Each year, hundreds of WPI students put the finishing touches on their degree requirements in anticipation of graduation. This past weekend members of the Class of 2018 wrapped up their WPI journeys, their college work having paid off with the chance to take advantage of some much-deserved rest and relaxation before starting their careers.
For staff members at the Career Development Center (CDC), however, work is continuing without pause. An invaluable resource to WPI students and alumni, the CDC offers an impressive array of personalized services—including career fairs, workshops, mock interviews, and resume critiques—to help with the internship or job search process. It could be easy to assume that the CDC offices are less busy than usual, but every year after graduation, staff members get to work compiling information about what WPI graduates will be doing now that they’ve crossed Earle Bridge for the final time.
The CDC will be open as usual and actively accepting appointments with students, advising recent graduates on next steps, and visiting employer partners to further network and make connections that will prove invaluable to WPI students and alumni.
Data for the Class of 2018 will be gathered over the course of the rest of this year; in the meantime, the CDC has recently published the annual outcomes report on the Class of 2017, and if the latest report and upward trends are any indication, the Class of 2018 grads have a bright future ahead of them.
WPI’s exceptionally high knowledge rate (the amount of career outcome data the CDC has for members of each graduating class) is once again far above the national average—something that, according to CDC executive director Steve Koppi, provides a fuller picture of life for WPI students after graduation.
“I was especially impressed by the high number and wide range of companies employing WPI graduates.” -Steve Koppi
In addition, the success rate (the proportion of graduates for whom the CDC has career outcomes information and are employed, enrolled in graduate school, or completing military or career service) for bachelor’s degree graduates rose 1.8 percentage points to 92.4%; all degree levels combined rose 1.9 points to 94.6%.
“I was especially impressed by the high number and wide range of companies employing WPI graduates,” Koppi says, adding that over 700 organizations ranging from Massachusetts General Hospital and IBM to the Bose Corporation and Wayfair welcomed WPI alums into their ranks as employees. (Check out the report for a complete list of employers, spanning nearly seven pages.)
While the achievements of WPI graduates are certainly impressive on their own, they’re also a great reflection of the accomplishments of the CDC and WPI’s innovative curriculum: WPI was recently ranked in all three career-related categories in The Princeton Review 2017—Best Career Services (#5), Best Career Placement (#15), and Best School for Internships (#25).
Better yet, WPI was the only school to be ranked nationally in all three of those career categories.
Koppi says that the CDC is actively involved in advancing WPI’s strategic plan through its work, efforts that are clearly paying off year after year. “[We’re] collaborating with partners across campus to open new pathways for students to connect their interests, skills, and values for career success.”
- By Allison Racicot
