The nature of the responses will lean toward those who are dissatisfied with some or several aspects of their experience. It’s an advertisement for the school, nothing more.
On a whim, I just completed the Net Price Calculator on the school site, and with an income of $400k and assets of 500k the school was providing $15k of aid. That was then followed by a comparison to other schools…
MidAmerica Nazarene University $35,266
Baker University $35,268
St- John’s College $35,436
Stony Brook University (out-of-state) $35,890
Maryville University of Saint Louis $37,485
Binghamton University (out-of-state) $44,985
These materials are aimed at families who don’t spend a lot of time on CC.
In other news 36% of people bound to be perpetually unhappy. Many of them eventually move to Seattle or San Francisco. Still not happy.
“You don’t need a survey to measure “how many college kids wish they’d chosen a different school”. You have actual numbers- transfers- which presumably is not just who wishes they’d chosen differently, but kids motivated enough to actually do something about it.”
I don’t think it’s safe to assume that those who actually transfer have identical characteristics to those who wish they could. You wouldn’t develop data on people who wish they could buy a Ferrari by only surveying Ferarri owners.
"Survey data was compiled from 2,000 respondents " - With no data on who “respondents” were, and the term implying that they self-selected, this information appears to be simply anecdotal.
Typically negative.
How about - Great news - New Survey shows over 65% of students wouldn’t change a darn thing following graduation!
Different spin on the same info.
I find it totally unsurprising data. 35 percent of the students who didn’t get the immediate dream job or had the mystical dream years they hoped for following graduation is pretty much in line with what one would expect.
But typical. No 1000 planes land safely every hour stories out there.
We are a weird bunch, us human beings. We just love the drama and negativity. As a general rule only, of course.
Those kids on average applied to four schools and were rejected by two. So of course they’re going to think the grass is greener on that other, fancier campus that wouldn’t have them…
Worse than stats show. These are the ones who made it through. I know a number of young people who did not. Most all of them regret their choices in colleges.
I also know many who just couldn’t afford college, couldn’t juggle it with home life and jobs. A lot of them. I believe that money is the biggest reason why students drop out.
In support of the Dear Cardinal:
The Department of Education reported that 57.3% of graduates in 2017 were female. According to my DS19 (way smarter than me), the chances of a truly random sample of 2000 graduates being <=47% female are 0.74%. In other words, no way this is a random sample.
My favorite positive headline we will never see: 30,000 people lifted out of poverty today, and yesterday, and every day for the last 20 years.
“New Survey shows over 65% of students wouldn’t change a darn thing following graduation!”
I think the interesting thing though is the alumni giving rates which are another indication of being satisfied with your college choice. Of course you need money to give and you have to prioritize your charitable donations but the 11% average alumni giving rate after two years would support some of the conclusions in this survey. And it’s not like you have to give thousands of dollars to be counted as a alumni contributor. If most people loved their college experience, you’d expect that number to higher. Princeton is typically the top at around 60%, again you need to only give $5 or $10 to be counted in that stat. Saying you loved your college in a survey vs. giving money when called by the alumni office are two different things. A lot of people say, I loved that college, but when asked for money, well maybe not that much.
I disagree with using who has donated to their college. H and I loved our college experience, but choose to give our charitable giving as it applies to education to students I know via school scholarships - not to a big school that doesn’t really need the money to the same extent. Even $5 goes to an actual student ($$ get pooled). If our school were on shaky grounds financially we’d add them to our giving list. They aren’t.
I doubt we’re alone with our thoughts. It’s a mindset, not at all a vote for or against an alma mater.