Alumni Survey 2010 (2009 graduates)[1]
Academics
What follows are direct comments former students’ made in answer to the following questions: What had the most positive impact on you during your time at Eastern? And, What had the most negative impact on you during your time at Eastern? Comments relating to specific programs and/or faculty members have been sent to the colleges and departments.
Class/Campus Size
Positive Impact
§ The smaller classroom sizes. (PED 5)
§ Small class sizes. (ECE 250)
§ The small class sizes. (ELEG 80)
§ Probably the small class sizes. It made it easier to approach professors. (BIO 89)
§ Small class sizes so I was able to get to know my professors and meeting new people. (ELEG 135)
§ The biggest impact at Eastern was the fairly small class sizes (PED 149)
§ The small class sizes. (FIN 235)
§ Small campus and small class sizes where professors knew you by name and you shared classes with a lot of the same students. (BIO 278)
§ Small classes. (GST 286)
§ The small class size. (SPED 314)
§ The smaller class sizes. (HIS 315)
§ Class size. (INT 325)
§ The most positive feature that impacted my career at Eastern has to be relative smaller class sizes. I personally connected with most of my professors, which proved to be beneficial. (BIO 341)
§ The small classroom size. (MAR 406)
§ Class sizes. (MIS 523)
§ We had small classes. (FCSF 505)
§ The smaller class sizes. (MGT 518)
§ Small class sizes which meant a better relationship with teachers and easier accessibility to them. (ELEG 536)
§ Small class size was able to get attention needed. (PLS 537)
§ Small classroom sizes. (HIS 545)
§ Small class sizes. (PLS 561)
§ The small classrooms. (GEL 562)
§ Having smaller class sizes had a positive impact on me. It helped me to succeed and develop higher levels of thinking. (ELEM 669)
§ Small class size and being challenged in classes. (ELEM 674)
§ Having small classes and really being able to know and work with my teachers. (FCSB 699)
§ The class size allowed me to learn in an environment where the professors helped each student as needed. (ACC 710)
§ The small classrooms that allowed teacher interaction and face to face meetings. (MGT 726)
Negative Impact
§ Facilities, older buildings have smaller classrooms and therefore fewer chances to get into the time frames needed in schedule. Yet, I do like the same as small classes equal more one-on-one time between teacher and student. (PEDK 725)
Overall Education/Obtaining Degree
Positive Impact
§ Class schedules. (GST 1)
§ The ease of transfer of classes from Lake Land College. (FCS 201)
§ Completion of the degree. (GST 208)
§ Graduating with two degrees in four years allowed me to get into my number one choice of graduate schools. (BIO/PSY 455)
§ Well rounded education on many issues. (GST 718)
§ General Education requirements provided a well-rounded education that is appreciated now more than ever. (ARTG 764)
§ Second time at EIU 20 years later to finish my degree. As I had already achieved a great job and Exec. level, the experience, mostly online, was great. First time around was the best time of my life. (GST 766)
§ Ability to finish degree while working full time through online courses. (COS 54)
§ Off-campus, on-line, and weekend classes – if not for these, I would not have been able to be a mom, bread winner, and still work on my degree. (GST 112)
§ The flexibility of online courses that was available for my C.O.S degree. (COS 269)
§ The overall college/classroom experience was very positive. I always felt very welcome and comfortable with the faculty and students. (CMN 280)
§ Graduation. (ELEG 289)
§ The ability to bring classes to me. (ELEG 328)
§ The ability to finish my degree and to be awarded credits for my lifelong learning experiences. (COS 321)
§ On-line classes. (COS 347)
§ I learned so much and was grateful to get my degree; soon to be master’s degree from EIU. (CDS 380)
§ Enjoyed on-line classes. (GST 437)
§ The ability for me to work full time while taking online and weekend courses. (COS 479)
§ I did not take classes at Eastern. I took mine at Parkland or online. (COS 516)
§ Writing development requirements. (GST 524)
§ My most positive impact during my time at Eastern was that I earned my degree. (PSY 548)
§ How accessible the weekend and online classes were for me as a wife, mother of 1 and with 2 jobs. I loved the use of writing in many cases instead of using only test to grade ability. (GST 554)
§ The variety of courses I was able to take was very positive. (BIO 564)
§ Graduating with straight A's and Dean’s list spring 2009! (FCSF 590)
§ The application and enrollment process. I brought in a lot of credits from other institutions and Dr. Christie Roszkowski helped me by realistically looking at my courses completed and making determinations on what prereqs I had met. (BAD 610)
§ The education I received. (FCSF 648)
§ Knowledge learned from professors (MAR 653)
§ Wanted to graduate and get a good paying job. (CIS 659)
§ Classes offered off campus and weekends. (GST 662)
§ I was able to get my degree online. Working a full-time job and taking classes is enough, but being able to take classes at home made it much easier. Thank you. (GST 675)
§ My grad classes. (FCSF 682)
§ Eastern gave me the opportunity to complete my education by making classes available at Triton and Chicago during weekends. (GST 705)
§ Having the flexibility of the online classes – never saw the campus as my schedule never allowed it. (GST 719)
Negative Impact
§ Trying to verify that I had taken all the classes necessary to graduate. (BIO)(7)
§ Wish more classes held in evening hours or on-line. (GST)(17)
§ Maybe think about providing more classes down in OCC at Olney, IL--closer for some people. I would have taken more classes if offered there. (GST 112)
§ The time it required of me to earn the “A”. (I’m a slow reader so put in about 5 hours for every one hour of classroom) (GST 132)
§ The most negative thing that happened to me at Eastern would have to be the general education courses that I had to take. They were geared too much for students who are majoring in those departments. (ELEM 136)
§ The need for a senior seminar I found wasn’t necessary for a degree, as well as the writing portfolio submission I found was a waste of time and in no way reflects my degree or provides as necessity. (SOC 140)
§ The only negative impact I encountered was when I graduated. Being a “continuing ed” student we were not part of the “regular” graduation. We were seated way in the back. The speakers did not acknowledge us at all – that was very disappointing. It made me feel like an outsider and not really part of the ceremony. (GST 141)
§ Frequency in which I had to select class choices during registration that were 3rd, 4th, 5th, or lower choices of mine. (GST 155)
§ Class scheduling seemed to be challenging at times. (ELEG 182)
§ The confusion and hassle of class scheduling. (MATT 197)
§ US history and other gen ed options. I would have liked to have more height class and weekend class opportunities. (MGT 204)
§ When technology would fail during class. This was not a very rare occurrence; it happened quite often. Either the instructors wouldn’t know how to fix the problem, or a considerable amount of time would be wasted on trying to fix it. (GST 217)
§ EIU tends to play the “Chicago student” too much. Many of us are trying to work and go to college and cannot afford to take nights off because your class is only offered on Wednesday nights. (HSTT 226)
§ The only negative thing I experienced was the transferring. Not all things were described to me like how to sign up for classes, declaring a major, things like this I was unsure of. (CMNM 249).
§ The availability of most popular classes. (COS 269)
§ Senior seminar course selection. (INT 284)
§ Requirements that did not relate to my major and interests/goals such as alcohol edu, electronic writing portfolio, etc. Majors are majors for a reason. (PSY 288)
§ The inability to get the classes needed for scheduling purposes. (CMNR 366)
§ The only thing I look back on now is the amount of classes held at Parkland or other offsite areas. I would like to return for my master’s but it’s not looking so great right now because I am unable to travel to the campus area. (GET 376)
§ Some classes were not challenging at all. (PEDK 383)
§ General education that are not necessary or worth credit. (MIS 453)
§ Some general classes I considered to be a waste of time. (ACC/FIN 415)
§ I would hope for the future students there would be more preparation for “the real world”. (PEDK 418)
§ Some of my general education courses. (ELEG 423)
§ Scheduling conflicts. (ARTS/ARTT 473)
§ Difficultly scheduling classes I needed or were interested in due to location or overlapping times. (COS 479)
§ Electronic writing portfolio. (ENG 528)
§ Transferring from EIU to UIUC, courses did not transfer appropriately and had to retake several! (ENGR 542)
§ Dealing with weird university issues (not knowing that I needed more upper level classes, getting graduation and classes approved, etc.) (PSY 547)
§ Not having greater knowledge about each major offered so I could make the right decisions. I instead switched majors and lost a semester worth of credits. (SPES 559)
§ General Education courses seemed unnecessary and presented no relation to my degree whatsoever. (ACC 569)
§ Some of the required courses like senior seminar. (ECN 576)
§ General education classes that did not help me in the future. (SCIC 622)
§ While I enjoyed my specific senior seminar, I think that the concept is ridiculous. I understand the intent is to gauge how much we’ve learned and make sure we are adept at presenting and writing, but having a class outside your major that determines how good you are is bogus. When you are a senior, you are used to doing things (i.e. research, citations, etc.) specifically geared toward your field of study. It makes no sense to be judged on how well you do in a different field. (SOC 650)
§ Graduate school classes not offered off campus or weekends. (GST 662)
§ Variety of classes off campus and short window to sign up or register for certain popular classes. (GST 743)
§ Picking a major before I entered school at orientation. This was not conductive to a good freshman year of academics. (CMNC 745)
Career Search/Jobs
Negative Impact
§ I was not told that it is nearly impossible to get a teaching job with an early childhood degree. (ECE 159)
§ Finding a job after graduation was difficult. I feel Eastern should offer a class to students to show how to effectively use their degree. This class could help students prepare for interviews and show career opportunities with a degree. (SOC 281)
§ Upon graduation I wished that I had been more prepared in regards to going about getting a job. I think that major courses should provide students with info pertaining to interviews, resumes, and job hunting. (SPED 507)
§ My degree is relatively useless in the real world without a Master’s degree – it frustrates me that I only qualify for the same jobs as a person with only a high school diploma. (PSY 723)
§ Did not know what I would do with my degree in psychology after graduation. (PSY 739)
§ At the time of my graduation, the economy had taken a downward turn and I never felt any support from the faculty about my future after graduation. (JOU 454)
§ Little help when trying to find a job after graduation. Also, the career fair this past year was not helpful due to the lack of participation from companies. (FIN 248)
§ Career services was not helpful for finding a job in my field of service. (BIO 259)
§ Career services! No one helped me to find a job or ever follow up with employment. (CTEF)(444)
Specific Programs/Courses
Positive Impact
§ Science department. (SCIB 26)
§ Working hard on projects and earning good grades. (CMNC 35)
§ Cobol 1 and 2. (MIS 37)
§ The education program and its devotion to improving every year through a variety of ways. (HIST 51)
§ The ability to take so many courses at Parkland College in Champaign. (GST 69)
§ The honors college was also a great source of support, growth, and advice (ELEG 83)
§ The internships I complete gave me the out of the classroom experience needed to be a competitive entry level candidate. (CMN 84)
§ Group work. (CMN 146)
§ Learning a lot of information about my field. (PSY 160)
§ Working hands on. (ELEG 168)
§ I was working in my field of study as I was going to school, so I had real world experience instead of just book knowledge. (FIN 210)