Calling All Seniors
Survey seeks to illuminate postacademic paths
Of the 1,000 graduating seniors who participated in last spring’s first campus-wide senior survey, more than half reported that they hoped to take on full-time work by the fall and almost a quarter said they planned to attend professional or graduate school. The survey was spearheaded by Enrollment and Student Affairs and the Office of Institutional Research.
Again this year, departing seniors are being asked to assess their experience at BU and their plans following graduation. Laurie Pohl, vice president for enrollment and student affairs, says information from the survey will “help us to understand how we can serve students better and also to capture the wide range of experiences for which a BU degree prepares our students.”
Pohl says that before last year’s survey “a few individual schools and colleges collected data from their graduating seniors, but we did not have a comprehensive picture of the entire graduating class. This year, we will also be following up in the fall to find out more information about where they landed.”
On April 15, 2011, almost 4,000 emails were sent to members of the class of 2011 inviting them to complete the survey, which is administered by the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) consortium. HEDS has been surveying college seniors for more than two decades, monitoring their moves after they toss their mortarboards, comparing them to their peers at their own college or university as well as nationally.
Last year, approximately a quarter of the graduating class sent back the surveys. In an effort to boost participation this year, five seniors will be randomly selected to win a Senior Week event pass. Those who respond before April 30 will be eligible for prizes that will be announced by Pohl, along with more results from last year’s survey, at the Senior Breakfast on May 6. The last day to complete the survey is Friday, May 12.
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