After Vanderbilt
The Class of 2023 is off to even bigger and better things after graduating from Vanderbilt — 52% will begin a full-time job, 26% will matriculate to graduate school and 4% will start a fellowship or internship. Among the rest, 8% plan to take a gap year, and 10% said they were unsure. Most graduates are either headed to the American Northeast (30%) or will remain in the South (29%).
The top three industries graduates are entering are business/consulting, finance/investment banking and computer science/technology. Other popular industries include engineering, healthcare/pharmaceuticals, education, entertainment and research/academia.
No survey respondent expects to earn more than $200,000 as a starting salary, though 12% of incoming finance/investment banking employees and 8% of incoming computer science/technology employees expect to earn between $150,000-200,000 during their first year.
By comparison, a majority of those entering healthcare/pharmaceuticals and education expect to earn a starting salary between $25,000-50,000.
Marina Wang (‘23) will enter a software engineering position at Google after graduation, where she will join a 30+ person team with four women on it. She described the computer science industry as male-dominated, particularly in “technical roles,” though she praised both Vanderbilt and Google’s efforts toward inclusion and gender equality.
“I would like to say that Google is making a significant effort towards a more gender-equal workspace,” Wang said. “For example, it offers scholarships and internship opportunities towards racial minorities and women.”
