First Destination Report: 2014-2015 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
634 Not Applicable Total Graduates
336 53% Reported first destination / respondents

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

158 47% No
129 39% Yes, one to less than three full months
16 5% Yes, three to less than six full months
32 10% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

2 1% U.S. military service commitment.
2 1% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
10 3% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
57 17% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
4 1% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
25 7% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
2 1% Plan to seek employment later.
97 29% Admitted to continuing education.
71 21% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
55 16% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
7 2% 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

168 50% 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)?

26 17% Print information such as books or magazines.
116 76% Websites / online information.
83 55% Professors at Virginia Tech.
59 39% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
37 24% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
111 73% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
78 51% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
78 51% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
27 18% Career & Professional Development.
46 30% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
3 2% Other

Employment:

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

75 23% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
72 97% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
2 3% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

51 68% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $32375
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?

58 77% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
11 19% Yes
47 81% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): -$1
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% of bonuses were this amount or less; 50% make more): $5500 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% of bonuses were this amount or less; 25% make more):
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?

55 85% VERY related to career goals
10 15% 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?

49 72% VERY related to major
13 19% SOMEWHAT related to major
6 9% 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?

17 25% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

6 9% Current or former employer.
7 10% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
6 9% Friend or family member.
1 1% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
0 0% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
5 7% Email or posted information from your academic department.
6 9% Career fair or job fair.
1 1% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
7 10% The employer's website.
5 7% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
6 9% 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 2014 graduates
3 13% During spring semester 2014 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
5 22% Summer 2014 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
5 22% September or October 2014 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
9 39% November or December 2014 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
1 4% January, February or March 2015 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% After March 2015 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2015 graduates
12 20% Between July and October 2014 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
24 41% Between November 2014 and January 2015 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
17 29% February or March 2015 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
4 7% April or May 2015, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
2 3% May commencement to August 2015 (0-3 months after commencement)
0 0% September 2015 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.)

32 48% One
19 28% Two
11 16% Three
4 6% Four
1 1% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2014 graduates
3 21% Before September 2014
1 7% September or October 2014
8 57% November or December 2014
2 14% January, February or March 2015
0 0% After March 2015
0 0% Other
May - summer 2015 graduates
9 20% Before January 2015
9 20% January 2015 through Spring Break 2015
27 59% After Spring Break 2015 - May 2015
1 2% June, July or August 2015
0 0% After August 2015
0 0% Other

Career-related learning and experience during college:

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

298 94% Yes
20 6% No

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

293 87% 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+
201 69% Volunteer work 51 41 25 15 69
163 56% Part-time job 60 62 17 14 10
171 58% Summer job 74 60 24 5 9
79 27% Unpaid internship 50 18 6 3 2
92 31% Paid internship 59 27 4 1 0
2 1% Co-op 2 0 0 0 0
99 34% Undergraduate research 70 21 3 3 2
83 28% Field study 55 21 6 1 0
10 3% Other Not Applicable

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?

7 11% Never
8 13% Don't recall or unsure
43 70% Yes, but not often
3 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 43% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
178 57% 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...

77 44% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
103 58% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
96 54% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
62 35% Started my job search earlier.
26 15% Used more or different job search resources.
73 41% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
14 8% Other