Alumni Survey – Classes of 1997 and 1998

Office of Institutional Research

Nelson Bingham, Mary Ann Weaver, Nichole Dudley

November, 2003

INTRODUCTION

In the spring of 2003, 168 graduates from the Classes of 1997 and 1998 responded to an alumni survey that was produced by the Higher Education Data Consortium. (See Appendix A).  The survey was sent to 391 alums. The names and addresses of these alumni were secured from the Institutional Advancement office.   A cover letter was prepared by Nelson  Bingham explaining the importance and uses of the survey.  A follow-up letter was sent to those alumni who did not return their survey after a reasonable time.  Email reminders were also sent to those who did not return their survey.  Completed surveys were sent to Survey Resource Partners in Minnesota for scanning. 

This survey was also utilized by some of our peer institutions to survey their graduates from the Classes of 1997 and 1998.  HEDS prepared a report comparing Earlham to a Peer Group.  (See Appendix B for a list of the institutions in the Peer Group.)

RESULTS

Links to tables

The survey was completed by 84 alums from each Earlham class (44 males and 124 females), which was a 43% response rate.  This was a better rate of return than any of the other institutions included in the Peer Group.  (See Appendix B.)   Ninety-four percent of the Earlham respondents were white (non-hispanic). Most of them (56%) were married or living with a partner and most (88%) had no children.  Table 1 shows the majors of the Earlham respondents.

Undergraduate Majors

The majority (64%) of these EC alumni were employed full time immediately after graduation.  This compares to 60% of the alumni from our peer institutions.  The most popular occupation the year following graduation from Earlham was in some type of education (32.4%).  This included teaching preschool, elementary school, secondary school, college, research or teaching assistant, or other teacher or instructor positions.  Another 10% were working in social work and 9% were working in sales.  Currently (5-6 years after graduation) there remain 31% of the Earlham alumni of the Classes of 1997 and 1998 working in the field of education with 10.5% in managerial and management related occupations, 10.5% in health related occupations, 7.8% as scientists and mathematicians, 7.8% are writers, artists, entertainers or athletes, and 5.9% are in administrative support positions.   The largest percentage (17.4%) of the alumni from our peer institutions are currently working as educators. Almost 14% are in management related occupations, 10.3% in legal related occupations, 9% in health occupations and 8.7% are writers, artists, entertainers or athletes. Surprisingly, a greater percentage of alumni from these peer institutions are currently employed in the social work field (4.8%) than are Earlham alumni (3.3%).  

Eighty-eight percent of the Earlham respondents from the Classes of 1997 and 1998 indicated that their major was indirectly or directly related to their career.  Eighty-two percent of the respondents from peer institutions indicated the same.

A small percentage (20.4%) of the EC alum respondents were in graduate school full time immediately after graduation compared to 27.4% of alumni from our peer institutions.  However, 21.6% of the Earlham alumni are currently (5 and 6 years after graduation) full time graduate school students and 15% are part time graduate students.   This compares to 20.8% of the alumni from our peer institutions currently in graduate school full time and 11% are part time graduate students.  Most of the Earlham alumni respondents from the Classes of 1997 and 1998 (66%) are currently employed full time while 18% are employed part time.  A higher percentage (71%) of the alumni from peer institutions are currently employed full time and 13% are employed part time.

Ultimately, 29.5% of the Earlham Classes of 1997 and 1998 would prefer to be educators compared to 22% of the alumni from our peer institutions.  The second most popular occupation listed by 15% of Earlham graduates as the career they would ultimately like to have is in health diagnosing and treating occupations.  Other occupations listed as ultimate goals for the Earlham grads included becoming writers, artists, entertainers or athletes (13.7%), scientists or mathematicians (7.5%), managerial positions (6.8%), social, recreational or religious work (6.2%), and legal related occupations (2.7%); whereas 17% of the alumni from peer institutions were interested in management occupations, 12.1% ultimately desired legal occupations, 9.9% were interested in health related fields, 9.3% wanted to be scientists or mathematicians, and 9.3% aspire to become writers, artists, entertainers or athletes.

Most of the Earlham alumni (47.9%) from the Classes of 1997 and 1998 estimated their current annual income to be between $20,000 and $40,000, and 32.7% of alumni from our peer institutions reported the same.  Four percent of the peer group alums are making more than $120,000 annually, whereas none of the Earlham alums had incomes in that bracket.

The alumni were asked to evaluate their undergraduate education.  They indicated the importance in their current activities of various abilities and types of knowledge that may be developed in a bachelor’s degree program and then indicated the extent those abilities or types of knowledge were enhanced by their undergraduate experience.  Table 2 shows the mean scores for Earlham and our peer group.

Table 2

Evaluation of Undergraduate Education

Scale:  4=Greatly 3=Moderately 2= A Little 1=Not at All

Using the perspective gained since they graduated, the alumni from the Classes of 1997 and 1998 were asked how satisfied they are with various services or aspects of Earlham.  Table 3 shows their degree of satisfaction compared with alumni from peer institutions.

Table 3

Satisfaction with College Experiences

Scale:  4=Very Satisfied 3=Generally Satisfied 2=Generally Dissatisfied 1=Very Dissatisfied

Table 4 shows to what extent their undergraduate experience fulfilled their original expectations in various areas.

Table 4

Expectations

Scale:  4=Greatly 3=Moderately 2=A Little 1=Not at All

Seventy-seven percent of the Classes of 1997 and 1998 were very satisfied with their overall undergraduate education compared to 76% of the alumni from our peer group.   Seventy-seven percent of the Earlham alumni respondents indicated that they definitely would encourage others to attend Earlham.  Seventy-eight percent of our peer group alumni indicated the same.

The alumni were asked to evaluate their level of involvement in various activities while an undergraduate and then evaluate the contribution of each activity to their personal or professional life after graduation.  Table 5 shows the mean scores for Earlham and our peer group.

Table 5

Contribution of Activities to Development

Scale:  4=Extensive 3=Moderate 2=A Little 1=None

Table 6 shows to what extent these graduates felt their undergraduate experience prepared them for various post-graduation activities.

Table 6

Level of Preparedness for Post-graduation Activities

Scale:  4=Greatly 3=Moderately 2=A Little 1=Not at All

To determine the amount of involvement these graduates have had with their alma mater, they were asked how frequently they participated in various activities that were sponsored by their undergraduate alma mater.  Table 7 shows the degree of involvement of Earlham alumni compared to that of the alumni from our peer institutions.

Table 7

Involvement with Alma Mater

Scale:  4=Frequently 3=Occasionally 2=Briefly 1=Never

Seventy-seven percent of the respondents from the Classes of 1997 and 1998 indicated that they strongly or very strongly identified with their alma mater compared to 75% of the alumni from our peer institutions.

To what extent have the alumni voluntarily participated in organizations since graduation?  Table 8 gives this information.

Table 8

Involvement in Organizations

Scale:  4=A Lot 3=Moderately 2=A Little 1=Not at All

Of the 64 Earlham alumni from the Classes of 1997 and 1998 who are currently pursuing further education, 18% are working toward a master's degrees in education.  Another 12% are working toward master’s degrees in the social sciences and 9.4% are working on master’s degrees in the Life Sciences.  This varies significantly from alumni from our peer institutions where 15% of their alumni are working toward master’s degrees in business. Of the 93 Earlham alumni who indicated they have plans in the future to obtain higher degrees, 12.9% indicated a desire for a master’s degree in education and 14% have plans to pursue a doctoral degree in education.  Additionally, 9.7% of the alumni respondants from Earlham hope to obtain a doctoral degree in Psychology, and 8.6% hope to obtain a doctoral degree in the social sciences. An additional 9.7% hope to attain a doctoral degree in the social sciences.  Alumni from the peer group institutions are more interested in business with 13.6% indicating an interest in pursuing an MBA in the future.  An additional 10% of these peer group alumni hope to attain a master’s degree in humanities and 9.7% hope to obtain a professional law degree.

Most of the Earlham respondents (83.3%) were recipients of financial aid while at Earlham.  This figure is compared to 74.6% of the respondents at peer institutions who were recipients of financial aid. The majority of these alumni (79%) took out loans for their undergraduate study.  Table 9 shows the effect of these educational loans

Table 9

Effect of Undergraduate Loans

Scale:  3=To a great extent  2=Somewhat  1=Not at All

We chose to add supplemental questions to this survey.  These questions are unique to Earlham and therefore we did not receive comparison data for other colleges.

The Classes of 1997 and 1998 were given specific educational objectives of Earlham's general education program and asked to rate the degree to which Earlham has helped them to develop that competency.

Table 10

Development of General Education Competencies

Scale:  1=greatly 2=moderately 3=somewhat 4=slightly 5=not at all

Created by Mary Ann Weaver
weavema@earlham.edu
November, 2003