Undergraduate Alumni Outcomes

A series of colorful pie charts.

Alumni Career and Education Outcomes By Department

The one-pagers below showcase (a) salary outcomes data from the CUNY Wage Dashboard, (b) further education data from the National Student Clearinghouse, and (c) data on internships and certificates drawn from LinkedIn profiles. Note that not all majors have alumni data in these sources.

 

About the Data

CUNY Wage Dashboard

Salary data in the CUNY Wage Dashboard is drawn from the New York State Department of Labor unemployment insurance database.  Each quarter, all employers are mandated by law to provide a list of all employees and how much they are paid; it is on this basis that unemployment compensation is distributed in case of need. Graduates must be employed three out of the four quarters to be included. Federal employees, military employees, and the self-employed are not included. The wages of graduates who enroll for further education are not included during their years of enrollment. It is important to note that the initial year salary estimates include the share of graduates who do not go on further education right away. The salary results for graduates after one year include the cohorts of 2002-2021; the results for three years include 2002-2019; and results for five and ten years include the cohorts of 2002-2017 and 2001-2012 respectively.  This excellent resource typically has salary data on 50-70% of all our graduates.

Note: The goal of a college education is much broader than maximizing wages — providing a well-educated electorate, promoting civic participation, improving health outcomes are a few examples of non-wage-related benefits of higher education. It is currently difficult to capture these other potential benefits. This dashboard represents one way to view the outcomes of a CUNY education.

National Student Clearinghouse

The NSC has data on enrollment, degrees earned, and schools attended for 98% of all US College students – it is a wonderfully complete source of data on further education.  About 25% of QC grads enroll immediately after graduation to seek further education; by the time seven years have passed, this figure rises to 51%, with 33% earning graduate degrees. To evaluate this in context, the share of graduates at UC-Santa Barbara who earn graduate degrees is 33%; the share at UC-Santa Cruz is 35%.  QC graduates are performing well, despite coming from much less privileged backgrounds than students at those largely residential institutions. We report the data on further education for the baccalaureate graduates of 2013 through 2019.

LinkedIn

We have learned that some 61% of our baccalaureate graduates have LinkedIn accounts, most of which have useful outcomes information. These provide information on employing firms, internships and certificates earned. In AY2023-24, a working group of faculty, staff, and students led by Professor Dean Savage engaged in a project to look up the LinkedIn profiles of all the QC baccalaureate and masters graduates of 2023. The LinkedIn project has been the unique source of outcomes information for 30% of 2023 alumni.  

Summary of One-Page Infograms
 
Department BA->MA Median Salary Increment (Range in $K) % 2013-2019 BA Grads Who Enroll for Further Education % 2013-2019 BA Grads Who Enroll at QC % 2013-2019 Grads Who Enrolled for Further Education Who Complete Their Programs % BA 2023 Grads Who Had Internships % BA 2023 Grads Who Earned Certificates
Accounting 19-24 31 65 57 35 32
Anthropology   51 19 22 66 56
Art 7-17 17 27 7 37 14
Biology 14-23 64 18 21    
Chemistry 14-23 65 24 29    
Comp Lit   77 19 28    
Computer Sci 14-26 12 24 57 48 51
Drama Theatre Dance   30 23 11    
Economics   22 33 50 36 34
EECE 13-42 79 56 62 29 20
English 13-25 48 34 29 45 11
FNES 24-49 54 27 21 28 16
History 26   35      
Interdisciplinary            
Languages   62 23 30    
LCD 10-36 79 14 54 61 15
Mathematics up to 28 40 38 22 32 37
Media Studies   22 27 10 34 17
Music 13-25 65 34 41    
Philosophy   58 19 24    
Physics   62 23 24    
Poli Sci   48 17 26 65 11
Psychology 13-20 58 26 51 38 22
SEES 31-52 41 25 18 43 14
SEYS 25-37 72 51 46    
Sociology 19-22 52 29 32 26 15
Urban Studies 9-20 37 27 20 47 16
             
Percentages above 50% are bolded.
Created by Dean Savage, SOC.          

Summary: Many departments have 50% or more baccalaureate graduates enrolling for further education. And, except for the grads of EECE, SEYS, and ACCT, they mostly don’t enroll at Queens, even if QC is the top school of choice. While a majority in Accounting, Computer Science, Economics, EECE, LCD, and Psychology complete their degrees, the share is 7-30% in 19 departments

QC Alumni Outcomes Working Group

Report on the Class of 2023

By combining results from multiple sources, including records from the CUNY Wage Dashboard, the National Student Clearinghouse, the Center for Career Engagement and Internships, the CUNY Cap and Gown Survey, the First Destination Survey, and the 2023 LinkedIn Project, we were able to obtain outcomes information on 64% of the undergraduates and 70% of the master’s graduates from the Class of 2023.

Of the undergraduates we learned about:

  • 85% were employed or continuing their education.
  • <1% reported seeking employment.
  • 74% reported being in a position related to their degree.
  • 66% reported being satisfied with their career activity.

See our report on the Class of 2023 here.

Class of 2023 by Career Outcome

UGRD GRAD Total
No Info 36% 1,037 30% 357 34% 1,394
Enrolled 25% 710 13% 153 21% 862
Employed 30% 857 53% 620 37% 1,477
Not employed 9% 268 4% 42 8% 309
Total 100% 2,872 100% 1,172 100% 4,042
2023-2024 Members
  • Dean Savage, Professor Emeritus in Sociology
  • Zavi Gunn, Director of Career for Career Engagement and Internships
  • Lizandra Friedland, Associate Director of Survey Research and Assessment
  • Kristine Rosales, Lecturer in Sociology
  • Dan Ma, Administrative Coordinator, Career for Career Engagement and Internships
  • Esther Yee, Undergraduate Research Assistant