The purpose of this study was to identify if and how graduating seniors make
meaning of their undergraduate education by exploring graduating seniors’
understanding of their undergraduate education, as well as what Texas A&M University
was providing undergraduates during their senior year to help them synthesize and bring
closure to their experiences. The researcher developed a research protocol that relied
upon qualitative research data collection through interviews with a purposive sample of
graduating seniors. Quantitative data was collected using the graduating student exit
survey to provide a baseline of the population of graduating seniors from which the
interview participants were selected.
The descriptive baseline data were calculated from nearly 3,000 student records,
and a total of 20 students were interviewed from this pool. This group included at least
one student from each of the nine Texas A&M University academic colleges. The
overall gender representation of 60% female and 40% male was nearly par with the
graduating senior population, 15% were Black and 15% were Hispanic, 30% were 1st
generation, and there was one member of the Corps of Cadets. The baseline data from the graduating senior exit survey were instrumental as a
point of reference when examining the participants’ interview responses, particularly
given that the interview participants’ survey response averages mirrored the baseline
population almost identically. The interviews with these students provided a depth and a
dimension of information that was not possible through the survey responses. As they
reflected upon their experiences as college students, they described the experience as
very positive and exciting. In essence, they loved being “Aggies.” However, the details
of their academic experiences were not described as positively, and many were facing
the realization that there were more questions at the end than when they began their
journeys as undergraduate students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2483 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | de Rodriguez, Vanessa Diaz |
| Contributors | Stanley, Christine |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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