First Destination Report: 2016-2017 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
1768 Not Applicable Total Graduates
1264 71% Reported first destination / respondents

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

457 36% No
695 55% Yes, one to less than three full months
88 7% Yes, three to less than six full months
21 2% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

52 4% U.S. military service commitment.
52 4% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
11 1% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
772 61% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
40 3% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
173 14% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
19 2% Plan to seek employment later.
155 12% Admitted to continuing education.
20 2% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
19 2% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
1 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

175 14% 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)?

17 11% Print information such as books or magazines.
95 60% Websites / online information.
113 72% Professors at Virginia Tech.
84 53% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
5 3% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
74 47% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
80 51% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
68 43% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
10 6% Career & Professional Development.
51 32% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
2 1% Other

Employment:

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

837 66% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
822 100% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
3 0% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

756 90% 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): $65450 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $72000
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?

776 93% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
338 44% Yes
438 56% 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): $9000
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?

661 82% VERY related to career goals
148 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?

588 73% VERY related to major
178 22% SOMEWHAT related to major
43 5% 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?

222 28% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

37 5% Current or former employer.
19 2% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
63 8% Friend or family member.
15 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
11 1% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
11 1% Email or posted information from your academic department.
255 32% Career fair or job fair.
52 7% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
36 5% The employer's website.
34 4% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
1 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
37 5% 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
32 35% During spring semester 2016 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
23 25% Summer 2016 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
30 33% September or October 2016 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
4 4% November or December 2016 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
2 2% 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
449 60% Between July and October 2016 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
185 25% Between November 2016 and January 2017 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
79 11% February or March 2017 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
25 3% April or May 2017, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
6 1% May commencement to August 2017 (0-3 months after commencement)
2 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.)

372 45% One
236 28% Two
145 17% Three
40 5% Four
37 4% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2016 graduates
38 45% Before September 2016
25 29% September or October 2016
20 24% November or December 2016
2 2% January, February or March 2017
0 0% After March 2017
0 0% Other
May - summer 2017 graduates
393 63% Before January 2017
108 17% January 2017 through Spring Break 2017
104 17% After Spring Break 2017 - May 2017
15 2% June, July or August 2017
3 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)?

1116 93% Yes
90 7% No

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

1109 88% 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+
296 27% Volunteer work 103 69 39 8 77
291 26% Part-time job 158 72 47 8 6
392 35% Summer job 214 98 58 13 8
93 8% Unpaid internship 79 12 1 1 0
842 76% Paid internship 347 303 159 23 8
170 15% Co-op 109 40 13 6 2
348 31% Undergraduate research 233 74 26 9 6
19 2% Field study 18 0 0 0 0
43 4% 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..

443 37% Most job search skills I needed.
500 42% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
247 21% 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.

395 38% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
454 44% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
73 7% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
477 46% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
127 12% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
618 59% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
614 59% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
470 45% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
60 6% Books, magazines or other print materials.
61 6% 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?

180 15% Never
165 14% Don't recall or unsure
717 60% Yes, but not often
129 11% 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?

533 45% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
653 55% 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...

201 31% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
388 59% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
279 43% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
261 40% Started my job search earlier.
185 28% Used more or different job search resources.
267 41% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
49 7% Other