First Destination Report: 2017-2018 Undergraduate Degree Recipients for College of Science

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

First destinations: What grads are doing after graduation:

Number of Respondents %
Category
825 Not Applicable Total Graduates
577 70% Reported first destination / respondents

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

234 41% No
239 42% Yes, one to less than three full months
51 9% Yes, three to less than six full months
51 9% Yes, six months to less than a full year

FIRST DESTINATION AFTER GRADUATION

14 2% U.S. military service commitment.
14 2% Service/volunteer program (non-military).
1 0% Self-employed or working in a family-owned business.
153 27% Employed or have accepted a job offer (not employed by self or family).
19 3% Have job offer(s), but undecided on accepting.
85 15% Seeking employment, but don't yet have a job offer.
33 6% Plan to seek employment later.
160 28% Admitted to continuing education.
53 9% Plan to continue education, but details not firm yet.
47 8% 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

213 37% 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)?

21 11% Print information such as books or magazines.
142 71% Websites / online information.
117 59% Professors at Virginia Tech.
82 41% Academic advisors at Virginia Tech.
38 19% Pre-professional school advisors at Virginia Tech.
106 53% People who work in the field or profession I'd like to pursue.
82 41% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
79 40% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
28 14% Career & Professional Development.
64 32% Faculty or staff at graduate or professional schools you considered.
3 2% Other

Employment:

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

176 30% Number / percent of respondents reporting they are employed (Employed, Self-employed, Volunteer and Military)
158 93% Number / percent of total employed who are employed full-time (if indicated)
12 7% Number / percent of total employed who are employed part-time (if Indicated)

SALARY DATA for graduates who accepted FULL-TIME employment

134 76% Number / percent of employed reporting salaries
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% make this amount or less): $31500
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% make this amount or less; 50% make more): $46486 (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?

144 82% Number / percent of employed who reported whether or not they received bonuses
30 21% Yes
114 79% No
Not Applicable Not Applicable 25th percentile (25% of bonuses were this amount or less): $5000
Not Applicable Not Applicable 50th percentile (50% of bonuses were this amount or less; 50% make more): $7000 (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?

118 72% VERY related to career goals
41 25% SOMEWHAT related to career goals
6 4% NOT related to career goals

Employment RELATED to MAJOR

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

79 48% VERY related to major
56 34% SOMEWHAT related to major
30 18% 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?

45 28% Worked for or volunteered with this employer in the past.

Referral or contact through:

9 6% Current or former employer.
7 4% Professor or other faculty or staff member in your department.
24 15% Friend or family member.
3 2% Alumnus/alumna (a graduate) of Virginia Tech.
0 0% Fellow member of club, sorority or fraternity to which you belong.
2 1% Email or posted information from your academic department.
16 10% Career fair or job fair.
12 7% On-Campus Interviewing Program or Hokies4Hire.
15 9% The employer's website.
21 13% Website for job seekers (such as Monster.com, on-line classifieds, etc.).
0 0% Print publication (newspaper, etc.).
9 6% 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
6 18% During spring semester 2017 (more than 6 months prior to degree completion)
12 36% Summer 2017 (4-6 months prior to degree completion)
7 21% September or October 2017 (2-3 months prior to degree completion)
7 21% November or December 2017 (0-1 month prior to degree completion)
1 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
49 25% Between July and October 2017 (more than 6 months prior to May commencement)
70 35% Between November 2017 and January 2018 (4-6 months prior to May commencement)
55 28% February or March 2018 (2-3 months prior to May commencement)
20 10% April or May 2018, prior to May commencement (0-1 month prior to commencement)
5 3% May commencement to August 2018 (0-3 months after commencement)
1 1% 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.)

95 53% One
48 27% Two
22 12% Three
7 4% Four
8 4% Five or more

WHEN OFFER RECEIVED

About when did you receive the job offer you accepted?

December 2017 graduates
5 29% Before September 2017
6 35% September or October 2017
6 35% November or December 2017
0 0% January, February or March 2018
0 0% After March 2018
0 0% Other
May - summer 2018 graduates
50 38% Before January 2018
32 24% January 2018 through Spring Break 2018
41 31% After Spring Break 2018 - May 2018
6 5% June, July or August 2018
2 2% 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)?

500 90% Yes
55 10% No

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

497 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+
248 50% Volunteer work 67 64 33 13 71
249 50% Part-time job 113 83 25 14 13
242 49% Summer job 115 76 34 10 6
77 15% Unpaid internship 59 15 2 1 0
164 33% Paid internship 102 46 12 3 1
4 1% Co-op 4 0 0 0 0
254 51% Undergraduate research 143 70 23 9 9
71 14% Field study 51 11 4 2 3
14 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..

129 24% Most job search skills I needed.
266 49% Some job search skills, but not all I needed to know.
150 28% 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.

150 32% Career & Professional Development programs, publications, website, advising, workshops, etc.
178 38% 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.
187 40% Advisors, professors or staff in your major department or college.
73 16% Other faculty or staff in the university, but not in your major department or college.
284 61% Parents and/or other adult relatives or family friends.
272 58% Peers such as friends and/or brothers or sisters.
209 45% Websites with job search advice (other than Career & Professional Development).
36 8% Books, magazines or other print materials.
10 2% 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?

103 19% Never
95 17% Don't recall or unsure
313 57% Yes, but not often
39 7% 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?

209 38% No. For the most part, I did what I needed to do to achieve my goals.
340 62% 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...

156 46% Learned more about graduate or professional school earlier.
231 68% Gotten more experience related to my major or career goals.
179 52% Learned more about career options and/or learned earlier.
137 40% Started my job search earlier.
71 21% Used more or different job search resources.
156 46% Asked professors and/or other advisors for advice (more often, earlier, or at all).
20 6% Other