First Destination Report: 2015-2016 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for Mechanical Engineering

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

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
365 Not Applicable Total Graduates
227 62% Reported first destination / respondents

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

101 44% No
113 50% Yes, one to less than three full months
10 4% Yes, three to less than six full months
3 1% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

6 3% U.S. military service commitment.
6 3% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
2 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
133 59% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
7 3% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
39 17% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
2 1% Plan to seek employment later.
31 14% Admitted to continuing education.
5 2% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
2 1% 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

36 16% 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)?

3 9% Print information such as books or magazines.
15 47% Websites / online information.
23 72% Professors at Virginia Tech.
19 59% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
1 3% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
8 25% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
10 31% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
11 34% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
2 6% Career & Professional Development.
11 34% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
0 0% Other

Employment:

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

141 63% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
134 100% 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

128 90% 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): $65450 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $70500
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?

129 91% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
49 38% Yes
80 62% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $2375
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): $5125
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?

95 73% VERY related to career goals
35 27% 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?

97 74% VERY related to major
26 20% SOMEWHAT related to major
8 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?

42 33% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

4 3% Current or former employer.
1 1% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
8 6% Friend or family member.
0 0% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
0 0% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
2 2% Email or posted information from your academic department.
50 39% Career fair or job fair.
8 6% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
7 5% The employer's website.
2 2% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
5 4% 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 2015 graduates
2 25% During spring semester 2015 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
0 0% Summer 2015 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
5 63% September or October 2015 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
1 13% November or December 2015 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
0 0% January, February or March 2016 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% After March 2016 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2016 graduates
84 59% Between July and October 2015 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
34 24% Between November 2015 and January 2016 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
19 13% February or March 2016 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
3 2% April or May 2016, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
2 1% May commencement to August 2016 (0-3 months after commencement)
1 1% September 2016 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.)

70 51% One
36 26% Two
20 15% Three
6 4% Four
4 3% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2015 graduates
1 14% Before September 2015
2 29% September or October 2015
4 57% November or December 2015
0 0% January, February or March 2016
0 0% After March 2016
0 0% Other
May - summer 2016 graduates
62 56% Before January 2016
19 17% January 2016 through Spring Break 2016
25 23% After Spring Break 2016 - May 2016
4 4% June, July or August 2016
1 1% After August 2016
0 0% Other

Career-related learning and experience during college:

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

199 94% Yes
13 6% No

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

195 86% 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+
48 25% Volunteer work 13 12 5 5 13
53 27% Part-time job 32 13 4 1 3
61 31% Summer job 35 15 8 1 2
10 5% Unpaid internship 10 0 0 0 0
148 76% Paid internship 70 47 20 9 2
49 25% Co-op 22 14 8 3 2
57 29% Undergraduate research 38 15 2 0 2
3 2% Field study 2 0 1 0 0
12 6% 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..

81 39% Most job search skills I needed.
104 50% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
22 11% 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.

113 59% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
48 25% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
11 6% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
75 39% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
22 12% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
124 65% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
112 59% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
86 45% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
15 8% Books, magazines or other print materials.
13 7% 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?

23 11% Never
23 11% Don't recall or unsure
140 66% Yes, but not often
25 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?

99 47% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
111 53% 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...

39 35% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
61 54% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
52 46% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
48 42% Started my job search earlier.
32 28% Used more or different job search resources.
39 35% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
9 8% Other