The National Survey of Student Engagement 2006 told us so much about us and our university that we already knew. Developed in 1999, the NSSE survey is used by university administrators across North America to gauge how they’re doing. Last year, 1,843 U of T students from first and fourth year took the survey. Here’s what their answers tell us about U of T students, compared to our colleagues at 14 other Ontario universities.

We:

• Are more apathetic: We spend less time on extracurriculars, on average, and we’re less physically active: 44 per cent of frosh say they do physical activities often or very often, compared to 55 per cent of non-U of T students.

• Worry more about marks: Concerns over academic performance topped the “worries chart” for first- and fourth-year students. Students elsewhere worry most about financial pressures or and working to pay tuition.

• Study more: We’re more likely than students elsewhere to say that we spend more than ten hours a week studying and preparing for class. We also brag more that our institution emphasizes studying and academic work.

• Get worse marks: 52 per cent of frosh here get marks that average to less than B, compared to 35 per cent of frosh elsewhere. Even in fourth year, while 69 per cent of us get higher marks than B, so do 81 per cent of seniors elsewhere.

• Think that smaller classes and more contact with profs outside class would be the best way to improve U of T.

• Rate the “quality of relationships” with administrators worse than those with other students or with profs (see chart above).

• Are more likely to “have serious conversations with students of a different race or ethnicity.” Take that, Queen’s University! -Mike Ghenu