First Destination Report: 2014-2015 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for Whole University

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

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
5610 Not Applicable Total Graduates
3274 58% Reported first destination / respondents

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

1506 46% No
1350 41% Yes, one to less than three full months
236 7% Yes, three to less than six full months
164 5% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

68 2% U.S. military service commitment.
68 2% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
39 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
1119 34% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
63 2% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
313 10% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
47 1% Plan to seek employment later.
551 17% Admitted to continuing education.
539 17% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
442 14% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
64 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

1090 34% 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)?

164 17% Print information such as books or magazines.
688 71% Websites / online information.
499 51% Professors at Virginia Tech.
350 36% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
119 12% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
547 56% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
458 47% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
412 42% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
126 13% Career & Professional Development.
235 24% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
28 3% Other

Employment:

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

1246 38% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
1167 99% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
17 1% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

1017 81% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $45000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $58000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $65515
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?

1052 84% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
409 39% Yes
643 61% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $2500
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?

829 78% VERY related to career goals
236 22% 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?

773 69% VERY related to major
273 24% SOMEWHAT related to major
72 6% 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?

282 26% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

52 5% Current or former employer.
37 3% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
77 7% Friend or family member.
23 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
12 1% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
23 2% Email or posted information from your academic department.
285 26% Career fair or job fair.
132 12% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
57 5% The employer's website.
46 4% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
2 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
64 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
53 21% During spring semester 2014 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
46 18% Summer 2014 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
102 40% September or October 2014 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
38 15% November or December 2014 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
12 5% January, February or March 2015 (0-3 months after degree completion)
2 1% 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
481 47% Between July and October 2014 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
279 28% Between November 2014 and January 2015 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
172 17% February or March 2015 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
66 7% April or May 2015, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
15 1% 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.)

534 46% One
328 28% Two
189 16% Three
55 5% Four
53 5% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2014 graduates
57 31% Before September 2014
37 20% September or October 2014
65 36% November or December 2014
19 10% January, February or March 2015
4 2% After March 2015
0 0% Other
May - summer 2015 graduates
425 50% Before January 2015
155 18% January 2015 through Spring Break 2015
255 30% After Spring Break 2015 - May 2015
17 2% June, July or August 2015
2 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)?

2815 92% Yes
248 8% No

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

2782 85% 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+
1210 43% Volunteer work 307 262 184 76 380
1218 44% Part-time job 550 362 170 69 66
1347 48% Summer job 602 397 230 74 45
602 22% Unpaid internship 443 110 36 8 5
1448 52% Paid internship 830 409 163 37 7
165 6% Co-op 93 42 18 10 1
722 26% Undergraduate research 470 162 56 22 12
354 13% Field study 240 89 23 2 0
116 4% 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?

100 18% Never
86 15% Don't recall or unsure
319 57% Yes, but not often
51 9% 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?

1329 44% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
1687 56% 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...

547 33% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
984 59% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
799 48% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
624 37% Started my job search earlier.
354 21% Used more or different job search resources.
672 40% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
172 10% Other