The Office of Career Strategy compiled a report on the career progress of the Yale College class of 2013, marking the first time the University has tracked the careers of Yale College alumni past their first post-graduation destination.

The new report, titled “Class of 2013: A Four-Year Look,” compares data on the first professional and graduate school destinations of members of the class of 2013 with data provided by those alumni this year. OCS has received information from 374 alumni through a survey and has independently confirmed the status of 515 others by browsing their LinkedIn profiles, social media accounts and other publicly available records, according to OCS Director Jeanine Dames. Dames added that OCS plans to prepare similar reports for each subsequent class four and eight years after its graduation.

“When we first started collecting first destination data in 2013, one of the hopes always was to then take a look at the future,” Dames said. “That’s the goal [of the new report]: trying to follow the class.”

The report revealed that a majority of the class of 2013 is enrolled in or has already completed a professional or graduate degree program. More than 54.1 percent of the respondents are currently pursuing a graduate or a professional degree, and 15.6 percent have already received one.

Immediately after graduation, 15 percent of the class of 2013 intended to reside outside the U.S., but today, less than nine percent does. Dames attributed the decrease in the number of alumni living abroad to the fact that many alumni who intended to leave the country after graduation did so for graduate school and have since returned.

There was also a shift in the six most popular foreign destinations among alumni. Three of the most popular destinations right after graduating — the United Kingdom, China and India — remain in the top six of the new report. However, Germany, Japan and France — all three of which made the cut in the first report — were replaced by Israel, Switzerland and Canada.

In the continental U.S., New York, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington were the most popular destinations for alumni both in the first destinations report and in the four-year look. Many states and cities, however, saw dramatic shifts in the number of residing alumni from the class of 2013. New York lost 19.1 percent, Washington, D.C., lost 31.8 and Connecticut lost 43.9. California and New Jersey, on the other hand, gained 23.6 percent and 54.5 percent, respectively. Dames attributed New Jersey’s gains to an increasing number of alumni deciding to commute to work in New York City rather than living in the city itself. She attributed California’s gains to an increasing number of alumni working in technology.

Technology and education, indeed, were the two industries that saw the highest increase in alumni participation. The percentage of class of 2013 alumni working in technology and computer science jumped from 6.8 percent to 15.7 and in Education from 12.5 percent to 14.6. Dames noted, however, that when looking at employment by function, one can see that the jobs alumni took in these industries were not necessarily related to coding or teaching.

The percentage of class of 2013 alumni pursuing entrepreneurial ventures also increased, from 0.5 percent in 2013 to 2.5 percent today. Dames said that she expects that number to be even higher in four years.

The two industries that saw the biggest decreases in alumni participation were consulting — from 11.6 percent to 7.1 — and medical, pharmaceutical or healthcare — from 16.6 percent to 10.6. Dames said that while she expected consulting to go down because many students pursue jobs in the field for only one or two years, she believed that the decline in medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare does not signal declining interest. Back in 2013, she explained, scientific and health research positions were included in this category on the survey, whereas now they often fall under the education category. This change could account for the discrepancy, she said.

The report also highlights the uptick in alumni salaries. In 2013, for instance, only 5.7 percent of the respondents reported earning a salary of $100,000 or higher. Four years later, that figure rose to 29.3 percent.

But money is not everything. Dames pointed out that the survey showed that alumni earning more than $100,000 a year were not significantly more satisfied with their current employment than those earning less. Overall, 86 percent of respondents indicated that they were satisfied with their jobs.

Just over 40 percent of respondents indicated that they have used OCS alumni career resources after graduation.

“The Office of Career Strategy offers many resources to support alumni seeking career advice,” said Elayne Mazzarella, director of career services and alumni advising at OCS. “Yale is committed to assisting alumni throughout all stages of their career development process.”

Mazzarella added that Yale provides individual career advising to alumni, as well as career tools, online workshops, career coaches and other resources.

Overall, the report stated that, at most, only 25 percent of respondents have stayed with the same employer since graduation.

“One of the reasons we call the first destination survey [by that name] is because it literally is your first destination,” Dames said. “It will be good for students to know and feel confident about the fact that the job they choose after graduation … [may not be] what they are doing five years down the road, which is fine.”

Just over 1,260 students graduated from Yale College in 2013.

Anastasiia Posnova | anastasiia.posnova@yale.edu

ANASTASIIA POSNOVA