Follow Up Survey Executive Summary
Executive Summary for the Class of 2025
Full Summary Report can be viewed here: 2025 Follow Up Survey Summary Report.pdf
The Center for Career Excellence empowers students and young alumni to articulate the value of their St. Lawrence education to navigate success in a diverse world through meaningful experiences and connections.
Class of 2025 Highlights
- 93.1% overall outcomes
- 90.4% student engagement with CCE
- Record percentage finding employment before or within one month of graduation
- Highest job/career alignment since tracking began
- Graduate school enrollment continues upward
- Networking remains the leading pathway to employment
- 354 career-connected opportunities completed
The following report presents the results of the Follow-Up Survey for the Class of 2025 and provides insight into the employment and continuing education activities of graduates six to ten months after graduation. This survey serves as an important tool for the Center for Career Excellence and University, helping to better understand our graduates’ next steps and identify the employers and graduate programs that merit continued cultivation and engagement. The report also assists in the support of advising and mentoring efforts, informing future planning and goal setting, and highlights the success of our newest alumni.
The Center for Career Excellence is pleased to report that the Class of 2025 achieved an overall outcomes rate of 93.1%, just shy of the 93.9% achieved by the Class of 2024. Among respondents, 68.6% reported employment as their primary activity and 24.5% were pursuing continued education. Another 6.9% were in transition while actively seeking employment or admission to graduate or professional programs. The Class of 2025 continues a four-year trend of fewer graduates immediately entering the workforce and more choosing to pursue graduate or professional education. While this reflects growing interest in continued education, it may also be influenced by expanded use of supplemental data collection methods that more effectively identify students enrolled in post-graduate programs. These results continue to demonstrate the strong post-graduate success of St. Lawrence students and the value of the academic, experiential, and professional preparation they receive.
Student engagement with the Center for Career Excellence reached a record high. 90.4% of respondents reported utilizing CCE services or attending a CCE-sponsored event at least once during their time at St. Lawrence. When asked which experiences most helped them identify career directions and opportunities, respondents most frequently cited individual appointments with CCE staff and conversations with faculty, reinforcing the importance of personalized guidance and mentoring throughout the student experience. Respondents also reported the highest level of direct satisfaction between job and desired career path (47.5%) since data collection began in 2007. Finally, breaking another record, more than half of the employed respondents (52.5%) secured their current position prior to graduation or within one month of Commencement.
Networking continues to be the most effective pathway to employment, and of the Class of 2025 graduates who secured full-time employment, 24% reported their personal and extended networks played a key role in helping them find opportunities. St. Lawrence’s nationally recognized alumni network also proved to be a significant advantage, with 18% of employed graduates crediting alumni connections for assisting in their job search. Additionally, 15% leveraged LinkedIn to build professional relationships, while another 15% relied on experiences gained through internships and previous employment to demonstrate their skills and qualifications to employers. Together, these findings underscore the importance of relationship-building, networking, and career-connected experiences in supporting successful transitions from college to career.
Regarding career-connected experiences, Class of 2025 respondents completed a total of 218 internships and 136 research opportunities across 215 unique students. A total of 354 opportunities were completed with 65 students completing at least one internship and 59 students completing at least one research opportunity. These experiences continue to play a critical role in helping students clarify career interests, develop professional skills, and secure post-graduate opportunities.
The Class of 2025 outcomes demonstrate that St. Lawrence continues to prepare graduates for successful careers and advanced study while distinguishing itself through strong alumni engagement, personalized career support, and career-connected learning experiences. As the University continues implementing its emerging career ecosystem, these findings provide evidence that institutional investments in career-connected experiences, student coaching and mentoring, and employer engagement are producing measurable student outcomes.
Respectfully,
Jillian McKernan-Walley
Director, Center for Career Excellence
*Methodology Note: NACE standards allow for schools to collect data from various legitimate sources, not only student survey responses but also employer-, parent-, or faculty-provided information, LinkedIn profiles, other online sources, and fellow graduates to arrive at an overall “knowledge rate.”
See the 5 year academic division and department Outcome Profile summaries.