The College of Biological Sciences 2016-17 alumni survey was open for submission January 10-February 10, 2017. Thanks to everyone who took the survey, giving us the largest number of respondents in CBS history!
We learned a great deal about CBS alumni and below you can view some of the top-level findings from the survey. Feel free to contact John Curry (jcurry@umn.edu), Alumni Officer, if you have questions or specific interests in the survey results.
How well did CBS help prepare you for your current career?
- 60.93% - extremely well or very well
- 25.52% - moderately well
Graduate School
- 34.6% of Survey Respondents went on to seek additional education beyond CBS.
Experiences while at CBS beyond the classroom were
- 82.47% - worked for pay
- 74.90% - worked for faculty in a lab
- 56.57% - belonged to a student group
- 44.62% - participated in community service
- 44.22% - participated in Nature of Life (Itasca-based CBS orientation)
Employment
- 65.52% - employed full-time
- 20.31% - not employed, not looking
- 8.05% - employed, part-time
Employment by sector
- 40.53% - government/public institution
- 34.21% - private company
- 14.31% - self-employed/other
- 13.16% - non-governmental organization
Employment by industry
- 17.37% - medicine
- 15.26% - higher education
- 15.26% - research
- 11.05% - biotech/pharmaceutical
Current position
- 37.77% - mid-level
- 34.57% - entry-level
- 20.74% - senior-level
Employment relationship to CBS degree
- 40.63% - yes, related
- 33.33% - yes, same as field of CBS study
- 26.04% - no, not related
Interest in CBS opportunities
- 44.62% - mentoring
- 34.87% - speakers featuring CBS researchers
- 34.63% - faculty lectures and research
- 31.28% - participate in a panel
- 31.79% - be interviewed for BIO (CBS's quarterly publication)
- 31.28% - talk given by a prominent alumni
Top 3 philanthropic interests
- 67.76% - education
- 53.06% - environment
- 50.20% - health care
CBS relative importance in philanthropy
- 48.19% - not a priority
- 44.58% - a priority
- 7.23% - top priority or among top three