Bookmark and Share


May 17, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Matt Lazier
805-756-7109; mlazier@calpoly.edu

Cal Poly’s Graduate Placement Statistics Improved Yet Again in 2010-11

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Showing better employment results than the national average, more than nine out of every 10 graduates from Cal Poly’s class of 2010-11 are either employed or in grad school, according to the results of a survey recently released by the university’s Career Services office.

In the 2010-11 Cal Poly Graduate Status Report, 68 percent of respondents said they are employed full time and 18 percent said they are in grad school (an increasingly critical move toward ensuring professional success and upward mobility). Another 5 percent reported being employed part time. Of the 4,470 students who graduated in 2010-11, 54 percent – or 2,419 – responded to the annual survey.

The number of Cal Poly grads moving on to full-time employment improved by 3 percentage points over the 2009-10 academic year, when 65 percent reported being employed full time, and an additional 2 points over 2008-09, when the figure was 63 percent.

The continuing improvement bucks national employment trends among college graduates. A National Association of Colleges and Employers study showed no change from 2010 to 2011 in the number of students nationwide planning to enter the job market after graduation. And the Cal Poly numbers are substantially better than the results of a national survey released this week by Rutgers University, which found that only 51 percent of 2006 to 2011 graduates have found full-time work.

“The fact that our graduates are finding work at a rate substantially higher than national numbers is further proof of the tangible value of a Cal Poly degree,” said Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong. “Employers repeatedly tell us that they value Cal Poly graduates because of our Learn by Doing preparation – that our graduates leave our classrooms and laboratories ready to excel in the workforce from their very first day on the job.”

Cal Poly’s continually improving grad placement rates pair with the university’s high showing on the 2011-12 PayScale.com College Salary Report. PayScale, the world's largest database of individual employee compensation profiles, lists Cal Poly alumni at No. 5 for starting salaries (about $54,200) and 10th for mid-career salaries (about ($95,700) for all California schools.

“Numbers like these show that a Cal Poly education remains one of the best values in higher education – particularly when you consider that new college graduates still face a tough job market,” Armstrong said.

Of the 2010-11 respondents who reported being employed, 91 percent said they are in a job either “directly related” (67 percent) or “somewhat related” (24 percent) to their Cal Poly major/degree. The 91 percent figure compares to only 65 percent of the Rutgers survey respondents who said their work was somewhat or directly related to their majors.

For more information about the annual Cal Poly survey, including the 2010-11 report, visit http://careerservices.wcms.calpoly.edu/content/student/gsr_report. For more on Cal Poly Career Services, visit www.careerservices.calpoly.edu.

# # #