Outcomes Data

1. Graduating Senior Exit Surveys

Each year, the College of Science conducts interviews with a sample of graduates that majored in Biology. Students complete a survey composed of 19 questions about their undergraduate educational experiences. Below are tabular summaries of student responses.

2001-2002 (PDF)

2002-2003 (PDF)

2003-2004 (PDF)

2004-2005 (PDF)

2005-2006 (PDF)

2006-2007 (PDF)

2. Placement of Students into Professional Health Programs

The Department maintains detailed statistics on the success of our students seeking admission into medical and dental schools. The pre-health program at USU has consistently achieved admission rates above the national average. Below is a summary table; detailed information can be obtained from links associated with the pre-health program for undergraduates.

ADMISSION RATES (%, most are based on samples of >30 students)

Year (Entering Class)	Medical	Dental
2001	49	85
2002	62	63
2003	85	64
2004	67	75
2005	65	55
2006	80	61
2007	71	54

3. Capstone Courses

Biology Program: Because evolution is the central, unifying concept in biology, we teach a senior-level capstone course in Evolutionary Biology that integrates information from nearly all areas of biological research. The course also serves as a Communications-Intensive course in the department; students are required to write multiple essays after conducting literature searches on particular topics in biological evolution. We have used the course to assess both student breadth of knowledge (i.e., areas that are well-covered or poorly-covered in previous courses) and overall writing skills. To identify ways to improve each student's ability to construct thoughtful, engaging essays, we employ a full-time teaching assistant whose sole responsibility is to assist students at each stage of the writing process. Instructors and teaching assistants have increased their attention to areas not covered in other courses for the biology major, and have prepared handouts to anticipate common writing problems (misunderstandings regarding proper literature citation, plagiarism, etc.). Further details can be obtained at the course website.

4. Advising Assessment

The senior exit surveys revealed that student opinions about advising were often poor. For example, in 2001, to the statement: "The quality of the advising I received in my department was adequate" 13 students strongly disagreed, 13 disagreed, and 36 agreed. The department made changes in its advising services in AY 2004-2005 in response to student opinions (see Data-Based Decisions). Surveys in interim years suggest that student satisfaction with the quality of advising has increased. In the most recent years, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, our approval ratings seem to be holding consistent. Over this period the number of students indicating they met with their advisor on a regular basis has decreased. To better serve our undergraduate students we have established consistent office hours in the Advising Office, hired a new Academic Advisor, and are concentrating on staff training and development. The Department has a monthly advisor meeting to discuss student concerns and issues. The Department Head meets biweekly with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to address all advising issues in the Department.

A sampling of student comments about Biology advising:
(2001)
"Need annual meeting w/ advisor, biotechnology"
"More support for what options are available with a degree in biology"
"Advisors to work more closely w/ students"
"Split the department into pre-health and other. This would allow more flexibility for those who have interests in science."

(2002)
"Not enough associations and affiliations for Bio. Majors that aren't pre-med. It would be nice to have events only for our major."
"Department activities: It seemed as though the department separated themselves from the students."
"More attention to transfer students, better advising, more flexibility in schedule."

(2003)
"Advising:more accessible"
"Better Advising"
"More sense of community among non-pre-med Biology students"
"More info early on to explain the different emphasis options"
"There should be a prehealth major that does not require prehealth students to take classes like ecology that has little to do with health related fields. There seem to be inadequate push towards medical, dental, etc schools. Advising takes a passive approach to such issues, preferring the approach of, "We'll help whoever comes to us," rather than recruiting students to enter health-related fields."

(2004)
"My program (PH) advisor was excellent. My Departmetn Advisor was not very approachable, too busy and not helpful ever!"
"Peer advising was a convenient way to get questions answered"
"They were ehlpful, but you already have to know your direction you want to go first "
"The advisors were cold and overloaded"
"My advisor was not very helpful at all"

(2006)
"My advisor never advised on anything, just signed my graduation papers and commented on how low my GPA is!"
"My adivsor was awesome. I wish I had met with him more. It hink there shoudl be some system that forces students to meet with advisors "
"I don't feel like I got advised a lot "
"My advisor was never bery helpful. I was usually pawned off to someone else. Ialways got the feelign that I was an annoyance when I came in. One faculty member went out of his way to help, even though he was not my advisor "
"Advising wasn't that useful. Advisors didn't really provide any information beyond what the requirement sheets and general catalog provided"

(2007)
"Public Health advising was awesome! Biology advising didn't know much about appying to professional schools"
"Committee was great! Advising office was helpful but could be a little more student friendly"
"Different professors and advisors have been thre when I had questions about graduate schools and are still encouraging me"
"The prehealth committee was a little helpful but other than that there was no help or information"
"Frankly, I found I was more informed about applying to med-school than my counselors were"
"Pretty Good - hard to reach in the office sometimes"

5. Curriculum Assessment

The senior exit surveys reveal that students were generally satisfied with the curriculum. However, frequent comments occurred about the need for more variety in upper division courses, more lab courses, and stronger physiology offerings. The department began addressing its upper division physiology curriculum in AY 2003-2004 (see Data-Based Decisions).