Vocational and Graduate School Activities of Young Alumni

Results of a 1999 survey of the "5th Year" reunion classes of 1993, 1994, and 1995:

Primary activity immediately after graduation and now
Where are they working now?
What are their household incomes?
What are their graduate school plans?

Primary activity immediately after graduation and now [top]

Primary activity	Year following graduation	Current activity
Employed full-time	67.1%	63.0%
Employed part-time	11.5%	3.0%
Unemployed, seeking employment	2.4%	0.9%
Unemployed, by choice	0.6%	0.3%
Homemaker	0.2%	0.6%
Volunteer	2.9%	0.2%
Full-time graduate student	11.2%	27.9%
Part-time graduate student	0.3%	0.9%
Other	3.5%	2.7%
No response	0.5%	0.5%

Where are they working now? [top]

Vocation information was available only for those recent alumni who completed the survey and have vocation information on the College database.

Vocation	Percent
Education	19.1%
Business/Industry	18.8%
Not for Profit	10.9%
Full-time Graduate Student	9.7%
Communications	7.9%
Health/Medical Services	6.7%
Law	5.9%
Financial Services	5.6%
Arts/Entertainment	4.4%
Government	4.4%
Scientific Research	3.8%
Other	0.9%
Fundraising	0.6%
Unknown	0.6%
Engineering	0.3%
Farming/Ranching/Agriculture	0.3%
Ministry	0.3%

What are their household incomes? [top]

Responses to this question were very complete for a non-blind survey, with 97% of the respondents reporting their household income. Specific responses show that 61.4% of these 5th reunion graduates have a household income of more than $25,000 per year. Perhaps a more interesting result is that 27.3% of these graduates have over $50,000 in household income, including 36 households with and annual income of more than $100,000.

Income level		Percent
$0 - 24,999		31.1%
$25,000 - 49,999		34.1%
$50,000 - 99,999		21.9%
$100,000 - 249,999		5.1%
$250,000 - 499,999		0.3%
Over $500,000		0.0%
No response		3.0%

Graduate Study [top]

What graduate degrees have you earned so far?

Fifty-four percent of the respondents have earned (or are currently pursuing) at least one graduate degree. It is common for graduates to enter graduate school several years after graduation from Bates. It is expected that recent and subsequent graduating classes will eventually surpass the over 7 0% graduate degree attainment rate of prior classes. Specific counts of degrees already earned are shown below:

Degree	Number	Percent
Master's degree (MA, MBA, etc.)	203	30.6%
PhD, EdD, etc.	15	2.3%
Law degree (LLB, JD)	55	8.3%
Teaching certification	30	4.5%
Medical degree (MD, DDS, DO, etc.)	28	4.2%
Other degree	28	4.2%
Total	359	54.1%

If you have not earned or are not currently pursuing a graduate degree but plan to do so in the future, when do you expect to enroll?

Over one-fourth of the respondents said they planned to enroll in graduate/professional school within the next four years.

Planned enrollment	Number	Percent
Next year	65	9.8
In two years	81	12.2
In three years	30	4.5
In four years	14	2.1
Other	30	4.5
No plans	70	10.6
Blank	373	56.3

What is the highest level of education you eventually hope to attain?

Eighty-two percent of the respondents said they hoped to earn a graduate degree eventually.

Graduate degree	Number	Percent
No advanced degree, Bachelor's only	23	3.5%
Master's degree (MA, MBA, etc.)	284	42.8%
PhD, EdD, etc.	133	20.1%
Teaching certification	7	1.1%
Medical degree (MD, DDS, DO, etc.)	47	7.1%
Law degree (LLB, JD)	58	8.7%
Other degree	17	2.6%
Completely undecided	69	10.4%
Blank	25	3.8%

Source: Development Office Survey of 1,148 graduates in the 3 classes celebrating their Fifth Reunion: 1993, 1994, and 1995. There were 663 responses for a 57.8% response rate.

What are Bates graduates doing after graduation?: Plans of Recent Graduates

THIS URL: http://www.bates/edu/IR/alum/5yr.jobs.html
rev. 11/4/99 cep

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