Freshmen at 4-Year Colleges: Their Opinions, Activities, and Goals:

Freshmen at 4-Year Colleges: Their Opinions, Activities, and Goals – Fall 2005

(Results in percentage of total)

	National Total (4yr. col)	National Men (4yr. col)	National Women (4yr. col)	MC Men n=120	MC Women n=133	MC Total n=253
Activities in the past year
Attended a religious service	89.9	88.0	91.1	64.4	78.9	72.1
Was bored in class*	37.8	40.8	35.6	49.2	42.1	45.5
Participated in organized demonstrations	53.6	51.1	55.4	56.7	51.9	54.2
Tutored another student	50.3	44.9	54.2	39.2	40.6	39.9
Studied with other students	86.3	82.8	88.9	87.5	93.2	90.5
Was a guest in a teacher's home	30.6	30.6	30.6	22.5	18.9	20.6
Smoked cigarettes*	4.2	4.3	4.2	6.7	11.4	9.1
Drank beer	34.5	42.9	28.4	71.7	42.4	56.3
Drank wine or liquor	42.1	44.8	40.1	65.5	57.6	61.4
Felt overwhelmed by all I had to do*	28.9	17.3	37.2	21.8	35.3	29.0
Felt depressed*	7.7	5.9	9.0	8.3	11.4	9.9
Performed volunteer work	86.7	81.9	90.2	65.5	82.7	74.6
Played a musical instrument	47.7	47.8	47.1	38.3	34.1	36.1
Asked a teacher for advice after class*	27.1	23.5	29.8	38.3	34.1	36.1
Overslept and missed class or appointment
Discussed politics*
*in class	46.0	44.6	47.0	42.0	27.1	34.1
*with friends	27.0	38.4	26.0	19.5	20.5	20.0
*with family	27.3	27.2	27.3	20.3	18.2	19.2
Voted in a student election*	26.0	23.5	27.9	65.5	82.7	74.6
Socialized with someone of another racial/ethnic group*	69.7	68.1	70.9	66.7	68.9	67.9
Came late to class	60.4	62.6	58.8	59.7	46.6	52.8
Discussed religion*	44.6	40.0	47.9	24.2	30.5	27.5
Communicated via e-mail*
Used the Internet for research or homework*	77.4	71.0	82.1	77.5	85.6	81.7
Communicated via Instant Messaging*
Other Internet use*
Performed community service as part of a class	57.5	54.1	60.3	51.3	47.4	49.2
Used a personal computer*

Student rated self above average or in highest 10 percent in:
Academic ability	65.5	65.1	66.0	51.3	51.1	51.2
Artistic ability	28.8	27.3	29.8	26.9	22.6	24.6
Computer skills	33.1	42.9	26.0	49.6	29.3	38.9
Cooperativeness	73.8	71.1	75.7	70.6	75.9	73.4
Creativity	55.5	55.0	55.8	57.1	54.1	55.6
Drive to achieve	71.5	67.6	74.4	66.4	64.4	65.3
Emotional health	53.8	60.4	49.1	61.9	43.6	52.2
Leadership ability	62.3	67.3	58.7	69.7	59.8	64.5
Mathematical ability	37.8	45.4	32.4	36.1	21.1	28.2
Physical health	55.9	69.9	45.7	68.9	45.1	56.3
Public speaking ability	37.1	40.0	34.9	38.7	30.1	34.1
Religiousness	44.7	40.8	47.5	23.7	23.3	23.5
Self-confidence (intellectual)	59.0	66.7	53.3	66.4	46.6	56.0
Self-confidence (social)	51.3	57.0	47.2	63.0	51.9	57.1
Self-understanding	54.6	58.1	52.0	63.0	39.1	50.4
Spirituality	48.5	45.4	50.8	31.1	28.6	29.8
Understanding of others	67.0	63.7	69.4	61.3	69.2	65.5
Writing ability	45.9	42.4	48.4	41.5	36.1	38.6
	National Total	National Men	National Women	MC Men	MC Women	MC Total
Reasons noted as very important in deciding to go to college
My parents wanted me to go	42.6	39.8	44.6	48.3	50.8	49.6
I could not find a job	5.1	4.7	5.3	10.1	10.6	10.4
Wanted to get away from home	21.9	22.5	21.5	21.8	21.2	21.5
To be able to get a better job	69.2	68.8	69.5	78.2	87.0	82.8
To gain a general education and appreciation of ideas	63.7	55.2	69.7	56.8	68.7	63.1
There was nothing better to do	3.7	4.8	2.9	7.6	3.1	5.3
To make me a more cultured person	40.8	32.3	46.9	29.4	48.1	39.2
To be able to make more money	63.9	67.6	61.3	77.1	83.1	80.2
To learn more about things that interest me	76.5	70.3	81.0	64.7	79.4	72.4
To prepare myself for graduate or professional school	52.7	46.8	57.0	49.21	55.7	52.6
To get training for a specific career	70.2	64.6	74.2	65.3	79.5	72.8
	Total	Men	Women	MC Men	MC Women	MC Total
Objectives considered essential or very important
Becoming accomplished in one of the performing arts	18.1	16.5	19.2	21.8	17.1	19.4
Becoming an authority in my field	56.7	55.0	58.9	64.7	56.6	60.5
Obtaining recognition from my colleagues for contributions to my special field	48.0	49.5	46.9	63.9	51.2	57.3
Influencing the political structure	20.3	22.7	18.7	31.9	10.9	21.1
Influencing social values	45.1	41.5	47.7	40.3	46.1	43.3
Raising a family	78.8	78.6	78.9	79.0	82.2	80.6
Having administrative responsibility for the work of others	36.1	39.3	33.3	49.6	40.2	44.7
Being very well off financially	65.5	69.2	62.9	74.8	77.3	76.1
Helping others who are in difficulty	69.8	62.2	75.3	58.8	75.8	67.6
Making a theoretical contribution to science	15.1	17.3	13.5	25.2	8.6	16.6
Writing original works (poems, novels, short stories, etc.)	16.0	16.5	15.7	22.7	11.7	17.0
Creating artistic work (painting, sculpture, decorating, etc.)	15.6	14.2	16.6	21.8	19.5	20.6
Becoming successful in a business of my own	38.3	43.6	34.4	47.1	32.8	39.7
Becoming involved in programs to clean up the environment	18.9	18.2	19.4	24.6	14.1	19.1
Developing a meaningful philosophy of life	45.5	45.2	45.6	40.3	36.7	38.5
Participating in a community-action program	27.0	22.4	30.2	29.4	23.3	26.2
Helping to promote racial understanding	32.4	30.4	33.8	32.2	28.1	30.1
Keeping up to date with political affairs	34.1	36.6	32.2	35.3	18.0	26.3
Becoming a community leader	35.2	36.6	34.2	37.0	27.3	32.0
Improving my understanding of other countries and cultures	49.6	42.9	54.3	40.3	40.9	40.7
Integrating spirituality into my life	58.0	52.6	61.9	34.5	33.9	34.1
	Total	Men	Women	MC Men	MC Women	MC Total
Agree strongly or somewhat that:
There is too much concern in the courts for the rights of criminals	60.9	64.5	58.2	57.3	52.7	54.9
Abortion should be legal	41.1	41.3	40.9	55.1	46.6	50.6
The death penalty should be abolished	29.9	25.4	33.2	52.5	35.9	43.9
If two people really like each other, it's all right for them to have sex even if they've known each other for only a very short time
Marijuana should be legalized	28.8	33.8	25.3	52.5	35.9		43.8
It is important to have laws prohibiting homosexual relationships	39.6	47.9	33.6	42.0	14.1	27.5
Racial discrimination is no longer a major problem in America	21.6	27.2	17.6	32.2	21.4	26.5
Realistically, an individual can do little to bring about changes in our society	24.4	28.3	21.5	39.8	31.0	35.2
Wealthy people should pay a larger share of taxes than they do now	56.4	54.9	57.5	66.7	65.1	65.9
Colleges should prohibit racist/sexist speech on campus	63.6	59.3	66.6	42.4	56.5	49.8
Same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status	42.8	36.3	47.4	52.9	74.6	64.3
Affirmative action in college admissions should be abolished	45.8	50.8	42.0	57.6	41.7	49.4
The activities of married women are best confined to the home and family	21.5	18.5	16.4	34.7	15.7	24.9
Federal military spending should be increased	38.7	43.2	35.3	53.0	34.4	43.3
	Total	Men	Women	MC Men	MC Women	MC Total
Political orientation
Far left	2.6	3.1	2.3	3.4	3.1	3.2
Liberal	20.0	17.6	21.7	23.1	35.9	29.8
Middle of the road	41.5	42.2	41.0	54.7	36.6	45.2
Conservative	33.3	33.4	33.1	16.2	23.7	20.2
Far right	2.6	3.8	1.8	2.6	0.8	1.6
Did your High School require Community Service?
No	70.6	71.3	70.2	78.2	75.8	76.9
Yes	29.4	28.7	29.8	21.8	24.2	23.1
Note: The statistics are based on survey responses of over 250,000 freshmen entering over 400 four-year colleges and universities in the fall of 2005. The figures were statistically adjusted to represent the total population of approximately 1.7 million first-time, full-time freshmen at four-year institutions. Because of rounding or multiple responses, figures may add to more than 100 percent.
SOURCE: "The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 2005," published by American Council on Education and University of California at Los Angeles Higher Education Research Institute