Initial analysis of the Graduating Scholar Survey yielded a result that shaped the overall direction of this year’s report: A greater percentage of 2024 graduates successfully navigated the college-career transition in a short timeframe, securing either a long-term job or a graduate school acceptance before graduation, than have in recent years (see above). The percentage of Scholars who have taken these first steps toward a post-college career has been increasing for the last two years, with 2023 to 2024 representing a significant shift (15 percentage points). Though this increase may be attributable in part to low unemployment rates in early 2024, patterns in the experiences of this group can help us target our support of all Scholars through the graduation-to-career transition.
The data assembled here presents a detailed picture of these Scholars’ college experiences, both in their senior year (as reported in the Graduating Scholar Survey) and in previous years in which they responded to the survey.
It is important to note that there are many reasons that it might take time for Scholars to find the right employment or graduate school opportunity, so this criterion presents a narrow picture of what constitutes post-graduation “success.” However, the percentage of students who have post-graduation plans by April/May of the senior year is a good indicator of overall post-college transition success for all Scholars.
The Post-Grad Plan Group: Correlations with College Experience
One obvious factor in post-college success is academic success, and so one might expect to see a correlation between the Scholars with post-graduation plans and those with the highest grades. However, though Mitchell Scholars are generally academically successful, there is no clear correlation between GPA alone and graduate school acceptance or early long-term employment. Mitchell Scholars graduating in 2024 have G.P.A.s in the 2.7–4.0 range, with 60% in the A range (3.7–4.0) and 40% in the B range (2.7–3.0). The group of Scholars with post-graduation plans has a slightly lower average G.P.A than the graduating cohort as a whole.
Significant differences did emerge, however, when the group of Scholars with a post-graduation plan were compared with Scholars without a post-graduation plan in terms of their overall engagement in college. Annually, the Scholar and Graduate Scholar survey segments ask Scholars the following question about their engagement on campus:
Within the past 12 months, did you:
- Belong to an honor society
- Conduct research with a professor
- Take an independent study class
- Participate in athletics/other extracurricular activities
- Complete an internship
- Participate in a leadership conference or event
- Travel abroad
Overall, Scholars with a post-graduation plan participated in these activities at a higher rate than those without a post-graduation plan.
The areas in which Scholars with post-graduation plans were involved at a significantly higher level included athletics and extracurricular activities, leadership activities, and mentorship experiences (defined as either an independent study or research with a professor).
To develop a more complete picture of these Scholars’ college experience, we compiled all available surveys to see whether and how involvement mapped over a student’s experience with these activities over their whole four years (see figure below). The same pattern of overall involvement emerged from this larger data set, and the same three categories appear significant in differentiating between the two groups. In this expanded picture, involvement in Honors emerged as a fourth activity, distinguishing the college experience of those with post-graduation plans from those without. We conclude that participation in leadership programs, athletics and extracurricular activities, mentorship experiences and honors societies have especially strong positive correlations with having a post-graduation plan.
The correlation between mentorship and long-term plans represents an area of change within the last few years, with the number of Scholars benefiting from a mentorship experience growing each year. Significantly, while the number of Scholars pursuing internships has also grown, an internship experience alone is not correlated with a higher likelihood of short-term post-graduate success.
While both the group of Scholars with post-graduation plans and those without post-graduation plans participated in internships at a high rate (those with no plan at a slightly higher rate), the post-graduation plan group participated in mentorship activities at a significantly higher rate.
Much of the growth in the Mentorship category of experience in 2024 can be attributed to a significant spike in the number of Scholars pursuing research with a professor. This increase does not appear to be localized. Scholars participating in research with faculty members in 2024 attended a wide range of public and private, in-state and out-of-state institutions. One takeaway from this result is that opportunities for undergraduate research may by increasing overall—and that Scholars should be encouraged and empowered to take advantage of these opportunities. Several studies have demonstrated the link between STEM-graduation rates and undergraduate research experiences, and more recent research indicates that students of all demographic groups, majors, and institution types benefit in terms of both GPA and post-college success.1
