Outcomes Executive Summary
Executive Summary for Class of 2020
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.
The following report outlines the results of the Follow-up Survey for the Class of 2020. This report is a summary of the employment and continuing education activities the members of the Class of 2020 were engaged in seven to ten months post-graduation. The survey is an important component of the Center for Career Excellence’s ongoing efforts to better understand our graduate outcomes, as well as the employers and graduate programs with whom we should continue to build relationships. The report is shared with the St. Lawrence community to assist with advising students and accomplishing work objectives.
To summarize, 352 of the 509 graduates reported their career status for a 69.2% response rate. Given the very different experiences of the Class of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the response rate was 13% lower than the previous year, an outcome that we anticipated. Respondents completed the survey online, and extensive outreach was conducted through email, social media, and personal messaging through email, LinkedIn, and text messaging. The Center for Career Excellence also collaborated with coaches and faculty to seek their assistance in contacting non-respondents to encourage survey completion. Data was collected between December 2, 2020 and March 15, 2021.
Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, we are proud to report that the St. Lawrence Class of 2020 achieved an overall outcomes rate of 91.7%, with 74.8% of respondents employed and 16.9% continuing their education. Had the COVID-19 pandemic not resulted in a number of job offers being rescinded, the overall outcomes rate would have been 94.5%, exceeding the Class of 2019's 93.7% outcomes rate.
Our outcomes and employment rates were higher, and continuing education rate lower, than those reported by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) in its Class of 2020 First Destinations Report, published in November 2021. NACE received data from 342 institutions (private and public) with an overall outcomes rate of 82.4%. When broken down, the outcomes rate for private institutions was just below 90% while that of publics was around 78%. Of the 82.4%, 59% were employed, 21% were continuing education, and 14% were continuing to seek employment.
Students in the Class of 2020 succeeded in large part due to their internship experience or some form of previous employment and/or by directly connecting with the St. Lawrence Alumni Network. More than 36% of graduates found their employment through an internship or former work, and 35.9% found their opportunity through networking with our No. 3-ranked alumni network. Finance is the top career field in which respondents are employed with Health Services/Health Care second, and Education third. The top job functions include Sales/Account Management, Financial Services/Banking, Teaching/Coaching, and Research/Laboratory & Field Science.
The number of new graduates continuing their education rose slightly from 18.3% to 19%. Science & Technology, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities were the top three fields of study for respondents enrolled either full-time or part-time in graduate or professional school.
The following pages contain more detailed information on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, top 10 career industries and job functions, sources of employment, salary information, a list of jobs and internships obtained by the class, and a breakdown of graduate and professional school programs members of the class are attending.
Respectfully,
Jillian McKernan-Walley
Director, Center for Career Excellence
*This study includes only self-reported data collected through the follow-up first destination survey itself; 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 Full Report.
See the 5 year academic division and department Outcome Profile summaries.