The Fall, 2013 Baseline Survey of Freshmen Entering Western (Freshmen Survey) continues the Office of Survey Research’s (OSR) efforts to collect information on all students prior to the start of their academic careers at Western Washington University. This survey represents the initial contact in a longitudinal process that makes inquiries of students at the end of their sophomore year, when they graduate from the university, and one to two years after graduation. The Freshmen Survey is designed with three purposes in mind: (1) to provide baseline observations of students prior to their Western experience which can be used to forecast and enhance student success; (2) to provide data that can assist university assessment and accreditation efforts; (3) to assess student needs based upon their self-reported characteristics, perceptions, and concerns. To accomplish these, the Freshmen Survey integrates questions into five major sections: pre-collegiate engagement and experiences, the college application process, class scheduling and expectations, skills, goals, and expectations, and expenses and employment. In addition to these, Western’s Division of Enrollment and Student Services submitted questions regarding the expected use of technology. The questions on the Freshmen Survey are a mix of open-ended, numerical, and multiple choice responses. This report lists all questions and reports basic descriptive statistics from questions which lend themselves to numerical analysis. Responses to the open ended questions are available upon request
