First Destination Report: 2016-2017 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
686 Not Applicable Total Graduates
479 70% Reported first destination / respondents

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

251 52% No
161 34% Yes, one to less than three full months
32 7% Yes, three to less than six full months
35 7% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

11 2% U.S. military service commitment.
11 2% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
6 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
107 22% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
23 5% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
72 15% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
21 4% Plan to seek employment later.
152 32% Admitted to continuing education.
31 6% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
45 9% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
4 1% 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

183 38% 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)?

20 12% Print information such as books or magazines.
121 71% Websites / online information.
84 49% Professors at Virginia Tech.
71 42% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
33 19% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
122 72% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
85 50% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
89 52% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
34 20% Career & Professional Development.
66 39% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
1 1% Other

Employment:

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

131 26% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
119 92% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
10 8% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

99 75% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $30000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $35000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $45250
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?

105 80% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
9 9% Yes
96 91% 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): $3000 (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?

93 78% VERY related to career goals
26 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?

68 57% VERY related to major
35 29% SOMEWHAT related to major
16 13% 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?

28 24% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

6 5% Current or former employer.
11 9% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
18 16% Friend or family member.
3 3% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
0 0% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
4 3% Email or posted information from your academic department.
14 12% Career fair or job fair.
0 0% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
8 7% The employer's website.
16 14% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
8 7% 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
6 17% During spring semester 2016 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
10 28% Summer 2016 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
13 36% September or October 2016 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
5 14% November or December 2016 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
2 6% 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
32 21% Between July and October 2016 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
53 35% Between November 2016 and January 2017 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
38 25% February or March 2017 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
22 15% April or May 2017, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
4 3% May commencement to August 2017 (0-3 months after commencement)
1 1% 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.)

70 49% One
39 27% Two
22 15% Three
8 6% Four
3 2% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2016 graduates
10 43% Before September 2016
2 9% September or October 2016
6 26% November or December 2016
5 22% January, February or March 2017
0 0% After March 2017
0 0% Other
May - summer 2017 graduates
24 29% Before January 2017
25 30% January 2017 through Spring Break 2017
27 33% After Spring Break 2017 - May 2017
4 5% June, July or August 2017
2 2% 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)?

435 96% Yes
16 4% No

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

430 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+
279 65% Volunteer work 63 69 53 25 69
241 56% Part-time job 111 74 35 12 9
240 56% Summer job 95 78 45 12 10
101 23% Unpaid internship 72 17 10 2 0
159 37% Paid internship 117 31 11 0 0
4 1% Co-op 3 0 0 1 0
104 24% Undergraduate research 81 18 4 1 0
116 27% Field study 83 29 2 0 2
13 3% 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..

149 34% Most job search skills I needed.
221 50% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
73 16% 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.

140 35% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
233 58% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
26 6% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
231 57% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
71 18% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
223 55% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
204 50% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
150 37% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
29 7% Books, magazines or other print materials.
11 3% 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?

76 17% Never
68 15% Don't recall or unsure
277 62% Yes, but not often
24 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?

171 39% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
270 61% 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...

140 52% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
167 62% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
138 51% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
93 34% Started my job search earlier.
48 18% Used more or different job search resources.
114 42% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
16 6% Other