METHODOLOGY:
Near
the end of April 2001, the Survey of 2000 Graduateswas sent
to all 1,353 UVM graduates with a bachelor's or associates degree awarded
in the spring of 2000. About six weeks later, a follow-up survey was sent
to all those who did not respond to the initial mailing. As of August 16th,
541 graduates had replied, bringing the combined return rate from both
mailings up to approximately 40%. This number has been dropping over the
last decade from around 50% in 1992.
Although
all of UVM graduates in the spring of 2000 were surveyed, it is difficult
to know the exact number of people who actually received a questionnaire.
This is an obstacle often encountered when polling a population with high
mobility such as graduates in search of employment. There was a concerted
effort to resend any survey returned with an expired forwarding address,
however this did not significantly increase the return rate.
The
surveys were then coded and entered into a data file. SAS was used to perform
the analysis. A statistical test performed on the three key demographic
information: residence, school/college, and gender showed that proportionally
there was no difference in the return rates between Vermonters and out-of-staters,
nor was there a difference in the return rates among the colleges/schools,
however there was a statistically significant difference between the return
rates of men versus women. The data are then weighted by a combination
of gender and college/school. To put it simply, the weighting factor is
calculated by dividing the number of people who were sent a survey by the
number of people who replied, for each combination of gender and college/school.
For example, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, if 60 men
were surveyed, only 20 replied, therefore the weighting factor is 60/20
or each man in this group is counted as 3 men. One byproduct of this weighting
technique is that the frequencies are, more often than not, decimal numbers
instead of integers, which are then rounded.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Status
and Plans for Education:
*
About 8.8% of UVM graduates are currently enrolled both full-time and part-time
in graduate school or other training. Eight and one-half percent of the
graduates are in the process of applying. An additional 68% of UVM grads
plan to continue their education at some future time; 14.4% have no plans
to do so.
*
Of the graduates who are continuing their education, approximately, 80%
are full-time and 20% are part-time students.
*
When asked, "How well did UVM prepare you for continuing your education?"
89% of graduates currently attending school and 86% in the process of applying
answered "Excellent" or "Good." No graduate currently in school or in the
process of applying felt that UVM had inadequately prepared them.
Status
and Plans for Employment:
*
About 90% of UVM graduates indicated that they are currently employed,
however, it should be noted that our definition of employment is broad,
including not only full-time permanent but also full-time temporary, and
part-time permanent and part-time temporary. Relatively few individuals
(less than 1%) were unable to find employment of any kind since graduation.
*
Among those who found employment, 73.9% have full-time/permanent jobs;
17.4% have full-time/temporary jobs; 3.5% have part-time/permanent jobs;
and 5.2% part-time/temporary employment.
*
About 59% of all employed graduates earn between $20,000 and $39,999. When
only those graduates who have full-time/permanent employment are examined,
about 65% of this group earn between $20,000 and $39,999, while 26% earn
more than $40,000 per year. 21% of all working alumni earned less than
$20,000.
*
When asked, "How long did it take you to find this position?"
about 60% of the employed graduates indicated that they found their current
job either prior to leaving UVM or within 3 months of graduation; 21% within
4 to 6 months. About 19% reported spending 7 months or more to find employment.
*
When asked how they learned about their current job position, the graduates
most often identified the following three sources:
-- "referral through friends and relatives"(27.9%)
-- "newspaper advertisement"(18.0%)
-- "website"(13.7%)
-- the catch-all category of ìOtherî got 15.6%
Another 2.2% identified the UVM Center for Career Development as the source
of information leading to their current position.
*
About 75% of the employed graduates found jobs that are either "closely
related" (46%) or "somewhat
related" (29%) to their undergraduate
studies. It does not come as a surprise that people who have permanent
jobs, both full-time and part-time, are much more likely to work in a field
that is closely related to their studies than people who work on a temporary
basis.
*
About 84% of the employed graduates found jobs that are either "closely
related" (48%) or "somewhat
related" (36%) to their career
goals.
*
Alumni gave UVM high marks in preparing them well for their current position.
60% of the employed graduates rated UVM as either "Excellent";
or "Good". Another 20% rated
UVM as "Adequate" while only
4% rated UVM as "Inadequate".
However, it should be noted 16% graduates did indicate that they hold jobs
that are not relevant to their UVM education.
*
Our employed graduates also reported high level of satisfaction with their
work: 85% stated that they are "very satisfied"
or "satisfied"with their
current position.
Long Range Plans:
*
97% of the graduates responded to the question, "What is the highest
academic degree you plan to achieve?"
Of this group, 59% expressed a desire to obtain a master's degree or an
advanced certificate (including master's, MBA, 5th/6th year certificate).
14% indicated that they plan to obtain a doctorate or Ph.D. 8% planned
to study law, and 5% planned on becoming a doctor, dentist or veterinarian.
Evaluation
of UVM:
*
To the question: "Overall, how satisfied were you with your UVM experience?"
where the rating scale goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being "very dissatisfied"
and 10 "very satisfied." Nearly all of our graduates responded to this
question and the mean rating is 7.7, which indicates a relatively high
level of satisfaction. This is consistent with the previous 3 years.
*
Almost 61% of UVM graduates who responded to this question indicated that
they would choose UVM if they could start college over again. "Quality
of education" (33.0%), "friends
and relationships" (27.1%),
and "Burlington environment"
(14.0%) were the three most often cited reasons. These reasons have remained
constant through the years.
Furthermore, of those who would attend UVM again, 63.4% would choose the
same major as before, 18.8% would choose a related major, 10.4% would choose
a different major, and 7.4% were not sure.
*
About 17% of UVM graduates indicated that they would choose a different
institution if they could start college over. The top three reasons are:
"quality
of education" (32.9%),
"financial
considerations" (23.9%), and
"quality
of guidance" (13.5%),
While at another institution, 49.8% would choose the same major, 15.8%
would choose a related major, 21.4% would choose a different major, and
13.0% were not sure.
*
The remaining 22% of UVM graduates were not sure whether to choose UVM
or another institution if they could start college over again. Of this
group, 26.0% were uncertain because of the "quality of education,"
23.2% because of "financial considerations,"
and 17.2% because of "quality of guidance."
*
Graduates' opinion on other UVM characteristics are best summarized by
the graph on the following page.
