Senior Exit Interviews
Graduating seniors from the department are invited to an interview with the department head or an off-campus advisor after they have been approved for graduation, but prior to their leaving campus. These voluntary interviews provide feedback about student perceptions of their experiences in the classroom and in the department as a whole. The interview questions were changed after the fall semester of 2001 to reflect the priority issues identified by the university concerning undergraduate education (link to assessment instruments). The interviews are subjective in nature and are not easily quantified.
During calendar year 2006, 22 exit interviews of undergraduates were held for spring semester graduates on-campus. This is approximately 54% of the total graduates for 2006, a number we will improve upon in future years. Although the sample is subject to non-selection and self-selection biases, the results provide a glimpse of how exiting students perceive their experience at USU. Out of 22 interviewees, 50% were transfer students and all considering themselves to be full-time students, and 45% came from an agricultural background, down from 57% the year before.
- -Hands-on experience
- -Relaxed atmosphere
- -Classes fun
- -Faculty easy to talk to
- -Close knit, nice, good learning environment
- -Small and personable
- -Professors dedicated to students
- -Variety of classes
- -Student interaction
- -Employment board helpful
- -Research farm
Suggested improvements:
- -More hands-on
- -Break soils major into options similar to hort majors.
- -Charge more for labs and have nicer equipment, reagents, etc.
- -Better job of advertising clubs, career days, etc.
- -Offer an arboriculture course
- -Change biology courses to more botany
- -landscape project – actually giving students a chance to design, bid and do a job.
- -Need a residential design program
- -Have genetics course in department
- -Bidding & estimating course
- -More technical, less science
During 2005, 29 exit interviews of undergraduates were held for spring semester graduates on-campus, and 11 for graduates off-campus. This is approximately __% of the spring graduates for 2005. Although the sample is subject to non-selection and self-selection biases, the results provide a glimpse of how exiting students perceive their experience at USU. Out of 28 graduates with a bachelors degree, 50% were transfer students and most considered themselves to be full-time students, although some had periods where they were taking a part-time load. Approximately 57% of the students came from an agricultural background. Students who studied only at USU took an average of 4.4 years to graduate, while transfer students spend 3.5 years at USU. Of those interviewed, the post-graduate activities include 29% in related employment, 7% in unrelated employment, 14% in graduate school, 18% in internships, 11% opting out of the job market for family reasons, 4% undecided, and 14% unknown. Ninety-six percent of the students felt positive about the advising they received and 89% had been employed while they were going to school.
Positive points about the department included:
- Good relationships between faculty and students
- Practical, hands-on program
- Small and friendly
- Availability of faculty
- Diversity of subjects
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Opportunity for undergraduate research and employment - Helpful staff
- Dissemination of information
Suggested improvements:
- Need a biology course which fits the major
- Would have liked more peers in turfgrass science
- Horticulture major should be more challenging
- Need more emphasis on internships
- Should be more “hands on”
- Should be more flexible in requirements
- Too many 7:30 a.m. courses
- Advertise competitions more
- Too much time in laboratories
- Orientation too focused on socializing
- Need a landscape design emphasis
- More specific courses are needed, such as writing for the sciences
- More flexibility on course offerings