First Destination Report: 2016-2017 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
416 Not Applicable Total Graduates
278 67% Reported first destination / respondents

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

91 33% No
165 59% Yes, one to less than three full months
21 8% Yes, three to less than six full months
1 0% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

9 3% U.S. military service commitment.
9 3% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
1 0% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
164 59% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
14 5% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
59 21% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
3 1% Plan to seek employment later.
23 8% Admitted to continuing education.
2 1% 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

25 9% 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)?

2 9% Print information such as books or magazines.
12 55% Websites / online information.
12 55% Professors at Virginia Tech.
12 55% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
0 0% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
14 64% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
13 59% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
10 45% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
2 9% Career & Professional Development.
5 23% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
0 0% Other

Employment:

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

175 62% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
172 99% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
2 1% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

161 92% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $60000
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): $70000
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?

165 94% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
75 45% Yes
90 55% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $2875
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): $5000
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?

133 77% VERY related to career goals
40 23% 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?

123 71% VERY related to major
44 25% SOMEWHAT related to major
6 3% 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?

50 30% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

8 5% Current or former employer.
5 3% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
8 5% Friend or family member.
3 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
3 2% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
5 3% Email or posted information from your academic department.
57 34% Career fair or job fair.
11 7% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
7 4% The employer's website.
4 2% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
1 1% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
7 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 2016 graduates
2 29% During spring semester 2016 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
2 29% Summer 2016 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
2 29% September or October 2016 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
0 0% November or December 2016 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
1 14% January, February or March 2017 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% After March 2017 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2017 graduates
117 57% Between July and October 2016 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
56 27% Between November 2016 and January 2017 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
25 12% February or March 2017 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
4 2% April or May 2017, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
1 0% May commencement to August 2017 (0-3 months after commencement)
1 0% September 2017 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.)

94 51% One
54 30% Two
28 15% Three
2 1% Four
5 3% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2016 graduates
1 17% Before September 2016
3 50% September or October 2016
2 33% November or December 2016
0 0% January, February or March 2017
0 0% After March 2017
0 0% Other
May - summer 2017 graduates
95 66% Before January 2017
21 15% January 2017 through Spring Break 2017
24 17% After Spring Break 2017 - May 2017
3 2% June, July or August 2017
0 0% After August 2017
0 0% Other

Career-related learning and experience during college:

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

250 93% Yes
20 7% No

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

250 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+
72 29% Volunteer work 20 15 14 2 21
61 24% Part-time job 29 19 9 3 1
97 39% Summer job 50 27 12 5 3
20 8% Unpaid internship 17 3 0 0 0
191 76% Paid internship 84 63 38 4 2
62 25% Co-op 38 19 4 1 0
70 28% Undergraduate research 51 15 4 0 0
3 1% Field study 3 0 0 0 0
13 5% 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..

74 28% Most job search skills I needed.
124 47% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
68 26% 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 41% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
59 26% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
9 4% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
77 34% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
28 12% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
150 67% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
140 62% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
95 42% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
12 5% Books, magazines or other print materials.
15 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?

33 12% Never
33 12% Don't recall or unsure
165 62% Yes, but not often
36 13% 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?

110 42% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
154 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...

45 29% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
85 54% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
70 45% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
67 43% Started my job search earlier.
48 31% Used more or different job search resources.
62 40% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
9 6% Other