<p>Can anyone direct me to some statistics about the employment of liberal arts grads?</p>
<p>If it were broken down by major, that would be even better.</p>
<p>I'm especially curious to see the line of work people end up in who major in subjects with no obvious career track (English, History, German literature, etc).</p>
<p>Huh? Liberal arts includes a pretty broad range of fields from science to math to social sciences to the humanities.</p>
<p>Let's see, grads of my daughter's liberal arts college include:</p>
<p>a) winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics</p>
<p>b) Nobel Prize winning (Chemistry) President of CalTech</p>
<p>c) Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.</p>
<p>d) Editor of Glamour Magazine</p>
<p>e) Dean of the UC Berkeley Law School</p>
<p>Thats just from one tiny little school. Virtually all, if not all, Harvard undergrads major in "liberal arts" at Havard College -- again in math/science, social sciences, and humanities. The career paths of Harvard grads is broad, no doubt. So, liberal arts graduates pretty much cover the spectrum of career paths.</p>
<p>Just to be clear:</p>
<p>The purpose of a liberal arts education, whether it is from a tiny college like Swarthmore, from a mid-size university like Harvard, or (most of the undergrad degrees) from a huge university like UMich is not vocational in the strictest sense. It is fundamentally different than going to an auto repair school and getting a job in a car dealership service department.</p>
<p>The value of a liberal arts education is:</p>
<p>a) learning how to learn (a skill that is essential in any career)</p>
<p>b) learning critical thinking -- how to research and analyze a question</p>
<p>c) learning effective written and verbal communication</p>
<p>For the most part, the "major" is simply a vehicle for learning these things. A successful liberal arts graduate will have learned these things regardless of whether he or she majors in English literature, Political Science, or Biology.</p>
<p>Yes, I understand the meaning of a liberal arts education, having received one myself.</p>
<p>My question has more to do with the employment outcomes for those who have not directly prepared for a specific job, such as accountant, nurse, lawyer, etc.</p>
<p>Obviously, a certain percentage of liberal arts grads go directly on to graduate school.</p>
<p>What is that percentage?</p>
<p>Otherwise, they must somehow be absorbed into the economy, and I was looking for any kind of statistics that reflect how that happens.</p>
<p>Who are these employers who will take the traits listed in post #3 as sufficient for their requirements, and what kind of jobs are they offering?</p>
<p>If you go to Harvard or similar it does not matter. If you go to schools like Grinnell on down you better plan on grad school.</p>
<p>Fendrock:</p>
<p>I'm still not sure what you are asking as graduates of liberal arts curriculums do everything from med school, to science research, to running for Congress, to founding theater troups, ad infinitum.</p>
<p>Here is some data from one liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Short-term</p>
<p>Based on exit surveys of graduating seniors:</p>
<p>63% go immediately from college to employment
23% go immediately from college to grad/professional school
14% go immediately from college to "other", including travel, further study, undecided, etc.</p>
<p>Of the graduating seniors going directly into the workplace:</p>
<p>Of the graduating seniors going to grad school:</p>
<p>** Medium Term**</p>
<p>Grad school detail (classes 1997-2001):</p>
<p>Long term career paths of all alumni</p>
<p>Presumably, you could find similar data for the school(s) of your choice.</p>
<p>same thing as liberal arts grads at major universities. a psychology major from say Michigan is going to have the same opportunities/obstacles as a psych major from say Bard</p>
<p>interesteddad, thanks, I'll be interested in looking at your links.</p>
<p>Clearly liberal arts grads can end up doing anything they choose, especially if they are very smart, aggressive, and well connected.</p>
<p>My sense, however, is that employers are more and more interested in looking for candidates within specific educational parameters. </p>
<p>In my day, for instance, most liberal arts grads could get entry level jobs in the software world with no special qualifications. Now, that is no longer the case.</p>
<p>So far, the two responses I've received suggest that the college a student attends will influence the ease with which he/she can find a job with only an undergraduate arts degree.</p>
<p>If you're interested in smaller samples, you can go to Career Center or something with a similar name, for many schools. Recent grads complete a survey detailing their post-grad plans. It's broken down by major, employer, position, salary, or what grad or professional school will be attended. I know my son's U has it and it's quite detailed.</p>
<p>Go through the individual college or university's web site.</p>
<p>If you're interested in smaller samples, you can go to Career Center or something with a similar name, for many schools. Recent grads complete a survey detailing their post-grad plans. It's broken down by major, employer, position, salary, or what grad or professional school will be attended. I know my son's U has it and it's quite detailed.</p>
<p>Go through the individual college or university's web site.</p>
<p>edit: just noticed interesteddad posted links to one college's stats...most schools have this type of data for comparison.</p>
<p>I've run across statistics from several schools, and liberal arts grads from selective schools are employed or in graduate schools at rates of 85-95% within a year of graduation. Some of the remaining 5-15% are voluntarily taking time off. Here's a recent article from Northwestern with stats on their grads. Nearly 60% had jobs even before they graduated.</p>
<p>
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Clearly liberal arts grads can end up doing anything they choose, especially if they are very smart, aggressive, and well connected.
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</p>
<p>You are still confusing me. What do you mean by liberal arts grads? Are you talking about graduates of "liberal arts colleges"? Are you talking about Harvard Physics majors? Are you talking about Art History majors from Berkeley? These are all "liberal arts grads".</p>
<p>
[quote]
My sense, however, is that employers are more and more interested in looking for candidates within specific educational parameters.
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</p>
<p>Not according to employer surveys. They are looking for critical thinking, communications skills, adaptability, cultural awareness (especially international) and so forth.</p>
<p>
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In my day, for instance, most liberal arts grads could get entry level jobs in the software world with no special qualifications. Now, that is no longer the case.
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</p>
<p>Quite a few Swarthmore liberal arts grads go directly into the computer software and information tech fields. I can't imagine it would be any different at other similar schools. From the year to year exit surveys, it appears that going into the "systems analyst" side of Wall Street firms is fairly popular. There are many career paths today that REQUIRE a grasp of multiple fields -- economics AND technology. How could Nike hire a management track employee who didn't demonstrate some grasp of Asian cultures and globalization? How could Oracle hire a software management trainee who couldn't handle an assignment in Bangalore, India?</p>
<p>These companies don't expect entry level management hires to know how to manufacture a running shoe. They do expect their hires to be prepared to adapt, function, and communicate in a 21st century global economy.</p>
<p>They are looking for folks whom they can hire on the cheap, pay a smaller percentage of what the CEO makes, and make them get their own health insurance. </p>
<p>(what they say and what they do are not necessarily the same thing....)</p>
<p>To be fair, the number of graduates of liberal arts colleges (as opposed to grads with liberal arts degrees) as a percentage of total college graduates in the U.S. is such a tiny number that if they disappeared from the face of the earth, hardly anyone would notice. (well, I would, as would ID ;))</p>
<p>I think the OP is asking a question about graduates with liberal arts majors, rather than graduates of liberal arts colleges. I-dad is correct in pointing out that a liberal arts major, be it math, physics, philosophy or art history, is not a vocational preparation in the same way that a bachelors degree in engineering or accounting is. But then it is not intended to be.</p>
<p>They have lower suicide rates than dentists.</p>
<p>"If you go to Harvard or similar it does not matter. If you go to schools like Grinnell on down you better plan on grad school."</p>
<p>So does this mean that an English major from Kenyon or a sociology major from Occidental cannot get a good job unless they go to grad school? I think not. I certainly hope not.</p>
<p>In my opinion, rankings should not be used like that. I doubt most employers have USN&WR sitting on their desks when they look at resumes.</p>
<p>As for the OP -- I also think he/she wants to know the employability of non-professional majors. I think the success of these students depends on many factors, including internships, extracurriculars and what they want to do. There was a thread just recently about all the different careers English majors can have. Perhaps the path is just not as obvious as the computer science, engineer or business major -- and very likely the first job won't be as well paying.</p>
<p>I think the OP has a bit of a bias away from LACs. I think an underlying goal of a LAC experience to to create a well rounded person. If you are looking for high tech employability based on if someone can run xyz software applications, that is more of a voc tech situation. But if you're looking for someone who can learn it, manage it , write and communicate, has empathy for fellow employees, maybe a LAC grad might fit the bill.</p>
<p>mini, dadx3, and especially sly_vt, thanks for helping clarify the intent behind my original post.</p>
<p>Sure, employers want people who can communicate clearly, undertake analysis, all that good stuff, but I suspect the software manager they'll hire for work in Bangalore will have all that and a technical degree to boot (ie. computer science major or perhaps business).</p>
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So does this mean that an English major from Kenyon or a sociology major from Occidental cannot get a good job unless they go to grad school? I think not. I certainly hope not.
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</p>
<p>This is more the kind of question I'd like to have answered, preferably with some specific data and not just anecdotal information, like some CEO has an undergraduate degree in anthropology.</p>
<p>""If you go to Harvard or similar it does not matter. If you go to schools like Grinnell on down you better plan on grad school."</p>
<p>We just hired two new folks in our office without advanced degrees. We turned down an applicant from Princeton, and one from Dartmouth. The ones we hired were graduates of Evergreen State College and Western Washington University.</p>