A List
7/21/08

SLU Class of 2007 Reports Over 97 Percent Total Placement Rate

CANTON - One year after graduation, 97.4 percent of St. Lawrence University's Class of 2007 who responded to a survey report either being employed or in graduate school.

Annually, University alumni are surveyed in the year following graduation. For the Class of 2007, 62.6 percent responded to the survey. Of those, 77.5 percent are employed, representing a 2.7 percent increase from the previous year. Graduate school attendance is down somewhat, at just over 1 percent from the previous year, to 19.9 percent.

For the seventh straight year, education is the top career field choice reported; it has been in the top five fields for the past nine years. This year, education tied with banking/finance/investments for the top spot. Education is also the top choice for those in graduate school.

Of those responding, 17.1 percent reported working in both education and banking/finance/investments. Other fields in the top 10 were, in descending order:
- sales/marketing
- science and technology
- sports/recreation
- government/non-profit
- advertising and public relations; legal and law-related (tied)
- health/medicine; environmental; and hospitality/tourism (tied)
- human and social services

In graduate study, after education, science/technology and law represented the top three fields of interest.

The survey also shows that many graduates - more than 46 percent - got their jobs through "networking," seeking a job through personal contacts, internships or St. Lawrence's alumni and parent network.

Director of Career Services and Leadership Education Carol G. Bate noted that "The survey is an important component of career services and leadership education's efforts to understand the kinds of work and graduate programs recent alumni are interested in pursuing."

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