First Destination Report: 2017-2018 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
1610 Not Applicable Total Graduates
1125 70% Reported first destination / respondents

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

427 38% No
625 56% Yes, one to less than three full months
58 5% Yes, three to less than six full months
12 1% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

43 4% U.S. military service commitment.
43 4% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
4 0% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
765 68% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
30 3% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
97 9% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
14 1% Plan to seek employment later.
139 12% Admitted to continuing education.
14 1% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
10 1% Both seeking employment and applying to continue education.
6 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

153 13% 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)?

11 8% Print information such as books or magazines.
86 62% Websites / online information.
99 72% Professors at Virginia Tech.
77 56% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
5 4% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
54 39% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
52 38% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
67 49% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
11 8% Career & Professional Development.
44 32% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
4 3% Other

Employment:

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

815 72% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
796 100% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
2 0% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

745 91% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $61000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $68000 (Median)
Not Applicable Not Applicable 75th percentile (75% make this amount or less; 25% make more): $75000
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?

756 93% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
349 46% Yes
407 54% 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): $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?

643 82% VERY related to career goals
134 17% SOMEWHAT related to career goals
4 1% NOT related to career goals

Employment RELATED to MAJOR

Do you consider your job to be related to your college major?

596 76% VERY related to major
151 19% SOMEWHAT related to major
33 4% 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?

238 31% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

24 3% Current or former employer.
16 2% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
44 6% Friend or family member.
7 1% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
4 1% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
13 2% Email or posted information from your academic department.
283 37% Career fair or job fair.
43 6% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
35 5% The employer's website.
25 3% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 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 2017 graduates
23 24% During spring semester 2017 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
24 26% Summer 2017 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
36 38% September or October 2017 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
8 9% November or December 2017 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
3 3% January, February or March 2018 (0-3 months after degree completion)
0 0% After March 2018 (4 or more months after degree completion)
0 0% Not applicable; I obtained an offer without an active job search.
May and Summer 2018 graduates
417 65% Between July and October 2017 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
127 20% Between November 2017 and January 2018 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
73 11% February or March 2018 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
21 3% April or May 2018, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
5 1% May commencement to August 2018 (0-3 months after commencement)
0 0% September 2018 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.)

321 40% One
218 27% Two
160 20% Three
52 6% Four
51 6% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2017 graduates
39 46% Before September 2017
20 24% September or October 2017
24 28% November or December 2017
2 2% January, February or March 2018
0 0% After March 2018
0 0% Other
May - summer 2018 graduates
412 64% Before January 2018
106 16% January 2018 through Spring Break 2018
120 19% After Spring Break 2018 - May 2018
7 1% June, July or August 2018
3 0% After August 2018
0 0% Other

Career-related learning and experience during college:

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

990 93% Yes
80 7% No

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

983 87% 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+
217 22% Volunteer work 75 47 35 11 49
255 26% Part-time job 138 74 25 9 10
293 30% Summer job 150 83 39 17 4
82 8% Unpaid internship 72 9 1 0 0
759 77% Paid internship 300 276 144 27 11
192 20% Co-op 99 47 31 11 3
339 34% Undergraduate research 192 98 31 7 11
15 2% Field study 12 2 1 0 0
30 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..

459 44% Most job search skills I needed.
450 43% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
145 14% 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.

375 40% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
421 45% Academic-credit course or seminar in your major department or college.
65 7% Not-for-credit programs or seminars in your major department or college.
431 46% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
119 13% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
540 57% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
566 60% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
386 41% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
76 8% Books, magazines or other print materials.
55 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?

182 17% Never
153 15% Don't recall or unsure
618 59% Yes, but not often
102 10% 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?

539 51% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
508 49% 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...

164 32% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
282 55% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
229 45% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
199 39% Started my job search earlier.
144 28% Used more or different job search resources.
194 38% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
35 7% Other