Life After UMaine - 1998/99 Baccalaureate
Degree Recipients
Introduction
The Office of Institutional Studies recently completed a survey
of the 1,254 individuals receiving UMaine baccalaureate degrees in
December, 1998, and in May and August, 1999. A total of 515 degree
recipients returned the survey. This report summarizes the
employment and educational status of those UMaine graduates (at
the time of the survey six to fifteen months had elapsed,
depending on graduation date).
Employment After Graduation
80.6% reported that they were employed full-time, 11.3% said
that they were employed part-time, 3.8% reported being unemployed
(with half of these respondents indicating they were not currently
seeking employment), and 4.2% reported that they were involved
only in graduate school (see Figure 1). Only12% of those reporting
full-time employment indicated that their job was not related to
their degree. [In addition, 11.7% of those working full-time and
13.7% of those working part-time were also attending graduate
school, for a grad school attendance rate of 20.4% (n = 105) of
all respondents.]
Figure 1
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Where are the jobs?
Almost two-thirds of UMaine graduates in 1998-1999 who reported
working full-time remained in Maine to work after graduation. Not
surprisingly, the location of graduates’ work differed between
graduates originally from Maine and those not from Maine. Among
the graduates from Maine, 73.8% remained in Maine and 26.2% left
Maine for work. Of those graduates not from Maine, 11.7% remained
in Maine to work after graduation while 88.3% left Maine to work
(see Figure 2). There were also differences in the location of
full-time jobs for graduates from different colleges. For example,
78% of all graduates from the College of Education & Human
Development remained in Maine. By contrast, about half (53%) of
all graduates from the College of Engineering, and only 44% of all
graduates from the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, &
Agriculture, reported staying in Maine to work (see Figure 3).
Figure 2
Figure 3
| Key
BPH ... College of Business, Public Policy, & Health
EHD.... College of Education & Human Development
ENG.... College of Engineering
LAS-Hum ... College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (Humanities)
LAS-P.Sci.... College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (Physical
Sciences)
LAS-S.Sci ...College of Liberal Arts &Sciences (Social
Sciences)
NSF ....College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, & Agriculture |
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How well did UMaine prepare its graduates?
Of those employed full-time in a job that was related to their
area of study 93% believed that their UMaine experience prepared
them very or moderately well and only 7% reported being minimally
prepared (or uncertain). Of those graduates enrolled in graduate
school (regardless of their employment status, n = 105, or 20% of
all respondents), 90% felt UMaine had prepared them very or
moderately well, and 10% reported feeling minimally prepared (or
uncertain).
Who is attending graduate school?
20.4% (n = 105) of the 515 respondents to the survey reported
being enrolled in graduate studies (regardless of their employment
status). Graduates that had the highest rate of graduate school
attendance were those from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences:
Arts & Humanities programs (30%) and Physical Sciences programs
(30%). Graduates from the College of Education & Human Development
and the Social Sciences programs from the College of Liberal Arts
& Sciences also had a relatively high proportion in the sample
attending graduate school (22% and 24%, respectively). The college
that had the lowest proportion of graduates attending graduate
school was the College of Business, Public Policy, and Health
(9%)(see Figure 4).
Figure 4
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What do they earn?
The median salary of the 345 graduates that reported being
employed full-time (and who reported their annual income) was
$28,000. The median salary for those employed in Maine full-time
was $27,300 and for those that worked outside the state it was
$30,000.
Median salaries of those working full-time varied by college.
For example, among all respondents the median salary of graduates
from the College of Engineering was highest at $43,500 and the
median salary of those receiving degrees from the College of
Education & Human Development was the lowest at $22,000 (see Table
1).
Table 1.
Median Salary of Graduates Employed Full-time By College
| College |
Median
Salary |
Median Salary (In Maine) |
Median
Salary (Outside Maine) |
| |
$ |
N |
$ |
N |
$ |
N |
|
Business, Public Policy, &
Health |
31,250 |
72 |
31,500 |
67 |
30,000 |
5 |
|
Education & Human Development |
22,000 |
72 |
22,000 |
64 |
28,000 |
8 |
|
Engineering |
43,500 |
66 |
43,000 |
57 |
45,000 |
9 |
|
LAS- Humanities |
23,000 |
21 |
22,100 |
18 |
30,000 |
3 |
|
LAS- Physical Sciences |
40,000 |
7 |
40,000 |
7 |
- - |
|
|
LAS- Social Sciences |
25,000 |
41 |
24,500 |
42 |
30,680 |
9 |
|
Natural Sciences, Forestry, &
Ag. |
26,000 |
49 |
27,300 |
34 |
26,000 |
15 |
Note: cell sizes should be considered when comparing medians in
the table above.
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Method
The survey was mailed to the 1,254 baccalaureate degree
recipients who graduated in December, 1998, May, 1999, and August,
1999. Follow-up surveys were mailed approximately four and eight
weeks after the initial mailing to those who had not yet
responded. A total of 515 graduates provided usable responses to
the survey, yielding a return rate of 47% (graduates with
international addresses were excluded from the mailings). At the
time of the survey six to fifteen months had elapsed, depending on
graduation date. The proportion of respondents by college did not
vary from the proportions in the population of all graduates by
college by more than three percent.
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