First Destination Report: 2014-2015 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for College of Engineering

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

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
1637 Not Applicable Total Graduates
1007 62% Reported first destination / respondents

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

434 43% No
493 49% Yes, one to less than three full months
62 6% Yes, three to less than six full months
13 1% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

30 3% U.S. military service commitment.
30 3% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
9 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
463 46% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
19 2% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
94 9% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
15 1% Plan to seek employment later.
112 11% Admitted to continuing education.
131 13% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
105 10% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
22 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

243 24% 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)?

32 16% Print information such as books or magazines.
122 59% Websites / online information.
120 58% Professors at Virginia Tech.
83 40% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
7 3% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
92 45% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
100 49% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
86 42% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
24 12% Career & Professional Development.
47 23% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
7 3% Other

Employment:

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

505 50% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
490 100% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
0 0% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

433 85% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $58000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $65000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $72375
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?

444 88% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
216 49% Yes
228 51% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $3000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% of bonuses were this amount or less; 50% make more): $5000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% of bonuses were this amount or less; 25% make more): $10000
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?

371 82% VERY related to career goals
82 18% 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?

339 73% VERY related to major
110 24% SOMEWHAT related to major
17 4% 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?

126 28% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

14 3% Current or former employer.
6 1% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
28 6% Friend or family member.
8 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
1 0% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
6 1% Email or posted information from your academic department.
156 35% Career fair or job fair.
55 12% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
14 3% The employer's website.
12 3% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
26 6% 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
18 22% During spring semester 2014 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
16 20% Summer 2014 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
39 48% September or October 2014 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
5 6% November or December 2014 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
4 5% 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
252 62% Between July and October 2014 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
96 24% Between November 2014 and January 2015 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
42 10% February or March 2015 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
13 3% April or May 2015, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
2 0% 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.)

216 45% One
127 27% Two
76 16% Three
28 6% Four
32 7% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2014 graduates
23 33% Before September 2014
19 27% September or October 2014
21 30% November or December 2014
5 7% January, February or March 2015
2 3% After March 2015
0 0% Other
May - summer 2015 graduates
222 61% Before January 2015
58 16% January 2015 through Spring Break 2015
81 22% After Spring Break 2015 - May 2015
2 1% June, July or August 2015
1 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)?

861 92% Yes
79 8% No

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

848 84% 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+
206 24% Volunteer work 65 54 25 6 55
239 28% Part-time job 132 60 31 6 9
325 38% Summer job 166 97 37 18 7
58 7% Unpaid internship 50 7 1 0 0
606 71% Paid internship 279 190 107 24 5
128 15% Co-op 59 41 18 8 1
275 32% Undergraduate research 174 64 23 8 6
10 1% Field study 8 0 2 0 0
27 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?

27 17% Never
30 19% Don't recall or unsure
80 51% Yes, but not often
19 12% 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?

458 49% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
469 51% 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...

111 24% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
271 58% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
192 41% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
159 34% Started my job search earlier.
98 21% Used more or different job search resources.
186 40% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
60 13% Other