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This week, members of the Class of 2016 are preparing for and taking their last set of final exams before they walk across the stage to get their degrees. One year ago, another class of seniors were in the same situation. Less than a year later, more than 86 percent of those graduates—the Class of 2015—are employed or seeking an advanced degree, according to the Career Center’s First Destination Survey that was released earlier this year. The study sought data from 875 graduating students, with data collected from 77 percent (672). Of those graduates, 50 percent are employed full time—the highest percentage in recent years—with 76 percent of people who responded to the question reporting their jobs require a degree and are related to their area of study. Thirty-six percent of graduates planned to seek advanced degrees, with 15 percent of those heading to medical school. Eight percent of graduates reported they were available for employment, while 7 percent planned to pursue other opportunities.

Employment opportunities

As many of the university’s newest alums head off into the workforce, they will be in good company. A number of organizations selected multiple members of the Class of 2015 to join their ranks, including:

• University Hospitals (18)
• Cleveland Clinic (16)
• Epic Systems (9)
• ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø (7)
• KeyBank (7)
• IBM (6)
• Deloitte Accounting (5)
• Google (5)
• Lockheed Martin (5)
• MetroHealth Medical Center (4)

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø will be represented by new alums in many other major organizations, including Google, Walt Disney, Microsoft, Mayo Clinic, NASA and the National Institutes of Health. ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø graduates excel in a variety of fields and occupations. Thirty percent of graduates are in the engineering field and 15 percent are in the nursing industry. But not all graduates opted to follow the route of traditional employment. Six members of the Class of 2015 indicated they were starting their own business, were self-employed or working freelance. Of those employed full-time, 169 graduates remained in Northeast Ohio, while 19 relocated to Chicago and 15 moved to the Greater New York City area, among other destinations.

Starting salaries

Similar to recent years, the median salary range for the new graduates was $55,000-59,999. Broken down by school, the salary ranges were:

• Case School of Engineering: $60,000-64,999 (no change from last year)
• College of Arts and Sciences: $30,000-39,999 (a decrease of $5,000 from last year)
• Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing: $50,000-54,999 (an increase of $5,000 from last year)
• Weatherhead School of Management: $55,000-59,999 (an increase of $5,000 from last year)

The full salary breakdown is .

Higher education

Of the 225 students who chose to continue their education directly out of their undergraduate years, 38 percent will do so at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø (90). Meanwhile, graduates will continue their education at many other impressive institutions, including:

• Columbia University
• Cornell University
• Duke University
• Johns Hopkins University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Vanderbilt University

Eleven percent of graduates planned to go to law school, while 15 percent intended to pursue medical degrees. Some students were selected for prestigious awards and funding opportunities, including one graduate who received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Experiential learning

Experiential learning played a crucial role in obtaining a future job for many students. In all, 98 percent of respondents (500) said they participated in experiential learning while at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø through internships, faculty-led research, practicums, and a variety of other opportunities the university has to offer. As an outcome of that participation, 199 graduates received job offers, with 122 accepting those positions. As students, graduates of the school of nursing were the most involved, with 100 percent participating in experiential learning opportunities—an average of 3.87 activities per student. All nursing graduates completed a nursing practicum or clinical and 73 percent were involved in community service. Overall, 99 percent of College of Arts and Sciences and Case School of Engineering graduates participated in experiential learning, while 97 percent of Weatherhead School of Management graduates completed at least one activity. To read the full report, .