The 2012 American Freshman Survey

Each year the UCLA's Cooperative Institutional Research Program publishes an annual report of the attitudes of the first-time, full-time college students across the country. Always interesting, this year's survey found, among other things, the following:

• More students believe the current economic situtation has affected their college choice (probably no surprise!)
• 81% of incoming students reported that their reason for attending college was to be "well-off" financially
• The percentage of students saying they were overwhelmed by all they had to do during their senior year was up, while - and this is important for our students - 40.5 percent of women said they were often overwhelmed compared to just 18.6 percent of men.
• The majority of incoming freshmen believe that they will graduate in four years, yet this will likely only come true for approximately half of them.
• The largest block of incoming first-year students intend to major in business, followed by the health professions and biological sciences.

And here are two other interesting side notes.  Studies indicate that changes in a student's political orientation once they get to college is predominantly influenced by their peers rather than their professors (that's often not what the news wants us to believe), and students with stronger backgrounds in math have a better chance of earning a bachelor's degree in any field.  (That's great news for our students...we know they have a strong math background by the time they graduate!)