U of I
First Destination
Initiative
Introduction for IlliAAC Advisors
November 12, 2015
Julia Panke Makela
Associate Director for Assessment &
Research, The Career Center
What is the First Destination Initiative?

A response to demands for information on where U of I students go
after graduation
 Considerable pressure to know from many sources…
 Parents and families
• Presidents and alumni
 Current and prospective students
• Grant funding agencies
 State and federal government
• And more!
 Accrediting boards

Yes, another survey… but not just that
 Also an opportunity to condense surveys across campus, and
 A way to “tell the Illinois Story”

A career exploration tool for students + a data resource for faculty,
staff, and administration
What are the Main Components?

Survey for all bachelor’s degree graduates
 as well as a few participating graduate degree programs

Annual reports for the University and individual Colleges

Career exploration data portal for current and prospective students
 To answer the question: “what have graduates before me done with their Illinois
degree?”
 Custom queries can be run, returning aggregated results where at least 20
graduate responses are available

Faculty, Staff, and Administrator data portal
 To assist with accreditation, program review, and continuous improvement data
inquiries
 Custom queries can be run, returning aggregated results where at least 20
graduate responses are available

Full IRB approval for the initiative, and future connections to
national benchmarks
What does the First Destination Survey Look Like?

Four main components
 Contact information
 First destination
 Contributions of experiential learning
(online version only)
 Invitation to stay in touch with career
services and alumni affairs
(See the paper version handout.)
How does the First Destination Survey Work?

First contact is “At Graduation” (actually, shortly before)
 Via email approximately 3 weeks prior to graduation
 With additional opportunities to fill the survey out
 during class time in SOME capstone courses, and
 at cap and gown pick-up
 Paper surveys are used as a backup when technology not available or students not
on our list of graduates with survey accounts

Opportunities to update responses via email invitations at:
 3 months post-graduation
 6 months post-graduation
 12 months post-graduation

Participation incentives raffled at each data collection time, such as:
 $25, $50, $75, and $100 Visa Gift or Amazon cards
 Variety of Starbucks gift cards
 Diploma frame (at May graduation)
 I-Pad Air (at 12 month invitation)
What might a Data Portal do?

The idea: provide instant access to custom queries of the first
destination data set at appropriate levels of detail.
 Career Exploration Portal: Students and their families will be able to use the data
set as a career development tool, entering search criteria to learn what outcomes U
of I graduates have achieved following their degrees.
 Admin Reporting Portal: Faculty, staff, and administrators will be able to search
the data at greater detail to gather de-identified statistics for reporting needs and
to consider outcomes of their programs.

We only know of three similar systems that are open to the public:
 University of Texas System (SeekUT): http://www.utsystem.edu/seekut/Terms.htm
 Purdue University: https://www.cco.purdue.edu/data/
 American University: http://www.american.edu/weknowsuccess/
Types of Data in the First Destination Data Set
Some
Very Preliminary
Data for May 2015
Undergraduate
Degree Graduates
3-Months
Post-Graduation
Current Response Rates
Graduating Class
August 2014
December 2014
May 2015
Total
Graduating Class
August 2015
December 2015
May 2016
Total
Number of
Graduates
597
1,095
5,872
7,564
Number of
Respondents
216
640
4,097
4,953
Response
Rate
36%
58%
70%
65%
Number of
Graduates
565
1,384*
Number of
Respondents
233
Response
Rate
41%
Emails sent Tuesday, November 10, 2016
* Based on initial “pre-graduation” expected graduates list.
Actual graduates will be confirmed 8 weeks after graduation.
Primary Destinations
(Categories Planned for the U of I Annual Report)
Primary Status
Number of
Respondents
Percent of
Respondents
Employed
Continuing education
Volunteer / service
2132
1086
18
50%
26%
<1%
Seeking employment
629
15%
Seeking education
274
6%
Other
115
3%
Percent
Secured First
Destination
76%

As we designed the annual reports, we decided to condense the survey categories.
Otherwise the pages, tables, and graphs look cluttered and unwieldy for a broad, external audience.
Data portals will still allow faculty and staff to access information at the finer level of detail.

Only two status categories contain combined scales.
Employed contains: “working full-time,” “working part-time,” and “military service.” Other includes
“not seeking,” “I’d rather not answer,” and “no response to question.” Other than “working full-time”
percentages the number of responses in these other options tends to be small. This is the case across
the data set for all Colleges and Departments that we have tested. We will continue to monitor this.
Primary Destinations Selected
3%
6%
Employed
15%
0%
50%
Continuing education
Volunteer / service
Seeking employment
Seeking education
Other
26%
76% of graduates report securing a first destination at 3-months post-graduation
Sample Employers of May 2015 Graduates
Abbott Laboratories
Accenture
Aerotek
AIG
Allstate
Aon Hewitt
Boeing
Capital One
Cargill, Inc.
Carle Hospital
Caterpillar. Inc.
Citgo Petroleum Corporation
Deloitte
Earn & Young
Enterprise
Epic Systems
ExxonMobil
Facebook
FBI
General Electric
General Mills
Google
Honeywell
Huron Consulting
IBM
Illinois Student Assistance
Commission
Indeed.com
Intel Corporation
JP Morgan Chase
Kohl’s Corporation
KPMG
Meijer
Microsoft Corporation
Mu Sigma Inc.
NASA
Nestle
Northwestern University
PepsiCo
Pinnacle AIS
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Protiviti Consulting
PWC
Sandia National Laboratories
Sage Environmental Consulting
Scribe America
Shell
State Farm
Teach for America
The Hartford
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign
West Monroe Partners
Yahoo
Yelp
…. (and many more) …
Initial Salary Analysis for Full-Time Employed
May 2015 Undergraduate Degree Graduates
Number of
Full-Time
Employed
Graduates
1,895
Full-Time
Employed
Graduates
Reporting
Salary
1,440 (76%)
Mean
Salary
$56,942
Lower
Quartile
(25%)
$44,000
Median
Salary
(50%)
$58,000
Upper
Quartile
(75%)
$66,000
Note: Salary calculations exclude outliers two or more standard
deviations away from the mean.
Also, to date, 565 graduates working full-time reported receiving
signing bonuses, averaging $5,408 (median = $5,000).
Graduate School Acceptances – May 2015 Grads
Adler University
Bradley University
Brown University
Boston University
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
DePaul
Duke University
Eastern Illinois University
Florida State University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Illinois State University
Indiana University
Iowa State University
Johns Hopkins University
Loyola University Chicago
Marquette University
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Midwestern University
New York University
Northern Illinois University
Oregon State University
Rush University
Stanford University
UC Berkeley
UC, Los Angeles (UCLA)
UC, San Diego (UCSD)
University of Chicago
University of Illinois at
Chicago
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
University of Iowa
University of Michigan
University of Missouri
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas at
Austin
University of Washington
University of WisconsinMadison
Vanderbilt University
Washington University at
St. Louis
…. (and many more) …
Graduate School Areas of Study- May 2015 Grads
More than 150 Graduates
Engineering
Health professions
Business, management, marketing, and
related support services
65 Graduates
Biological and biomedical sciences
33-36 Graduates
Agriculture, agriculture operations, and
related sciences
Psychology
Physical sciences
Social sciences
20-29 Graduates
Mathematics and statistics
Architecture and related services
Education
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies
and humanities
Health-related knowledge and skills
10-17 Graduates
Computer and information sciences and
support services
Engineering technologies and engineeringrelated fields
Communication, journalism, and related
programs
Involvement in Experiential Learning
Type of Experiential Learning
Internships
Assistantships (teaching, research, etc.)
Study abroad/away with internship or
practicum component
Service learning or other academic
volunteering
Field experiences / practicums
Clinical experiences
Student teaching
Co-ops
No, I did not complete any of the above
I’d rather not answer
Percent of
Respondents
57%
21%
Percent Indicating
Experience Led to Post
Graduation Employment
36%
8%
17%
3%
15%
13%
10%
8%
2%
5%
10%
10%
5%
27%
11%
5%
 84% of graduates indicated some type of experiential learning during their degree programs.
 Internships and co-ops were highlighted most often as leading to post-graduate employment.
Staying in Touch

The survey asks graduates if they would like to “stay in touch with
Career Services and Alumni Relations offices at the University of
Illinois…”
 To date, 65% of respondents have replied “Yes” and provided contact information
Finally, a
Preview of
Our New Look!
Core Tagline
Tailored Tagline
Individual achievements. Global Impact. Experience our points of pride.
Example Resource
Annual report
Share your story.
Survey requests
Get to know our grads.
Success stories
Discover their journeys.
Faculty/admin portal
•
Annual Report Templates are currently in Development…
U of I
First Destination
Initiative
Please stay in touch – There is much
more to come from this initiative!
For additional information, visit:
www.careercenter.illinois.edu/research/
firstdestination
Or contact Julia Panke Makela at
jpmakela@illinois.edu
Primary Post-Graduation Destinations Selected
Primary Status
Working full-time
Working part-time
Engaged in military service
Engaged in volunteer service
Enrolling in additional
education (accepted)
Seeking additional education
(not accepted yet)
Unemployed and seeking
employment
Unemployed and not seeking
employment
I'd rather not answer
Number of
Respondents
Percent of
Respondents
1895
210
27
18
45%
5%
1%
0.4%
1086
26%
274
6%
629
15%
18
0.4%
97
2%
Percent
Secured First
Destination
76 %
76% of graduates indicated that they have secured a first destination at
graduation