Document Type

Report

Publication Date

10-1-1995

Keywords

Graduating Class, Characteristics, Traits, student information, age, gender, admit, status, ethnicity, high school gpa, 1994, trandfer credit, average gpa, major

Abstract

Executive Summary: Information for this report was obtained from the Student Tracking System. Findings are intended to provide insight into various characteristics of the 2100 graduates who matriculated during the 1993-94 academic year. Generally, Western's 1994 graduates were mostly female (57.8% versus 42.2% male); mostly transfers (53.5% versus 42.1% natives, or students who began at Western as first-time fresh); and overwhelmingly current Washington residents (97.5%). Some 1994 graduates chose not to disclose their ethnicity (5.4%). Of the rest, the majority were Euro-Americans (85.4%). Ethnic-minorities made up 8.4% of 1994 graduates, up from 7.0% in 1993. Time-to-degree analysis for yearly cohorts of graduates is done from end result (matriculation) looking back, rather than the more popular method of tracking a cohort of fresh from quarter of entry through to graduation. When looking back from the end of a student's academic career, quarters attended is the clearest measure oftime-to-degree. Results are different, but tell a similar story from a new perspective. For the 1994 graduating class, the average number of quarters attended Western by natives was 14.4, and the average number of quarters attended Western by transfers was 9.2. In other words, the average native attended Western for a little less than five years, while the average transfer attended Western for about three years. These figures mirror findings that track fresh classes through to graduation and indicate that most natives need more than four but usually no more than five years to graduate, while transfers need about three years and sometimes a little more to graduate. The average number of credits earned by 1994 Western graduates was 203.3. The median number of credits earned (50th percentile) was 195 credits. By referencing the source of college credits (whether taken at Western or elsewhere), it was established that approximately fifty percent of all native graduates had taken courses at colleges other than Western. In other words, for the graduating class of 1994, the chances were only about 50/50 that a student who began their academic career at Western would actually take all of his or her courses at Western, up from the 1993 finding of 60/40.

Identifier

375

Publisher

Digital object produced by Office of Survey Research, Western Washington University, and made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

College graduates--Washington (State)--Statistics

Title of Series

Technical and research reports (Western Washington University. Office of Institutional Assessment and Testing) ; 1995-07

Genre/Form

Reports

Type

Text

Rights

This resource is provided for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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