This seminal 62-page study presents detailed data from a survey of 1,566 undergraduates at BA-level, MA-level and research universities in the United States. The report presents details on the interest level of undergraduates in going to graduate school in computer science, and in taking computer science courses on the undergraduate level. In addition, the report queries undergraduates on their views of the likelihood that they will need in their future work or study the kinds of skills acquired in computer science classes. Survey participants also list the areas of computer science, and the specific graduate programs, that interest them most.
The extensive data In the report is broken out by 18 variables including age, gender, academic major or intended major, income level, sexual orientation, race & ethnicity, college grades, ACT/SAT scores, level of personal religiosity, regional origins, public/private college status, and many other variables.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
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Twenty-two-year old survey participants had the highest population of “fence sitters” in the sample broken out by age, as more than 13% said that they might possibly apply to computer science graduate school at some time in the future.
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By an approximate 3:2 ratio interest in computer science graduate school was greater from public than private college students in the sample.
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30% of those sampled were either somewhat interested, interested, very interested in taking computer science classes while undergraduates or already were computer science majors.
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Also, far more than for other fields, computer science attracted students who already had a full time job.