New Geoscience Graduates' Employment and Education Plans

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Date updated: 2013-10-18
Data Brief 2013-014
Written and compiled by Carolyn E. Wilson for AGI, October 2013

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AGI’s National Geoscience Student Exit Survey measures the relevant experiences in school and the immediate career plans upon graduation of recent geoscience degree recipients. In spring 2013, AGI distributed this survey nationally and received 428 responses from 71 geoscience departments. This Currents examines the results from questions focused on the survey participants’ plans after graduation of either a graduate degree or entering the geoscience workforce.

In spring 2013, 38% of bachelor’s graduates plan to attend graduate school in the fall, which is the same rate as in 2012. However, only 17% of the master’s graduates in 2013 plan to attend graduate school, compared to 38% of master’s graduates that took the survey in 2012, and 16% of doctoral graduates in 2013 plan to continue graduate school, whereas only 5% of doctoral graduates in 2012 planned to continue graduate school.

The majority of doctoral graduates in 2013 found jobs within the geosciences at graduation and 43% of master’s graduates have found jobs within the geosciences by graduation. The majority of bachelor’s graduates were still seeking employment or attending graduate school. Doctoral graduates depended on personal contacts (43%) and faculty referrals (36%) to nd their jobs. Master’s graduates depended on on-campus recruiting (48%), faculty reerals (22%), and college/university career centers (22%) to nd thier jobs. Bachelor’s graduates depended on personal contacts (46%) and faculty referrals (26%) to find their jobs.

View the 2013 Status of Recent Geoscience Graduates report for more data from AGI’s Geoscience Student Exit Survey. The report can be accessed through the following link: www.americangeosciences.org/workforce/reports.html

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