Editor's note: This article is part of a series on the Class of 2027 based on research conducted by The Chronicle.
The Chronicle will release survey data on the Class of 2027 next week.
For the seventh year in a row, we surveyed first-year students about their lifestyle, demographics, plans for Duke University, and more. Questions ranged from high school test scores and religious beliefs to approximate household income and access to campus resources.
The results of this survey will be published in a series of articles throughout the next week, allowing you to learn more about Duke University's newest undergraduates.
Survey management
The survey was originally run from October 30th to November 13th, but the final deadline was extended to November 20th. A total of 280 first-year students completed the entire survey, and 380 students answered at least one question. Participants who completed the survey in full were randomly awarded three prizes.
According to the Class of 2027 Profile, there are 1,743 first-year students. This means that 22% of her first grade class started the survey and about 16% completed the survey. In last year's survey, 21% of her first-grade class at the time started the survey, and about 18% completed it.
This year's survey had a total of 87 questions, compared to 97 last year. Participants reviewed different questions based on their answers.
This year, some questions regarding students' opinions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic regulations have been removed. Last year's survey asked students who they had chosen or planned to vote for in the 2022 midterm elections. This year's survey did not ask students which candidates they voted for or plan to vote for in the 2023 local elections.
This year's survey also increased the number of household income categories students can choose from. In last year's survey, the group with the highest income was “$500,000 or more.'' This year, it was “more than $1.5 million.” Additionally, this year's survey allows students to choose what type of financial aid they received.
Regarding academics, this year's survey includes two new questions about students' use of generative artificial intelligence, or artificial intelligence that can create new content such as text and images. Questions asked students how often they used generative AI to help complete an assignment, and for what types of assignments they used generative AI.
This year only complete responses were analyzed, whereas in previous years partially completed responses were also analyzed. According to an email from Jerry Reiter, department chair and professor of statistical science, partially completed responses may represent a different population than fully completed cases, so combining them could falsify survey results. It is said that there is a possibility that it will be displayed. However, demographic data were generally consistent between fully completed and partially completed responses.
Reiter previously spoke to the Chronicle about the study's potential limitations. He said the results could be unrepresentative of the class due to students' reasons for declining the survey, including lack of access to the survey and low enthusiasm for Duke.
Reiter also noted that students may not have chosen to complete the survey due to time constraints. This could potentially skew the findings by making non-respondents systematically different from respondents, he wrote.
Most respondents who did not complete the survey dropped out between sections, especially after sections with more questions.
Below, we compare survey data to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions' official 2027 graduate profile and other data from the University Registrar's Office. This shows how The Chronicle's survey responses differ from the responses of the entire class.
Compare gender, race, and ethnicity with the Duke's official data
According to the Class of 2027 Graduate Profile, 55% of first-year students are female and 45% are male. Our survey found that 60.93% of respondents identified as women, 37.63% as men, and 1.43% as nonbinary or genderqueer. Although our survey includes more gender options, female students are still overrepresented when compared to admissions data.
As with last year, the Chronicle's investigation collected race and ethnicity data differently than Duke's admissions office, created a category called “race/ethnicity not listed here,” and included Native American Indians. or differentiated between Alaska Native students and Native Hawaiian students. Duke groups Pacific Islander and Asian students, while Chronicle groups Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian students.
According to the official admissions profile, 13% of first-year students identify as Hispanic/Latino. 1.2% identify as Native American, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian. 13% identify themselves as black. 35% identify as Asian or Pacific Islander and 53% identify as Caucasian. Approximately 5% of first-year students did not identify their race or ethnicity, while 7% of students identified more than one race.
Students can also select multiple identities on the survey. 12.9% identified as Hispanic/Latino; 0.4% identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. 1.07% identified as American Indian or Alaskan. 7.9% identified as Black; 41.8% of students identify as Asian and 50% of students identify as White. Fifteen percent of respondents identified as having more than one identity, and 2.5% identified as a race or ethnicity not listed.
Our findings overrepresent students who identify as Asian compared to admissions data. Students who identify as Hispanic/Latino are proportionately represented. All other ethnic groups are underrepresented.
segmented ethnicity
The Office of the University Registrar publishes ethnicity data for all current students at Duke University. According to Registrar Database Analyst Anna Kourouniotis, this data was obtained from DukeHub. The chart below shows the ethnic composition of her Class of 2027 who are currently active or on an approved leave of absence. Students can also select multiple IDs.
Ethnic composition, Class of 2027
In our survey, 14.5% of students who identified as Asian provided more details about their ethnicity. Approximately 2.6% of Asian students identified as Chinese, 8.6% identified as Indian or Indian American, and 1.7% identified as Korean or Korean American. Individual students identified as South Asian and Pakistani.
Fewer than 10 students identified as Hispanic/Latino and disclosed their ethnicity. The same is true for students who identify as white and “other.” Most white students who identified their ethnicity said they were Middle Eastern.
Students who identified as Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander did not discuss their ethnicity in further detail.
Disorders and immunity
This year, we revised our disability questions to reflect the Americans with Disabilities Act definition of disability. Under this definition, a person with a disability is defined as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. 4.64% of respondents identified her as having a physical disability and 6.07% identified her as having a mental disability. Students may identify as having multiple disabilities.
However, the number of first-year students with disabilities may be underrepresented in our survey, as approximately 22% of undergraduate students are registered with the Student Disability Access Office, according to SDAO Director Lee Bee. There is.
Geographic and socio-economic diversity
The official Class of 2027 profile states that 86% of students are from the United States and 14% are international students. Similarly, our study consisted of 86.8% domestic students and 13.2% international students.
Approximately 13% of the Class of 2027 is from North Carolina, compared to 17.7% of respondents in the survey.
The New York Times published data on Duke University's socio-economic diversity in 2016, using estimates based on data from the class of 2013. According to that data, the median household income for Duke University students is $186,700. According to our data, 66% of respondents had an annual household income of more than $125,000.
Furthermore, 12.5% of respondents had an annual household income between $80,000 and $125,000, 14.3% had an annual household income between $40,000 and $80,000, and 7% had an annual household income of less than $40,000.
As of 2022, the median household income in the United States was $74,580, according to the Census Bureau.
According to Duke data, 56% of 2027 graduates are receiving financial aid, and 43.2% of respondents in our survey are receiving financial aid. The Chronicle's findings underestimate the percentage of students receiving financial aid.
academic
Both the official class profile and our research state that the proportion of students who progress to public secondary schools is approximately 58%. However, the Chronicle's research overstates the number of students who attended private schools. Additionally, the survey did not ask about those who attended school outside the United States, so the data cannot be fully compared.
The Chronicle study also overreported the percentage of students who applied for early decision. According to Director of Admissions Christoph Guttentag, 56% of survey respondents applied for early decision and 51% of 2027 graduates were admitted in the ED round.
The middle 50% of SAT scores for our survey respondents are approximately 1520-1570, and the middle 50% of ACT scores are 34-35. This corresponds to the middle 50% range of SAT and ACT scores of 1520-1570 and 34-35 respectively.
The Chronicle study also found that 12.9% of respondents were first-generation college students, compared to 12% in the official profile of the Class of 2027.
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| Digital Strategy Director
Katie Tan is a junior at Trinity and director of digital strategy for Volume 119 of The Chronicle. She previously served as editor-in-chief of Vol.118.