The Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) is administered nationally by the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and provides information about incoming college students’ background characteristics, high school experiences, attitudes, behaviors, and expectations for college. This is the third administration WFU has participated in the BCSSE, joining 95 other US institutions in 2024.
The BCSSE was administered on paper by the Office of Institutional Research in August 2024 to all incoming first-year students (N = 1,464). A total of 1,138 responses were submitted, representing a 78% response rate. Across all survey questions, the maximum margin of error was \(\pm\) 3.3%. The respondents were representative of the class when comparing distributions across gender, race/ethnicity, and first-generation status. Thus, no post-stratification weights were used to address nonresponse bias.
Incoming students at Wake scored higher on most BCSSE Scales than their peers at other US institutions. Relative to their peers, incoming WFU students stood out most in their willingness to persevere through academic challenges, prior experience with quantitative reasoning, and confidence in their academic abilities. Nearly all respondents (97%) anticipated graduating from Wake Forest, and two in three respondents indicated Wake was their first choice institution. About half of incoming students indicated they knew their intended major; among those who listed an intended major, Business (38%) and Biological Sciences (23%) were the most commonly selected. Many responses throughout the survey differed between groups, including male students across several questions indicating greater levels of concern about their mental health and wellbeing during the coming year.
For each item below, a statistical test for the difference between groups (e.g., gender) is performed. If the difference between groups is statistically significant, this analysis reports effect sizes to allow one to compare the magnitude of the difference. Each item that is found to have a difference between groups and indicates at least a small effect size is highlighted in the following colors. This report provides a summary of each section of the survey, followed by the comparison within WFU by gender, race/ethnicity, first-generation status, and administration year (vs WFU’s respondents in 2022). (See here for more on survey analysis methodology.)
| Size | Criteria |
|---|---|
| Large Effect | ≥ 0.80 |
| Medium Effect | ≥ 0.50 |
| Small Effect | ≥ 0.20 |
Complementing the Engagement Indicators developed for the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the BCSSE groups information from a subset of items into ten scales to provide a more reliable, cumulative measure of areas of notable interest. Each BCSSE Scale is comprised of component items that are converted to a 60-point metric (e.g., Not Important=0, Somewhat Important=20, Important=40, Very Important=60) and averaged to compute student-level scores.
Relative to their peers at other US institutions, incoming WFU students stood out most in their willingness to persevere through academic challenges (43.2 vs 38.2), prior experience with quantitative reasoning (36.6 vs 29.4), and confidence in their academic abilities (44.8 vs 41.0). WFU students responded similarly to those from other US institutions regarding how frequently they anticipate working collaboratively with other students (37.9 vs 37.1) and the level of academic challenge they expect in their first year (28.5 vs 28.1).
Students scored differently by gender on the following scales, with at least a small effect size. Female students placed higher importance on WFU providing a challenging and supportive environment than male students (47.6 vs 42.4). Additionally, female students reported more engagement with learning strategies in high school than male students (45.4 vs 39.6) and less engagement with quantitative reasoning in high school than male students (35.1 vs 38.5).
Students scored similarly by race/ethnicity across most scales, with one exception. With a small effect size, URM students expected more engagement with faculty at WFU than White students (37.0 vs 34.4).
Students responded similarly by first-generation status across most scales, with one exception. With a small effect size, first-generation students anticipated more engagement with faculty at WFU than non-first-generation students (38.1 vs 34.9).
Relative to 2022 respondents, incoming WFU first-years in 2024 scored similarly across all scales.
For the full list of scale score comparisons, please see the BCSSE Scales section.
The BCSSE presented students with questions about their backgrounds and goals to create a respondent profile. Among all WFU respondents,
For full details and comparisons, please see the Respondent Profile section.
Although often less statistically reliable than scales, which are derived from multiple items, individual questions may provide a closer look at specific issues and notable differences across groups. Some overall highlights from all incoming WFU student responses to these individual items include:
Students responded differently by gender to several items. With a medium effect size, on a six-point scale, female students placed higher importance on WFU providing learning support services than male students (5.1 vs 4.5). With a small effect size, a larger proportion of male students reported being very much or quite a bit concerned about feeling homesick (51% vs 28%) or lonely (54% vs 32%), avoiding mental or emotional exhaustion (47% vs 26%), maintaining positive mental health (58% vs 42%), and sleeping well (39% vs 27%) than female students. Additionally, female students anticipated spending fewer hours per week participating in co-curricular activities than male students (11.2 vs 13.5).
Students differed in response by race/ethnicity to several items. With at least a small effect size, a larger proportion of URM students reported using grants or scholarships (57% vs 28%), loans (20% vs 12%), and employment on- or off-campus (26% vs 15%) to pay for their educational expenses than White students. URM students also anticipated spending more hours per week working for pay on- or off-campus (4.9 vs 3.1) and fewer hours per week relaxing and socializing than White students (12.9 vs 14.8). A smaller proportion of URM students indicated being very much or quite a bit concerned about avoiding mental or emotional exhaustion than White students (26% vs 38%).
Students differed strongly in response to many items by first-generation status. With a large effect size, a larger proportion of first-generation students reported using grants or scholarships to pay for their educational expenses than non-first-generation students (86% vs 29%). Additionally, with a medium effect size, a larger proportion of first-generation students indicated they will be paying for their educational expenses with personal savings (59% vs 29%) and employment on- or off-campus (39% vs 15%), while a smaller proportion will be paying with support from parents or relatives (69% vs 93%) than non-first-generation students. During high school, a smaller proportion of first-generation students were very involved with athletic teams (46% vs 79%) and reported taking more college courses for credit (3.7 vs 1.4) than non-first-generation students.
Relative to 2022 respondents, 2024 students responded differently to a few items. With at least a small effect size, 2024 respondents reported taking fewer AP classes (6.1 vs 9.6) and college courses for credit (1.6 vs 2.5) on average than 2022 respondents. Additionally, with a large effect size, 2024 respondents rated it less important on a six-point scale that WFU provides opportunities to attend campus activities and events (3.9 vs 5.1) and support to help students succeed academically (4.1 vs 5.2) than respondents in 2022.
For a full breakdown of responses to all survey questions, please see the Individual Items section.
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The tables and charts below have built-in functionalities. See here to learn more about how to interact with these visuals.
The tables and charts below have built-in functionalities. See here to learn more about how to interact with these visuals.