First Destination Report: 2013-2014 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

View results by whole university, by college, or by major

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
630 Not Applicable Total Graduates
357 57% Reported first destination / respondents

TAKING TIME OFF after graduation (more than 1 month, less than 1 year)

193 54% No
115 32% Yes, one to less than three full months
21 6% Yes, three to less than six full months
27 8% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

0 0% U.S. military service commitment.
0 0% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
13 4% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
105 29% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
5 1% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
34 10% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
6 2% Plan to seek employment later.
132 37% Admitted to continuing education.
32 9% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
22 6% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
0 0% Other having nothing to do with employment or continued education.

Continuing education: Graduate, professional school, or other:

View list by undergrad major showing cont. educ. degree / program / institution / location

164 46% Plan to attend OR have accepted admission.

ADVICE SOURCES about continuing education (check ALL that apply)

From what sources did you seek advice about graduate or professional school (or other additional education)?

35 23% Print information such as books or magazines.
120 78% Websites / online information.
78 51% Professors at Virginia Tech.
62 41% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
25 16% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
111 73% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
75 49% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
77 50% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
13 8% Career & Professional Development.
55 36% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
3 2% Other

Employment:

View list by undergrad major showing employer /job title / location

126 35% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
101 86% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
16 14% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

76 60% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $30000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $40000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $45000
Not Applicable Not Applicable (Percentiles not reported if fewer than 12 graduates reported salary)

BONUS WITH JOB OFFER

Did your job offer include a signing bonus?

88 70% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
13 15% Yes
75 85% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $1625
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% of bonuses were this amount or less; 50% make more): $2500 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% of bonuses were this amount or less; 25% make more): $3000
Not Applicable Not Applicable (Percentiles not reported if fewer than 12 graduates reported a bonus)

Employment RELATED to CAREER GOALS

Do you consider your job to be related to your career goals and/or to be an entry-level avenue to reach your career goals?

82 79% VERY related to career goals
22 21% SOMEWHAT related to career goals
0 0% NOT related to career goals

Employment RELATED to MAJOR

Do you consider your job to be related to your college major?

84 75% VERY related to major
17 15% SOMEWHAT related to major
11 10% NOT related to major

JOB / EMPLOYER SOURCE

Which best describes the source of your first contact with the employer (organization, company, agency) whose job you accepted?

33 31% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

6 6% Current or former employer.
8 7% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
16 15% Friend or family member.
4 4% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
3 3% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
5 5% Email or posted information from your academic department.
6 6% Career fair or job fair.
2 2% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
9 8% The employer's website.
8 7% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
8 7% Other.

WHEN JOB SEARCH STARTED

About when did you actively start your job search for your post-graduation job?
(Asked of employed graduates and those with an offer or offers.)

December 2013 graduates
1 4% During spring semester 2013 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
7 27% Summer 2013 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
12 46% September or October 2013 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
5 19% November or December 2013 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
1 4% January, February or March 2014 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% After March 2014 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2014 graduates
20 19% Between July and October 2013 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
35 34% Between November 2013 and January 2014 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
23 22% February or March 2014 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
13 13% April or May 2014, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
12 12% May commencement to August 2014 (0-3 months after commencement)
1 1% September 2014 or after (4 or more months after May commencement)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.

NUMBER OF JOB OFFERS

To the best of your recollection, how many job offers have you received?
(Asked of employed graduates and those with an offer or offers.)

35 31% One
41 37% Two
23 21% Three
8 7% Four
5 4% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2013 graduates
6 35% Before September 2013
1 6% September or October 2013
9 53% November or December 2013
1 6% January, February or March 2014
0 0% After March 2014
0 0% Other
May - summer 2014 graduates
19 27% Before January 2014
15 21% January 2014 through Spring Break 2014
23 33% After Spring Break 2014 - May 2014
10 14% June, July or August 2014
3 4% After August 2014
0 0% Other

Career-related learning and experience during college:

Did you have any kind of career-related experience prior to graduation (types listed)?

320 97% Yes
10 3% No

TYPES OF CAREER-RELATED EXPERIENCE (check ALL that apply)

320 90% Respondents to this question: number and percent of total respondents

What kind of experience did you have? (check ALL that apply)

How many of each?

Number of Respondents
%
Category
 1 2 3 4 5+
202 63% Volunteer work 32 45 34 14 77
181 57% Part-time job 84 48 33 6 10
179 56% Summer job 62 63 34 11 9
95 30% Unpaid internship 58 26 5 2 4
104 33% Paid internship 75 22 4 3 0
5 2% Co-op 4 1 0 0 0
101 32% Undergraduate research 70 26 3 1 1
84 26% Field study 60 20 3 1 0
3 1% Other Not Applicable

EXTENT to which graduates LEARNED JOB SEARCH SKILLS

Which best describes the extent to which you learned job search skills during college?
I learned..

110 34% Most job search skills I needed.
138 42% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
77 24% Nothing or very little.

SOURCES of LEARNING JOB SEARCH SKILLS (check ALL that apply)

If you did learn job search skills,where do you believe you learned them? Please check all that apply.

92 34% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
151 56% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
21 8% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
153 56% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
34 13% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
158 58% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
139 51% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
103 38% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
29 11% Books, magazines or other print materials.
6 2% Other

USED CAREER AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DURING COLLEGE:

As best as you can recall: During college did you use any the resources provided by Career & Professional Development?

55 18% Never
40 13% Don't recall or unsure
194 64% Yes, but not often
15 5% Yes, often

Regrets:

If you had to do it over again, is there anything related to planning for life after college that you would do differently?

133 42% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
187 58% Yes. I wish I had done something differently.

If yes, please check ALL that apply. (Percentages are of "Yes" respondents, not total respondents.)
I wish I had...

105 56% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
103 55% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
102 55% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
66 35% Started my job search earlier.
36 19% Used more or different job search resources.
92 49% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
13 7% Other