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

Freshmen at 4-Year Colleges: Their Opinions, Activities, and Goals – Fall 2006

(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	79.8	77.7	81.4	73.7	77.3	76.0
Was bored in class*	38.1	40.2	36.4	52.6	62.9	59.3
Participated in organized demonstrations	52.0	49.7	53.7	52.6	62.9	59.3
Tutored another student	49.1	44.9	52.4	50.0	48.2	48.8
Studied with other students	85.6	82.3	88.1	86.8	91.5	89.9
Was a guest in a teacher's home	25.8	26.8	24.9	32.9	34.0	33.6
Smoked cigarettes*	4.9	5.2	4.7	2.6	11.4	8.3
Drank beer	43.1	50.5	37.4	47.4	34.3	38.9
Drank wine or liquor	49.0	51.1	47.5	48.7	42.9	44.9
Felt overwhelmed by all I had to do*	30.3	18.2	39.5	16.0	42.6	33.3
Felt depressed*	7.6	5.5	9.2	10.5	15.6	13.8
Performed volunteer work	84.1	79.8	87.5	71.1	85.8	80.6
Played a musical instrument	42.7	44.4	41.4	40.8	52.5	48.4
Asked a teacher for advice after class*	27.5	24.1	30.0	30.3	37.1	34.7
Overslept and missed class or appointment
Discussed politics*	34.0	36.3	32.3	28.9	19.9	23.0
*in class
*with friends
*with family
Voted in a student election*	22.8	20.9	24.2	25.3	18.6	20.9
Socialized with someone of another racial/ethnic group*	66.4	66.0	66.6	54.1	62.1	59.3
Came late to class	59.5	62.1	57.5	35.5	31.4	32.9
Discussed religion*	34.6	32.0	36.6	29.3	26.2	27.3
Communicated via e-mail*
Used the Internet for research or homework*	74.7	68.0	79.8	73.7	82.3	79.3
Communicated via Instant Messaging*
Other Internet use*
Performed community service as part of a class	56.4	53.5	58.7	42.1	52.5	48.8
Used a personal computer*

Student rated self above average or in highest 10 percent in:
Academic ability	64.7	65.8	63.8	68.4	53.2	58.8
Artistic ability	30.5	29.6	31.3	27.6	18.4	21.7
Computer skills	34.1	43.6	26.9	43.4	34.8	37.8
Cooperativeness	73.5	72.4	74.3	81.6	75.2	77.4
Creativity	57.5	58.6	56.7	57.9	54.6	55.8
Drive to achieve	72.6	69.4	75.1	72.4	67.4	69.1
Emotional health	53.5	61.7	47.1	61.8	47.5	52.5
Leadership ability	61.2	66.0	57.5	71.1	63.8	66.4
Mathematical ability	38.0	44.8	32.8	50.0	33.6	39.4
Physical health	56.1	68.9	46.3	72.4	51.1	58.5
Public speaking ability	37.1	41.2	34.0	43.4	30.5	35.0
Religiousness	32.0	30.3	33.8	36.8	32.6	34.1
Self-confidence (intellectual)	57.8	67.3	50.6	69.3	51.8	57.9
Self-confidence (social)	51.7	58.5	46.5	56.0	46.8	50.0
Self-understanding	56.4	62.0	52.1	61.8	53.2	56.2
Spirituality	39.3	38.2	40.2	39.5	34.0	35.9
Understanding of others	67.5	65.3	69.5	72.4	62.4	65.9
Writing ability	47.4	45.2	49.1	42.1	41.1	41.1
	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	44.7	42.2	46.6	40.8	63.8	55.8
I could not find a job	4.7	4.6	4.9	6.6	7.9	7.4
Wanted to get away from home	20.2	20.9	19.7	11.8	16.3	14.7
To be able to get a better job	66.8	67.3	66.5	75.0	82.1	79.6
To gain a general education and appreciation of ideas	65.2	58.2	70.5	48.7	72.3	64.1
There was nothing better to do	3.8	5.1	2.9	2.6	4.3	3.7
To make me a more cultured person	42.9	35.8	48.4	36.8	41.1	39.6
To be able to make more money	63.4	67.7	60.1	65.3	75.0	71.6
To learn more about things that interest me	77.1	72.0	80.9	68.4	74.5	72.4
To prepare myself for graduate or professional school	55.6	49.9	59.9	55.3	66.0	62.2
To get training for a specific career	67.2	63.0	70.4	76.3	75.7	75.9
	Total	Men	Women	MC Men	MC Women	MC Total
Objectives considered essential or very important
Becoming accomplished in one of the performing arts	18.0	17.2	18.6	17.1	18.6	18.1
Becoming an authority in my field	56.7	59.1	54.9	69.7	58.2	62.2
Obtaining recognition from my colleagues for contributions to my special field	51.9	52.7	51.3	61.8	55.7	57.9
Influencing the political structure	22.8	25.9	20.5	27.6	18.7	21.9
Influencing social values	45.1	42.4	47.2	47.4	43.6	44.9
Raising a family	75.8	75.4	76.1	85.5	83.7	84.3
Having administrative responsibility for the work of others	38.8	41.6	36.6	60.5	47.1	51.9
Being very well off financially	68.4	70.9	66.4	80.3	74.5	76.5
Helping others who are in difficulty	68.6	61.3	74.1	60.5	72.9	68.5
Making a theoretical contribution to science	17.2	19.2	15.6	21.1	19.1	19.8
Writing original works (poems, novels, short stories, etc.)	17.8	18.5	17.3	15.8	15.7	15.7
Creating artistic work (painting, sculpture, decorating, etc.)	18.2	16.8	19.2	15.8	18.0	17.2
Becoming successful in a business of my own	40.6	46.9	35.8	44.0	30.9	35.5
Becoming involved in programs to clean up the environment	22.5	22.0	22.9	26.0	23.0	31.6
Developing a meaningful philosophy of life	47.3	47.7	46.9	56.6	35.7	43.1
Participating in a community-action program	28.9	24.5	32.3	36.8	35.0	35.6
Helping to promote racial understanding	34.6	32.9	36.0	27.6	38.6	34.7
Keeping up to date with political affairs	36.9	39.6	34.9	28.9	25.0	26.4
Becoming a community leader	35.7	36.7	34.9	40.8	32.4	35.3
Improving my understanding of other countries and cultures	50.7	45.4	54.8	38.2	46.0	43.3
Integrating spirituality into my life
	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	54.9	57.8	52.6	59.5	52.5	54.9
Abortion should be legal	53.7	54.4	53.2	51.3	48.2	49.3
The death penalty should be abolished	36.3	32.6	39.2	33.3	35.3	34.6
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	35.7	40.9	31.8	26.7	26.5		26.6
It is important to have laws prohibiting homosexual relationships	28.0	35.3	22.4	41.3	18.7	26.6
Racial discrimination is no longer a major problem in America	18.3	22.7	14.9	32.9	20.1	24.7
Realistically, an individual can do little to bring about changes in our society	25.9	30.2	22.6	32.4	30.2	31.0
Wealthy people should pay a larger share of taxes than they do now	58.7	57.5	59.6	53.3	65.5	61.2
Colleges should prohibit racist/sexist speech on campus
Same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status	58.6	50.8	64.5	53.3	75.0	67.4
Affirmative action in college admissions should be abolished	45.1	50.0	41.3	54.9	45.9	49.0
The activities of married women are best confined to the home and family
Federal military spending should be increased	32.5	35.6	30.1	36.0	38.1	37.4
	Total	Men	Women	MC Men	MC Women	MC Total
Political orientation
Far left	3.1	3.6	2.7	2.7	1.5	1.9
Liberal	28.0	24.2	31.0	26.4	29.9	20.3
Middle of the road	41.3	40.5	42.5	58.1	48.5	51.9
Conservative	25.8	27.2	24.7	17.6	17.9	17.8
Far right	1.7	2.4	1.2	1.4	2.2	1.9
Did your High School require Community Service?
No
Yes
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 2006. 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 2006," published by American Council on Education and University of California at Los Angeles Higher Education Research Institute