Report

Mentoring College Students to Success

2018 Strada-Gallup Alumni Survey

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Studying graduates’ experiences and attitudes provides education leaders with insights about ways they can design programs and initiatives focused on maximizing the student experience.

The 2018 Strada-Gallup Alumni Survey, formerly part of the Gallup-Purdue Index, explores how colleges and universities inspire students to achieve and looks closely at the source and nature of college mentoring relationships. This nationally representative study of U.S. college graduates examines whether graduates received career-related advice during college, as well as the helpfulness of the guidance they received.

Key Findings

Meaningful Mentorship
1

Professors are the predominant source of undergraduate mentorship

2

First-generation college student(FGCS) and minority graduates who had a mentor are less likely than their counterparts to identify their mentor as a professor.

3

Graduates’ professor mentors were most likely to come from an arts and humanities field.

Recent research demonstrates the importance of faculty and staff members’ involvement in career-related conversations with students. The 2017 Strada-Gallup College Student Survey showed that students who had these types of conversations are more likely than other students to feel confident about their future upon graduation.

The ultimate measure of a postsecondary institution’s success is whether its alumni succeed in work and life. Measuring and reporting these outcomes are becoming expected responsibilities of colleges and universities to ensure they are living up to the ideals embodied in their mission statements.

Strada Education Network is committed to listening to the learner voice of all students, including graduates and non-completers, so we have expanded our partnership with Gallup to include serving as the lead partner on the Strada-Gallup Alumni Survey, formerly the Gallup-Purdue Index.

Undergraduate Mentorship
While attending [Institution], I had a mentor who encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams.

The Strada-Gallup Alumni Survey has served as a unique, informative resource for countless higher education institutions as they strive to learn more about the outcomes of their graduates. The Alumni Survey enables institutions to understand:

  • Whether alumni are engaged in their work
  • Whether alumni are thriving in key aspects of their lives
  • How alumni rate their undergraduate experiences and their attachment to their college or university following graduation

Learners have a savvy understanding of their post-secondary experiences as they relate to their careers. Survey results show that U.S. adults are overwhelmingly pursuing post-secondary education to advance their careers in some way.

Perceptions of Academic
Rigor, by Field of Study % Strongly agree they were challenged academically

We look forward to finding ways to partner with higher education providers through the Strada-Gallup Alumni Survey to better understand alumni experiences and benefit all students as they work to attain their education and career goals.

Through the Strada-Gallup Alumni Survey, we can provide custom analytics and reporting to colleges and universities, including alumni in-depth qualitative interviews, with the unique ability to benchmark against a nationally representative study of 60,000 college graduates. Institutions can compare their graduates against select cohorts, such as Carnegie Classifications, athletic divisions or other institutions in their state.



When it comes to education after high school, Americans know what they value and why. At Strada Education Network, we are listening to what they have to say and leveraging their insights about experiences and outcomes to forge more purposeful pathways between education and careers.

Gallup strategically partners with institutions to conduct custom research and implement best practices that create environments in which students and employees thrive.

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