The Numbers Behind A World Class Undergraduate Career Office

The Numbers Behind A World Class Undergraduate Career Office by: John A. Byrne on February 25, 2015 | 1 Comment Comments 5,602 Views February 25, 2015Undergraduate students at The Wharton SchoolLets face it. If youre interested in majoring in business at the undergraduate level, it may be that you have a profound passion for capitalism. But its also more likely that you want to get a business degree because your chances of employment at graduation are going to be significantly higher than those history, philosophy and English majors.That said, what does a world class career development office look like at the undergraduate level? One of the very best is at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School where undergrads typically get among the highest starting salaries for business majors anywhere in the world and roughly 65% of its 2014 graduates get jobs through career services.It was another good year for Wharton grads. The average starting salary for the Class of 2014 hit a r ecord $69,506, up from $67,986 a year earlier. The average sign-on bonus was $9,468, and the vast majority of the class reporting that they expected a year-end bonus of $29,231. Especially impressive is the number of Whartonites getting sign-on and year-end bonuses: 81% and 84%, respectively. A record 91% were employed three months after graduation, up from 88.9% a year earlier and 82.9% in the recession-impacted 2010.WHARTON STUDENTS AVERAGED 12.3 JOB INTERVIEWS 2.4 JOB OFFERS IN 2014Given the success of Wharton undergrads, its not surprising that the school makes public one of the most transparent placement reports available. At Wharton, for example, the typical business undergraduate in 2014 had 12.3 interviews, with 10 of them being a direct result of the school’s career services department. Some 390 companies came to campus to recruit Wharton’s undergrads in 2014, holding 11,167 interviews with students. Those interviews led to an average 2.4 job offers for each member of the Class of 2014, with just 0.7 offers resulting from independent job searches.Source: Wharton Undergraduate Class of 2014 Career Plans Survey ReportA SCHOOLS ABILITY TO GET A STUDENT AN INTERNSHIP IS CRITICAL TO GETTING FULL-TIME JOB OFFERSSome 34.6% of students accepting full-time jobs indicated that they interned with the employer who made the offer. Thats a telling statistic because it means the school is highly successful in getting those crucial internships that can be converted into full-time job offers. The nearly 35% conversion rate at Wharton is among the highest for an undergraduate school. At Bentley College, another highly rated undergraduate program by corporate recruiters, 24% of the latest class landed jobs as a result of their internships. At Brigham Youngs Marriott School, 34% received job offers from their internship employers.Source; Wharton Undergraduate Class of 2014 Career Plans Survey Report Page 1 of 212Â »