat less inclined to be satisfied with this institution than students in the national sample, but overall 40% of students expect to be satisfied here. Furthermore, Eastern students do not anticipate changing majors to a greater degree than their peers nationally, but they are much more likely to be planning on transferring to another institution. More than one-fifth of Eastern’s incoming freshmen report that they plan to transfer to another institution, while the national average for the same years is less than 15%.

In conclusion, Eastern students’ relatively high self-ratings, when compared to the high anticipated need for remedial assistance discussed last week, indicates that there is much variance in the abilities of our incoming students. Students seem to be relatively poor estimators of the likelihood that they will drop-out temporarily or permanently, or if they will change majors. And finally, many of our students report that they plan to transfer from this institution.