Outcomes Executive Summary

Executive Summary for the Class of 2021

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 2021. This report is a summary of the employment and continuing education activities the members of the Class of 2021 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, 369 of the 536 graduates reported their career status for a response rate of 68.8%, slightly below the Class of 2020. 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 2021 and April 11, 2022.

Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, we are pleased to report that the St. Lawrence Class of 2021 achieved an overall outcomes rate of 95.9%, with 80.4% of respondents’ primary activity being employed (up from 74.8% in 2020), 15.5% continuing their education and 4.1% being in transition and either pursuing employment or continued education. Had the COVID-19 pandemic not caused some job offers to be rescinded, the overall outcomes rate would have been even higher at 96.4%. Overall, graduates reported fewer opportunities being rescinded than the Class of 2020.

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 2021 First Destinations Report, published in October 2022. NACE received data from 273 institutions (private and public) with an overall outcomes rate of 84.1%, with 15.7% still seeking employment or continued education. Of the 84.1%, 62.5% were employed, 21.6% were continuing education. The outcomes rate for private institutions was 92.4% while that of publics was 79.6%.

Students in the Class of 2021 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. Similar to 2020, 36% found their employment through an internship or former work and 32.2% through St. Lawrence’s highly-ranked alumni network. Finance is the top career field in which respondents are employed, with software development second, K-12 education third, environmental science/engineering/energy fourth, and health services/health care and non-profits/research science tied for fifth.The top job functions include Sales/Account Management, Administrative Management/Support, Teaching/Coaching, Financial Services/Banking, and Research/Laboratory & Field Science.

The number of new graduates continuing their education rose from 19% to almost 23%. Education, Science & Technology, and Social Sciences 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,

Geoff Falen
Director of Experiential Learning & Employer Engagement

*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.