Who Filled Out Flyby’s Final Club Survey?

With punch season now in full swing, it’s time to present the results of Flyby’s first-ever Final Club Survey. In this first installment of a six-part series on the survey results, we take a look at just who apparently answered our questions.

In an online survey conducted from Sept. 12-18, we asked upperclassmen a variety of questions about their perceptions and beliefs regarding Harvard’s eight male and five female final clubs.

We emailed out the online survey to 4,838 sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and received responses back from 1,927 fully or at least partially completed surveys. To ensure that the survey was truly anonymous, respondents were in no way linked to their answers; as a result, it is possible that individuals could have taken the survey more than once.

We relied on self-reported demographic data to better understand who filled out the survey.

Respondents to our survey were evenly split by class year—31 percent said they were members of the Class of 2016, 34 percent identified with the Class of 2015, and 33 percent said they plan to graduate with the Class of 2014. Women were slightly more likely to respond than men—54 percent of respondents identified as female, while 46 percent said they are male. And the vast majority of respondents, 90 percent, identified as heterosexual. An additional 5 percent identified as homosexual, 3 percent as bisexual, and 1 percent as questioning.

Sixty-six percent of survey respondents identified as white, 9 percent as Black or African-American, 15 percent as Asian, and 8 percent as Hispanic or Latino. In comparison, the College reports that among members of the Class of 2017 (who were not polled in this survey), 11 percent are African-American, 20 percent are Asian-American, and 12 percent are Hispanic or Latino.

Forty-two percent of respondents reported no past or present affiliation with final clubs. Twenty-one percent of respondents identified as current club members, and 7 percent said they used to be part of one but no longer are. An additional 30 percent said they have punched a final club but did not or have not joined one. Since final clubs do not report their membership numbers, we do not have a way to compare these numbers to the actual percentage of Harvard students in final clubs.

Sixteen percent of respondents said that one or both of their parents had attended Harvard College.

We don’t claim that the responses represent the opinions of the Harvard College student body at large; rather, they reflect the opinions of those who responded to our survey. Check back on Flyby each day this week for respondents’ thoughts on everything from the clubs’ alcohol selection to their members’ intellect.