Grading: Post-graduation Data
Princeton students in the job market and in admission to graduate and professional schools
At the same time that we have focused on communication, we also have focused on monitoring carefully the fortunes of Princeton applicants for jobs and admission to graduate and professional programs. Based on the record thus far, we can report with a high degree of confidence that the success of Princeton students in the job market and in admission to graduate and professional school remains largely unchanged since the implementation of the new grading policy. Here is what we know.
EMPLOYMENT
Career Services’ annual Career Plans Survey Reports yield data that can be used to compare the fortunes of members of the Class of 2004, the last class to graduate before the new grading standards went into effect, with those of members of the Classes of 2005-2011 (2005 had senior-year grades given under the new grading standards; 2006 had junior- and senior-year grades under the new standards; 2007 had sophomore-, junior-, and senior-year grades under the new standards; 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 had all four years’ grades under the new standards). Note, of course, that many other factors affect these data, chief among them the state of the economy.
Employment by sector
The following table presents a count of the number of graduating seniors in each class who had accepted full-time jobs in the sectors specified below (the data continue to reflect employment decisions as of July following graduation):
The next table further disaggregates the categories of financial services and other services to focus on specific sectors often favored by graduating seniors—sectors that have been especially hard hit in the current economy:
Year-long Internships
The Career Plans Survey Reports yield additional data with respect to students pursuing year-long internships in the year following graduation from Princeton. (Year-long internships are not included in the employment data reported above.) Those internships cover a wide range of pursuits, in the United States and abroad, in fields including education, social services, the arts, science, and government, among others. The numbers are as follows:
GRADUATE STUDY
The Career Plans Survey Reports also yield data with respect to students pursuing graduate study in the year following graduation from Princeton. The following table presents a count of the number of graduating seniors in each class who had accepted places in doctoral programs (Ph.D., D.Phil., M.D./Ph.D.) and master’s programs (there are more than 30 different master’s degrees represented in these numbers). It does not include students entering medical school (save for M.D./Ph.D. students), law school, or business school. (It is worth noting that while a large proportion of the students who go to medical school and law school matriculate in the year following their graduation from Princeton, business schools rarely accept applications from graduating seniors; rather, they expect students to apply after having some years of work experience.)
MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
The Office of Health Professions Advising supports the application process of nearly all Princeton undergraduates who apply for medical school admission. The table below reports the medical school acceptance rates for Princetonians applying for matriculation in 2004–2011, as follows:
It is important to note that Princeton undergraduates continue to have a very good record in winning admission to the most selective medical schools in the United States. The number of Princeton students applying to Top 10 medical schools is just as strong as it ever was (in 2005, for example, there were 410 applications submitted to Top 10 schools; since then, the number of applications has ranged between 373 and 443). In 2008 and 2009, Princeton students who applied to a Top 10 medical school were offered admission at a rate more than three times the overall admit rates at those schools. Moreover, both before and after the institution of the grading policy, between one-quarter and one-third of the Princetonians going to medical school in any given year have elected to enroll at one of the Top 10 schools. Put simply, the number of Princeton students attending Top 10 medical schools has not changed since the institution of the grading policy.
LAW SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
Tracking law school admissions is more difficult, for several reasons. Princetonians (like students and alumni from other colleges and universities) apply to law school without the centralized University administration and oversight of the application process that occurs in medical school admissions. Our data come from annual reports from the Law School Admission Council, which we receive in the winter following the year of matriculation. Based on those reports, our pre-law adviser reports annually on the admit rate for Princeton applicants to 18 law schools that draw significant numbers of Princeton applications; those data are shown in the table below. The Princeton data need to be understood in the context of national trends in applications to law school in recent years. According to the Law School Admission Council, the number of applicants to law school decreased annually from 2004, when there were 100,000 applicants, to 2008, when there were approximately 83,000. In 2009, this downward trend was reversed, and there was approximately a 5 percent increase in the number of applications submitted to law schools nationally, while our peers in the Ivy League reported an 8 percent increase in the number of applications submitted by their students. In this more competitive environment, Princetonians not only submitted more applications—a 13 percent increase over 2008—but they continued to be very successful in gaining admission to law school, as indicated by the admit rate, which remained essentially unchanged.
As is the case for medical schools, Princeton applicants continue to have a very good record in winning admission to the most selective law schools in the United States. In 2009, Princeton students who applied to a Top 10 law school were offered admission at a rate more than twice the overall admit rates at those schools. In 2009, Princetonians received 331 offers of admission to Top 10 law schools, compared to 312 offers in 2004.
We will, of course, continue in the years to come to track carefully the fortunes of Princetonians in the various external marketplaces in which they compete for jobs and graduate and professional school admissions. At present, with all caveats taken into account, and all limits in the data acknowledged, we find that Princeton undergraduates continue to be highly successful, as they were before the grading policy was instituted.
