For the ninth consecutive year, William Paterson University administered a survey to incoming freshmen in order to help the university community get to know them. During the spring and early summer of this year, 1,065 students, well over ninety percent of the incoming first-time, full-time freshmen, completed the Freshman Survey at the time they took their Basic Skills Test. Based on the results of the survey, it appears that the incoming class is quite diverse. Four out of ten respondents identify themselves as nonwhite (13 percent African American; 19 percent Hispanic; five percent Asian, and three percent Other). Women make up a higher proportion than males—60 percent compared to 40 percent.

Students are enthusiastic about being admitted to William Paterson and are eager to begin their studies this fall. For the overwhelming majority of them (91 percent), our school was either their first or second choice. More than six out of ten (62 percent) reported that it was their first choice and an additional three out of ten (29 percent) indicated that it was their second choice. A little over 90 percent of the incoming students expect to graduate from the University, a proportion similar to last year’s, and nine percent expect to transfer to another college.

Students were presented with a list of words and phrases and were asked to circle those they believe to represent the most widely held images of William Paterson. As last year, the most prevalent image of the university is that it is a nice, pleasant place to attend. Seventy percent of the students associated ‘friendly’ with our school and 69 percent chose ‘comfortable.’ In a similar vein, half of the students said that they see William Paterson as a place that gives personal attention to students, and almost as many associate ‘fun’ with our school. The friendliness of the institution and the comfort students felt while on campus are reflected in their responses to the open-ended question of how they feel about attending William Paterson. Another widely held image of the university is that it is inexpensive, with two-thirds of the students viewing it as such. Finally, 47 percent perceive that our school is diverse.

To enhance our image, it may be useful to focus future marketing efforts on improving perceptions about the university in several areas. For instance, relatively small proportions of respondents view the university as intellectual (38 percent), challenging (32 percent), or selective (10 percent). Also, very few respondents associate athletics with William Paterson (22 percent), notwithstanding the fact that our baseball team is a two-time NCAA Division III World Champion. Even fewer students (15 percent) perceive our school to be ‘high-tech,’ although it is the most computer-equipped campus in New Jersey after New Jersey Institute of Technology, Princeton, and Stevens Institute of Technology. It should be noted, however, that although still small, the proportion who view William Paterson University as ‘high tech’ is significantly higher than last year’s proportion of nine percent.

Students were asked to indicate which three factors influenced their decision to attend William Paterson the most by selecting from a list of sixteen factors that were found to affect enrollment choices in the past. (A complete list of the factors are presented in Table 1 on this page.) The reputation of their intended major and value for the price are, once again this year, the two most influential factors in incoming students’ decision to attend our university. As can be seen in the table above, forty seven percent of the respondents reported that the reputation of their major is one of their three most important reasons for coming here and 43 percent placed value for the price among their top three reasons. The ability to live at home and commute is very important to 33 percent of the students, while the ease of getting home when they want to is a weighty factor for 25 percent. The academic reputation of the university as a whole is among the top three influential factors for nearly three-tenths of the respondents, up from 24 percent last year. Finally, the perceived friendly atmosphere at William Paterson University is a strong motivator for 24 percent of the students and the anticipated personal attention for 20 percent of them.

Students were asked to compare William Paterson to other colleges they considered seriously on the same sixteen factors described above. (See Table 1 on the previous page for a list of the factors.) They were instructed to indicate whether they consider our school to be ‘better than most,’ ‘similar to most,’ ‘worse than most,’ or whether the factor is ‘not applicable’ to them. The ‘not applicable’ responses were excluded from the analysis.

Incoming freshmen rate William Paterson highly. Almost all (from 95 percent to 99.5 percent) consider the university similar to or better than other schools on all factors that influence enrollment decisions. Indeed, as shown in Table 1, on seven of the eight most influential characteristics, more than half of the

students consider William Paterson to be better than the other colleges they considered seriously. Three-fourths rate our school higher on the value for the price of the education it provides and 57 percent give it

higher marks on the reputation of their intended major. Another attribute on which William Paterson compares favorably is its proximity to students’ homes and the conveniences associated with that. Additionally, students believe that our school has a friendlier atmosphere, gives more personal attention to students, and has a more attractive campus than other institutions.

However, a rather small proportion of students (23 percent) consider William Paterson to be better than other institutions in the academic reputation of the university as a whole, an important consideration in making enrollment decisions. This less-than-optimal view also is reflected in the low proportions that associate images of high academic quality with our school, as noted previously. These perceptions represent a challenge to us in our continuing effort to improve our image.

In order to gauge our competition, we asked our students to name up to three colleges to which they applied, in order of preference. We combined the number of students who named each school either as their first, second, or third choice to determine who our biggest competitors are.

Our major competitors, that is, schools with the largest number of applicants among our students, are Montclair State University, with 257 cross-applicants, Rutgers University with 154 cross-applicants, Ramapo College with 94 cross-applicants, Rowan University with 65 cross-applicants, and Seton Hall University with 64 cross-applicants.

"I feel very confident that I will be a good student, maintain a good GPA, and graduate with honors. I am very excited to start WPC in September, and experience new things." "I am feeling very confident in myself because I know that I will do well due to the tutoring being presented to me." "I am excited about attending William Paterson because I am ready for the challenge, the college experience, and the chance to meet new people and live in a new environment."

Students were presented with a list of activities, mastery of which is necessary to be successful in college. (A complete list appears on Table 2 on the next page.) They were asked to evaluate their ability to complete each successfully by indicating whether they were ‘very confident,’ ‘somewhat confident,’ ‘not very confident,’ or ‘not at all confident.’

As the data in Table 2 show, entering freshmen’s confidence in their ability to accomplish college-level activities varies. They feel very comfortable with some, but are not very certain about others. On one hand, six out of ten or more are very confident in their ability to use a computer for word processing, to use the library for research, and to learn on their own. Also, more than half are certain that they can write essays.

However, there are some activities about which relatively few students feel very confident. In view of our strong commitment to enhancement of student success, it may be useful to look into these activities as possible foci of future remediation programs. As can be seen in Table 2, the skills in greatest need of strengthening are making oral presentations and interpreting statistical tables and graphs. Other areas in which substantial groups of students will need some assistance are writing of research papers with references, completing lengthy reading assignments, acting as group leaders for class projects, and using the Internet to find information.

The assistance of Rachael Anzaldo, Director of Tests and Measurements, in administering this survey is greatly appreciated. Also, thanks to Janet Seiferth, Information Systems, for assistance in data entry.