Continuing what seems to be a trend, more recent Yale graduates have opted to enter the working world directly after college than their counterparts did in years past. And among those going on to postgraduate education, fewer than ever before have chosen to pursue the arts and sciences.
That's what Yale's Office of Institutional Research (OIR) found when it mailed a questionnaire to the 1,253 members of the Yale College Class of 1996 one year after graduation requesting information about their activities. Prior to that, from 1960 to 1973 and again in 1984, seniors were surveyed about their postgraduation plans during their final semester at Yale.
The overall response rate was 81 percent. "As postgraduate surveys go among the Ivy League schools, the response rate to this short survey is extraordinarily high," says Beverly Waters, research associate at the OIR and coordinator of the project. "Yale graduates are eager to let us know what they are doing, and there is significant interest on the part of the college deans, masters and department chairs in following the trends in employment and post-college study of the Yale College graduating classes. The survey data help us to advise undergraduates and to evaluate programs and activities, so our graduates' responses are a valuable resource of information."
In 1970, close to half ( 46 percent) of new Yale graduates went directly to graduate or professional school. As recently as 1994,
35 percent did. In 1996, only 29 percent made that choice. However, an additional 41 percent of the 1996 graduates report that they expect to go on to some kind of graduate or professional study in the near future.
In 1970, 16 percent of those surveyed pursued graduate study in the arts and sciences. Only six percent took this route in 1996 -- the lowest percentage ever recorded by the OIR.
From 1971 to 1980, law school was the choice for about 15 percent of graduates their first year out of Yale; that figure dropped to eight percent in 1985 and has remained approximately at that rate since then. About one quarter of the graduates who said they plan to return to school in the near future hope to attend law school. That percentage has held nearly constant since 1987.
Medical school attracted 12 percent of the Class of 1971 and 17 percent of the Class of 1975, but only five percent of the Class of 1987. That number has climbed steadily since 1990, with 10 percent of the 1996 graduates choosing to pursue medical studies.
While there was a decrease in the percentage of 1996 class members who went on to graduate and professional schools, there was an increase in the percentage who entered employment. This figure, too, has changed dramatically over the years. In 1971, 21 percent of Yale graduates went to work right after college; in 1975, 36 percent; in 1980, 50 percent; in 1985, 60 percent; and 65 percent in 1996.