Instructions for Completing ASEE Engineering Retention and Time-to-Graduation Survey

This survey will be conducted entirely through the web in addition to using MS Excel spreadsheets to enter and upload data. The tabs on your survey are determined by how the person at your engineering school, program, or department answered questions when completing the institutional profile section of the survey.

Please review the spreadsheet and familiarize yourself with the survey instructions prior to submitting data.

We understand that this survey does not account for ALL students. It became clear through a workshop we held in 2010 on how schools track their engineering students that the variety of school, program, and department structures and student tracking procedures make accounting for all students across schools, programs, or departments virtually impossible. Our goal is to account for as many students as possible and so the focus of the study is first-time, full-time students.

• Participants should include all engineering programs and computer science programs housed in the engineering college. Some engineering programs may be housed in other colleges, such as mining or engineering. Please account for these engineering programs, as well.

• Enter raw numbers for “total” and “female” in the “head count” column. The number of males will be calculated by ASEE.

• Report data for all years provided in the spreadsheet. Report the official enrollment data for each fall semester.

• The initial cohort may be adjusted for students who departed for the following reasons: death, permanent disability, or service in the armed forces, foreign aid service of the federal government or official religious missions. No other adjustments to the initial cohort should be made.

• External transfer students should only be accounted for in the survey spreadsheet with the “(External) Transfer Students” heading/ “Transfers” tab.

• Provide median SAT Math and Verbal scores, and median ACT composite and math scores, as well as the percent of students from the cohort who provided SAT and ACT scores for entering cohorts.

When you have entered all data into the Excel spreadsheet, please review the completed file and send it to the person who sent you the survey so they can upload it onto the ASEE retention survey website.

Glossary of Terms

Freshman (First-Year Student) – A full-time student at your institution who has no prior postsecondary experience attending any institution for the first time at the undergraduate level. This also includes students enrolled in the fall term who attended college for the first time in the prior summer term as well as students who entered with advanced standing (college credits earned before graduation from high school).

You should define a freshman (first year student) based on how your school defines a freshman (first year student); either the student has not yet completed enough academic credits to be considered a sophomore, or the student is in their first academic year.

Internal Transfer Students – A student entering the engineering school, program, or department other than during the first year, known to have attended your institution as a first-time full-time student and enrolled in a non-engineering major. These are students who transfer into the engineering school, program, or department of engineering during their Sophomore and Junior years.

Sophomore (Second Year Student) – First-time, full-time students admitted into the school, program, or department of engineering during their second year. You should define sophomore based on how your school defines a sophomore. This can be based on the number of academic credits, or a student in their second academic year.

Junior (Third Year Student) – First-time, full-time students admitted into the school, program, or department of engineering during their third year. You should define junior based on how your school defines a junior. This can be based on the number of academic credits, or a student in their third academic year.

External Transfer Students– A student entering your institution for the first time but known to have previously attended another postsecondary institution (i.e. community college) as an undergraduate student. The student may transfer with or without credit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is ASEE conducting this survey?

Currently, there is no national-level, public source for undergraduate engineering retention rates and time- to-graduation. The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) has the ability to provide this information. Reliable, broad-based data are essential for developing successful retention strategies. Institutions also need the ability to benchmark themselves versus their peers. These data will inform administrators. It will help them build partnerships with other institutions who strive to retain more quality students.

Who can participate in this survey?

Colleges and universities with at least one ABET-accredited engineering program can participate in this survey. Please report students from all engineering programs within your school, not just the students in the ABET-accredited program(s).

Will other schools be able to view my school’s data?

No data will be presented in a way that allows identification of individual institutions.

How will my data be reported?

ASEE will produce reports, including tables of aggregated data by institutional characteristics and demographics for all cohorts and transfer students. In addition, a school, program, or department will have the ability to create their own reports for a fee.

For a fee, departments, programs and schools will be able to create peer groups from a list of participating institutions. Departments, programs and schools will be able to run a report that will show the aggregate of their peer group as well as their department’s, program’s or school’s rank within the peer group.

Does ASEE want me to report just on students in the school, program, or department of engineering, or for the entire university?

ASEE wants you to report undergraduate engineering students only.

How does ASEE want me to report student cohorts?

A university has a pool of incoming first-time, full-time freshmen each year. Based on a school’s policy as to when students may enroll in the department, program or school of engineering, it is possible to create up to three student cohorts from students in the pool – as freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Not all schools will have three cohorts; the number of cohorts depends on a school’s policy as to when students may enroll in the department, program or school of engineering.

A student’s cohort year should be the year the student enters the department, program or school of engineering, not when they enter the university. The only exception is freshmen who enroll in the department, program or school of engineering, since these students start at the university the same year they enroll in the department, program or school of engineering.

For example, a pool of first-time, full-time freshmen students enter a university during fall 2002.

Students who enter the university in 2002 and enroll in the school, program, or department of engineering as freshmen should be entered in the 2002 Freshmen “Cohort Year (fall) – Student Head Count.” This creates the freshmen student cohort of students who entered the university in 2002 and enrolled in the school, program, or department of engineering as freshmen in 2002. Once this cohort is defined, no new students may be added. This cohort should be tracked for the next eight years. Any student who leaves the cohort, for any reason (except for death, permanent disability, or service in the armed forces, foreign aid service of the federal government or official church missions), should be dropped from the count; but they may re-enter the cohort if they re-enter the school, program, or department of engineering, and can be counted when they re-enter the school, program, or department of engineering. Students in the cohort should only be counted during the time they are students in the school, program, or department of engineering.

Students who enter the university in 2002 and enroll in the school, program, or department of engineering as sophomores should be entered in the 2003 Sophomore “Cohort Year (fall) – Student Head Count”. Once this cohort is defined, no new students may be added. This cohort should be tracked for the next seven years.

Students who enter the university in 2002 and enroll in the school, program, or department of engineering as juniors should be entered into the 2004 Junior “Cohort Year (fall) – Student Head Count”. Once this cohort is defined, no new students may be added. This cohort should be tracked for the next six years.

How should I report external transfer students?

External Transfer Students are students entering your institution for the first time but known to have previously attended another postsecondary institution (i.e., community college) as an undergraduate student. Count all external transfer students who entered during the year they entered and track their continuation and graduation over the subsequent seven years.

Can you provide some scenarios of when to include which students in which cohorts?

• Scenario 1 – Student A begins at your university in 2003 as a first-time, full-time student and is admitted into the physics department as a freshman, transfers to an engineering major during their junior year.

Answer 1 – Student A is counted in the junior cohort in 2005.

• Scenario 2 – Student B transfers from University X to your university as a physics major during their sophomore year in 2005, transfers into the school, program, or department of engineering during their junior year.

Answer 2 – Student B should be counted as a transfer student in the 2006 cohort.

• Scenario 3 – Student C begins at your university in 2004 as a first-time, full-time student and is admitted into the school, program, or department of engineering during their freshman year, then transfers to the school of arts and sciences during their sophomore year, and then transfers back to the school, program, or department of engineering during their junior year.

Answer 3 – Student C should be counted in the Freshmen Student Cohort in 2004, not counted in the next cell “Persisted to Second Year” and should be counted in the next cell “Persisted to Third Year.”

• Scenario 4 -Student D transfers into the school, program, or department of engineering from Community College X as a sophomore in 2007; continues in the school, program, or department of engineering until graduation.

Answer 4 – Student D should be counted as a transfer student in the 2007 cohort.

Can I make adjustments to a student cohort?

The initial cohort may be adjusted for students who departed for the following reasons: death, permanent disability, or service in the armed forces, foreign aid service of the federal government or official church missions. No other adjustments to the initial cohort should be made.

Is my survey linked to my school’s institutional profile?

Yes. The survey (Excel file) is linked to your school, program, or department’s institutional profile. Please do not attempt to alter the file or change the file type, as changes may cause your school’s data to not link properly to your school’s profile when it is uploaded into the system.

When I try to paste data into my survey spreadsheet, I get the message that my spreadsheet is locked. Is there some way I can unlock my spreadsheet?

No. Spreadsheets are locked to maintain the integrity of spreadsheet cells (meaning: you may only enter data into cells that are designated for data entry). If you attempt to enter data by copying-and-pasting or by inputting manually outside the range of cells that accept data, you will receive a message that the cells are protected and may be un-locked with a password. You may copy-and-paste data into spreadsheet cells that accept data. Spreadsheets are locked to assure data is uploaded properly, and that data is associated with the correct years.

If missing data for “continued to…” or “graduating within…” cells, should I leave it blank?

No.

If you do not have graduation data for a particular year (i.e. “Degree attained within 5 years”), enter the previous year’s (cell’s) graduating (Degree attained within 4 years) number of students.

If no students graduated in a particular year, enter 0 in the cell. Do not leave it blank.

If you do not have persistence data for a particular year (i.e. “Persisted to… 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and/or 7th years”), enter the previous year’s (cell’s) number of students who persisted.

When entering data into my survey spreadsheet, how should I count students that persisted and students that attained a degree?

After junior year, students will start to graduate, and, when they graduate, they are no longer counted as attending the program, department or school of engineering (i.e. persisted to….). Students that attain a degree should be counted cumulatively. Those students who attain a degree in later years (ie. degree attained in 5 years…6 years…7 years…8 years) are added to the number of students who attained a degree in previous years. Students who continue to study engineering within the program, department or school of engineering should be counted as “Persisted to…”

For example: (Refer to sample spreadsheet image and description below.)

Senior year, or “Persisted to 4th year,” 500 hundred students out of the original 983 students in the 2006 cohort continued to study engineering in the program, department or school of engineering. During the school year, 50 students exited the program, and 250 students attained a degree. The totals entered in the spreadsheet should be – “Degree attained within 4 years:” 250, “Persisted to 5th year”: 200 –

Or – 500 students persisted (continued to study) in the program, department or school of engineering during their fourth year = 50 who exited + 250 graduates + 200 continued in the program, department or school of engineering in the fall of the next year (persisted to 5th year).

From the 200 students who persisted to the 5th year, 10 left through attrition and 90 attained a degree. The totals entered in the spreadsheet should be – “Degree attained within 5 years:” 340, “Persisted to 6th year”: 100.

Or – 200 students who persisted in the program, department of school of engineering = 10 who exited+ 90 graduates + 100 continued to study in the program, department or school of engineering in to the fall of the 6th year.

The number of degree attained entered is: 340 total graduates = 250 (4th year degree attained) + 90 (5th year degree attained).

From the 100 students who persisted to the 6th year, 0 left the program, department, or school of engineering and 75 attained a degree. The totals entered in the spreadsheet should be – “Degree attained within 6 years:” 415, “Persisted to 7th year:” 25.

Or – of the 100 students who persisted to the 6th year = 0 who exited + 75 graduates + 25 still studying in the program, department, or school of engineering into the next year.

The number of degree attained entered is: 415 total graduates = 250 (4th year degree attained) + 90 (5th year degree attained) + 75 (6th year degree attained).

Question still not answered?

Contact data@asee.org