The National Survey of Student Engagement is administered nationally each spring and in alternating years at Carroll College to a random sample of first-year students and senior-year students. The survey results provides Carroll College with national benchmark data to compare the student learning experiences of Carroll students to the student learning experiences of students at similar institutions.
Availability of Practicum, Internships, Clinical Assignment
| Carroll First-Year Students | National First-Year Students | Carroll Senior-Year Students | National Senior-Year Students | |
| Very Little | 17% | 32% | 23% | 38% |
| Some | 18% | 28% | 22% | 28% |
| Quite a Bit | 30% | 22% | 30% | 17% |
| Very Much | 34% | 19% | 26% | 17% |
Carroll College students reported having more experiences with a practicum, field experience, co-op experience or clinical assignment than the national benchmark for similar institutions. First-year Carroll students reporting "quite a bit" or "very much" was 64% compared to 41% for similar institutions, and senior-year Carroll students reported 56% compared to 34% for the same experiences.
Talked About Career Plans with a Faculty Member or Advisor
| Carroll First-Year Students | National First-Year Students | Carroll Senior-Year Students | National Senior-Year Students | |
| Never | 11% | 23% | 8% | 17% |
| Sometimes | 41% | 45% | 29% | 41% |
| Often | 29% | 22% | 33% | 25% |
| Very Often | 18% | 10% | 29% | 17% |
Carroll College students reported having more experiences with talking about career plans with a faculty member of advisor than the national benchmark for similar institutions.. First-year Carroll students reporting "often" or "very often" was 47% compared to 32% for similar institutions, and senior-year Carroll students reported 62% compared to 42% for the same experiences.
Acquiring Job or Work-Related Knowledge and Skills
Carroll College students reported having more experiences with with acquiring job or work-related knowledge and skills than the national benchmark for similar institutions.. First-year Carroll students reporting "quite a bit" or "very much" was 68% compared to 64% for similar institutions, and senior-year Carroll students reported 76% compared to 73% for the same experiences. Carroll
First-Year
Students National
First-Year
Students Carroll
Senior-Year
Students National
Senior-Year
Students Very Little 5% 9% 2% 6% Some 27% 27% 21% 20% Quite a Bit 33% 37% 30% 34% Very Much 35% 27% 46% 39%
The Student Satisfaction Inventory measures student importance and student satisfaction with items about the operations, services and attention students receive at the college. Students indicate on a scale of 1 to 7 (with 7 being the highest rating) their assessment of the item. Student importance and student satisfaction data are reported with benchmark data for national four-year private colleges.
| Item | Carroll College Student Importance | Carroll College Student Satisfaction | Gap | National Four-Year Privates Student Importance | National Four-Year Privates Student Satisfaction | Gap |
| There are adequate services to help me decide upon a career. | 6.18 | 5.62 | 0.32 | 6.10 | 5.25 | 0.85 |
Carroll College students report that adequate services to help decide upon a career is important to them but with less satisfaction. As far as benchmark data, Carroll students scored importance levels and satisfaction levels with the the adequacy of services to help decide upon a career higher than students at national four-year private colleges. In addition, Carroll students report less of a gap between importance and student satisfaction than students at national four-year private colleges.
The Student Life Annual Survey is administered each spring as an on-line survey. This year we had 384 students of the 1400 students enrolled for Spring 2011 submit responses.
1. Which of these experiences do you intend to participate in to enhance your Carroll experience?
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | |
| Campus Job | 48.9% | 44.7% | 41.0% | 41.7% |
| Clinical Experience | 30.9% | 28.3% | 20.8% | 18.9% |
| Community Service | 64.9% | 58.2% | 46.6% | 42.5% |
| Foreign Language | NA | NA | NA | 26.6% |
| Internship | 45.0% | 49.0% | 45.9% | 41.7% |
| Off-Campus Job | 58.8% | 60.5% | 41.0% | 57.5% |
| Student Leadership | 25.1% | 27.6% | 19.7% | 17.5% |
| Student Teaching | 15.2% | 16.0% | 13.1% | 11.3% |
| Study Abroad | 22.4% | 24.1% | 33.5% | 35.6% |
| Undergraduate Research | 17.1% | 21.2% | NA | NA |
| None of the Above | 4.7% | NA | NA | 26.6% |
2. Which statement best describes your plans for an internship at college?
| 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | |
| I have had an internship. | 19.3% | 11.3% | 16.9% | 18.7% |
| I have had more than one internship. | 4.2% | 4.4% | 5.4% | 2.4% |
| I have not had an internship but plan to intern. | 41.4% | 46.1% | 37.8% | 35.8% |
| I am not planning on an internship. | 22.5% | 12.5% | 11.9% | 15.0% |
| I am interested in an internship but have been unable to obtain one in my area of interest. | 12.7% | 25.7% | 28.0% | 26.9% |
3. How often do you connect learning in and out of the classroom?
| Very Often | Often | Sometimes | Rarely | Never | |
| How often do you connect your learning in the classroom to your learning outside of the classroom? | 31.4% | 46.9% | 17.2% | 4.2% | 0.3% |
| How often do you discuss your learning outside of the classroom with a faculty member? | 10.0% | 25.8% | 41.0% | 18.6% | 4.7% |
| How often do you discuss your learning outside of the classroom with a staff member? | 5.5% | 19.1% | 36.2% | 32.0% | 7.2% |
| How often have you participated in activities to explore career options? | 7.9% | 15.2% | 28.7% | 27.0% | 21.2% |
4. Which Carroll out-of-classroom learning experience has had the most impact on your leadership development? Short Answer Response.
Community service/Volunteering= 34
Off-campus job= 32
On-Campus job/work study=27
Internship= 27
Clubs = 26
Athletics=23
Nursing Clinical= 22
Campus Ministry=20
Student Teaching= 17
Student Leadership = 10
Study Abroad=10
Student Activities=9
Tutoring/Research/Lab Aiding=8
Academics=7
Student Ambassador= 5
ROTC=4
5. Which Carroll out-of-classroom learning experience has had the most impact on your service to others?
Community Service/Volunteering= 109
Campus Ministry=34
Club's=21
Off-campus Job=15
Clinical= 14
On-campus Job=12
Student Teaching=12
Student Activities= 7
Study Abroad=7
Internship-6
Academics= 5
Student Leadership-5
Athletics=5
TA/Tutor/research=2
Student Ambassadors=2
ROTC=2
6. Which Carroll out-of-classroom learning experience has had the most impact on your faith development?
Campus Ministry=156
Community Service/Volunteering=32
Student Leadership-15
Athletics=6
Study Abroad=6
Off-campus Job=5
Clinical=3
Academics=3
Club's=2
ROTC-2
Student Activities=2
On-Campus Job=1
7. Which Carroll out-of-classroom learning experience has had the most impact on your interactions with persons of diverse backgrounds?
Community Service/Volunteering=38
Campus Ministry=27
Off-Campus Job=25
Clinical=19
Campus Housing/Meeting new people/International Programs=18
Study Abroad=17
Club's= 17
Academics=13
Student Teaching=10
Athletics=10
Student Activities=101
On-Campus Job=9
Internship=10
Student Leadership= 5
ROTC=1
Student Ambassadors=1
Please rate how valuable you believe Career Services contributes to the quality of campus life at Carroll:
43.0% Highly Valuable
31.2% Somewhat Valuable
8.1% Somewhat Lacking Value
2.7% Highly Lacking Value
15.0% Unable to Evaluate
Source: Student Life Annual Survey (2010)
First-year students' response on plans for practicum, internship, field experience, co-op experience or clinical assignment:
10% Have Not Decided
7% Do Not Plan To Do
73% Plan To Do
10% Done
Senior-year students' response on plans for practicum, internship, field experience, co-op experience or clinical assignment::
3% Have Not Decided
10% Do Not Plan To Do
22% Plan to Do
66% Done
Source: National Survey of Student Engagement (2009)
Carroll College students have participated in interships at the following corporations, businesses and non-profit organizations:
The Helena Self-Help Law Center is a unique partnership between Carroll College and the Montana Supreme Court to provide assistance to low-income Pro Se litigants seeking legal information and forms. Students will help with reference work and legal research, provide one-on-one assistance to patrons and work with West Law and Lexis.
The Montana State Legislature meets in Helena, Montana, once every two years to conduct the business of the state. Carroll College students have a unique opportunity to participate in internships with a variety of State of Montana departments to support the legislative work of our state goverment. The next session is scheduled for January 2011.