Santa Clara University

Profile 2006 Santa Clara University graduates

Purpose of Study

In January 2007, Santa Clara University surveyed the class of 2006 approximately six months after their graduation dates. The purpose of the study was to learn the respondents’ employment and/or graduate school status.

Profile

• 88 percent of the respondents were either employed full-time, attending graduate school, or participating in a service program such as the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
• • 72 percent were employed full-time.
  • 12 percent were attending graduate school full-time.
  • 4 percent were participating full-time in a service program.

• Of the graduates seeking full-time work, 91 percent of them obtained full-time positions.
• • 91 percent of engineering graduates looking for full-time work obtained full time work.
  • 97 percent of business graduates looking for full-time work obtained full-time work.
  • 77 percent of math or natural sciences graduates looking for full-time obtained full-time work.
  • 94 percent of social sciences graduates looking for full-time work obtained full-time work.
  • 87 percent of humanities or fine arts graduates looking for full-time work obtained full-time work.

• The median starting salary for the graduate working full-time is $ 39,913.
• • The median starting income for the engineering graduate working full-time is $57,500.
  • The median starting income for the business graduate working full-time is $51,000.
  • The median starting income for the math or natural sciences graduate working full-time is $ 40,000.
  • The median starting income for the social sciences graduate working full-time is $ 38,000.
  • Themedian starting income for the humanities or fine arts graduate working full-time is $ 35,000.

• Graduates employed full-time were most likely to be employed in the service sector.
• • 68 percent of graduates employed full-time worked in the service sector. (The service sector includes employers such as accounting firms, advertising/PR firms, architectural firms, banks, high-tech firms, consulting firms, financial services firms, insurance firms, legal firms, publishers, retail firms, and utilities.)
  • 18 percent of graduates employed full-time worked in the non-profit sector. (The non-profit sector includes employers such as government agencies, health care organizations, museums, associations, schools and colleges, and religious and charitable organizations.)
  • 14 percent of graduates employed full-time worked in the manufacturing sector. (The manufacturing sector includes employers such as building contractors, food companies, and makers of aerospace products, apparel, chemical products, computers and electronic equipment, paper, pharmaceuticals, plastics, rubber, textiles, and vehicles.

• Of those who had found full-time work, 72 percent indicated that their SCU education provided good to excellent preparation for their careers.
• • 90 percent of those who applied for full-time graduate study were admitted to at least one graduate program.
  • Of those who were admitted to full-time graduate study, 31 percent were granted one or more fellowships, teaching assistantships, and/or research assistantships.
  • Of those who were admitted to full-time graduate study, 97 percent indicated that their SCU education provided them with good to excellent preparation for graduate study.
  • 93 percent of the graduates indicated that their SCU education had provided them with good to excellent preparation for life after college.

Methodology and Statistical Significance of the Study

The survey instrument was emailed to all 2006 graduates for whom we had email addresses. Three populations were polled: transfer students, students who took more than four years to graduate, and students who began as first-term freshmen in 2002 and graduated in four years. This last group represents 69 percent of the entire sample and had a response rate of 39 percent (n=329 respondents). It is this last group which is profiled in this report.

The respondents are statistically representative of the class of 2006 across the following measures: sex, ethnicity/race, and school or college attended.