Below you will find brief summaries of many of the surveys Saint Mary's College regularly administers. Please contact the Office of Institutional Research to obtain any additional information or to request specific survey data.

Survey of Admitted Students

Administered annually to all students admitted to Saint Mary's College as of May 1 for the following fall term.  This survey gathers information from admitted students cross applications/accepts, satisfaction with admissions and financial aid offer and process, ratings of Saint Mary's in a variety of areas (cost, academics, admissions, social activities, etc.) compared to other institutions in which admitted, and likelihood of participation in a variety of activities at Saint Mary's.

CIRP First-Year Survey

Since 1973 Saint Mary's has administered the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's (CIRP) First-Year Survey to first-year students.  The survey covers a wide range of student characteristics: parental income and education, ethnicity, and other demographic items; financial aid; secondary school achievement and activities; educational and career plans; and values, attitudes, beliefs, and self-concept.

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

NSSE collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development.  Survey items represent empirically confirmed "good practices" in undergraduate education. That is, they reflect behaviors by students and institutions that are associated with desired outcomes of college. NSSE doesn’t assess student learning directly, but survey results point to areas where colleges and universities are performing well and aspects of the undergraduate experience that could be improved.

See Snapshot of 2019 NSSE Results.

See Pocketguide Summary.

College Senior Survey (CSS)

The College Senior Survey (CSS) developed by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA and administered through the Cooperative Institutional Research Program was designed to permit individual campuses to conduct follow-up studies of their students.  Saint Mary's College has participated on a biennial basis since 1999, surveying students in their senior year.  Data can be compared with individual student data from the CIRP freshman survey to assess change over time as many of the items are asked in both instruments.  The survey covers a variety of areas, including:

  • Satisfaction with the college experience;
  • Student involvement;
  • Student values, attitudes, and goals;
  • Degree aspirations and career plans;
  • Use of campus services, physical facilities, and computing resources.

One and Five-Year-Out Graduate Surveys

The One and Five-Year-Out Surveys are administered to Saint Mary's graduates one year and five years following their graduation.  The surveys collect information on current employment, education, and post-graduation service.  This survey allows the College to better understand its graduates' path after graduation.  It also asks students to reflect on their education and consider how it prepared them for graduate school and/or employment.