A few weeks ago a friend of mine revealed an inner frustration she had told few others about: if she could have it her way, she would major in History. However, what she wanted did not matter. Her mother absolutely forbade her from switching her major to History. “You must choose a major that will help you find a job!,” her mother said. “How would you ever find a job if you decided to study history?”
Not all of us at BYU-Hawaii have parents like that, but everyone on campus has heard plenty of speculation about which majors will land graduates a job and which will lead to unemployment. There is a perception that certain majors—like Accounting, Computer Science, and Business Management—are job magnets, while others are next to useless in the “real world.”
Are these perceptions accurate? This question can be answered by turning to an annual survey that the Institutional Research department at BYU-Hawaii sends to all of its recent graduates. The most recent survey, conducted earlier this year, asked all BYU-Hawaii alumni who graduated between Fall 2012 and Summer 2013 about their employment status at the time they received the survey. Their results looked something like this:
Are these perceptions accurate? This question can be answered by turning to an annual survey that the Institutional Research department at BYU-Hawaii sends to all of its recent graduates. The most recent survey, conducted earlier this year, asked all BYU-Hawaii alumni who graduated between Fall 2012 and Summer 2013 about their employment status at the time they received the survey. Their results looked something like this:
(Note: We have only plotted the majors who have at least 28 graduates. Anything less than this is not statistically significant. With that said, the History major is one of the few with a 100% placement rate.)
The Institutional Research department records students as being “placed” if they a) are employed full time, b) employed part time, c) attending graduate school or continuing their education at a different institution, or d) have indicated on the survey that they are not seeking employment or additional education (a stay-at-home mom might mark this answer).
Over all these numbers look extremely good. Of last year’s graduates, only one person out of ten has not been able to find a job or continue with their schooling. The survey’s results also include a few surprises:
• The major with the easiest time finding a job is not Business Management or Accounting, but Hotel and Tourism Management (HTM).
• Graduates stuck with the much maligned University Studies degree have better employment prospects than Psychology, Political Science, or Exercise Science graduates, and their placement rate is about equal to Computer Science and Social Work!
• Despite the buzz about growing jobs in the technology sector, Computer Science majors’ employment situation is just below average. Teaching, on the other hand, is above average, with Elementary Education majors being placed at an equal rate with Business Management majors.
While this snapshot gives us a useful picture of the 2012-2013 graduates, we must be careful when we draw conclusions from it. The BYU-Hawaii definition of “placement” does not distinguish between graduates who went on to more schooling, those who are working full time, and those who have only found part time jobs. Because of this, it masks important differences between graduate outcomes. There is a real difference between a job that offers 40 hours a week and one that offers half that.
To get a better sense of which majors are most likely to land you a full time job straight after graduation, we can start by taking away the data of all of the alumni now attending graduate school, are in the process of applying for graduate school, or are not seeking employment (e.g. home-makers). That leaves us with the students who either have a job or are looking for one. So what percentage of former BYU-Hawaii students “looking for a job” have been able to obtain full time employment?
The Institutional Research department records students as being “placed” if they a) are employed full time, b) employed part time, c) attending graduate school or continuing their education at a different institution, or d) have indicated on the survey that they are not seeking employment or additional education (a stay-at-home mom might mark this answer).
Over all these numbers look extremely good. Of last year’s graduates, only one person out of ten has not been able to find a job or continue with their schooling. The survey’s results also include a few surprises:
• The major with the easiest time finding a job is not Business Management or Accounting, but Hotel and Tourism Management (HTM).
• Graduates stuck with the much maligned University Studies degree have better employment prospects than Psychology, Political Science, or Exercise Science graduates, and their placement rate is about equal to Computer Science and Social Work!
• Despite the buzz about growing jobs in the technology sector, Computer Science majors’ employment situation is just below average. Teaching, on the other hand, is above average, with Elementary Education majors being placed at an equal rate with Business Management majors.
While this snapshot gives us a useful picture of the 2012-2013 graduates, we must be careful when we draw conclusions from it. The BYU-Hawaii definition of “placement” does not distinguish between graduates who went on to more schooling, those who are working full time, and those who have only found part time jobs. Because of this, it masks important differences between graduate outcomes. There is a real difference between a job that offers 40 hours a week and one that offers half that.
To get a better sense of which majors are most likely to land you a full time job straight after graduation, we can start by taking away the data of all of the alumni now attending graduate school, are in the process of applying for graduate school, or are not seeking employment (e.g. home-makers). That leaves us with the students who either have a job or are looking for one. So what percentage of former BYU-Hawaii students “looking for a job” have been able to obtain full time employment?
This graph looks quite a bit different from the first. Hospitality & Tourism, Elementary Education, and Business Management majors are still doing quite well. But there is a big difference between BYU-Hawaii’s “placement rate” and the percentage of graduates who secured a full time job. For some majors, such as Accounting, this is because a sizable proportion of the “placed” students replied that they are no longer seeking a job. For most of the other majors, however, the difference between the placement rate and the percentage of graduates who work full time is a sign that many of these students could only find part-time employment.
This is why TESOL and International Cultural Studies majors have an outstanding placement rate but but have much lower odds of securing a full time job. TESOL and ICS majors have little trouble finding employment--their problem is that many of the jobs they are being hired for only offer part time hours!
Verdict: With a few exceptions (such as University Studies), student perceptions of the job prospects for different majors are correct. Business-orientated majors like Hotel & Tourism Management are job magnets. On the other hand, unless you are prepared to build your resume by going to graduate school after your leave BYU-Hawaii, those majoring in subjects like ICS or Political Science will have difficulty landing a full-time job.
Notes:
[1] All data is taken from BYU-Hawaii Institutional Research, “2013 Graduate Career Outcomes & BYUH Placement Definitions”, BYU-Hawaii IR: Placements and Return Rates (accessed 8 August 2014). http://ir.byuh.edu/prr. The figures used in this column were created by The Student Voice.
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