Minority engineering graduates-where are they going?

Abstract

The relationships between graduation grade point average (GPA), class ranking, performance in graduate studies, employment opportunities, and locations of employment of graduates of Tennessee State University are studied on the basis of graduation GPA and employment information on 326 graduates of the B.S. in Electrical Engineering program from May 1972 until August 1989. The data on graduates and the graduation GPA was retrieved from student records in the department. The information on student employment and graduate studies was collected from annual alumni surveys, interviews with returning alumni during homecomings, and recruitment trips. The student records were compiled according to graduation dates. For the purpose of data analysis, the graduation GPA has been divided into 16 groups, with Group 1 being 2.00 to 2.125. It is found that the graduates are equally distributed in the process and utility industries and the federal service, although those with higher GPAs are pursuing graduate study and going to the electronics/computer industry. The incentives provided by corporations to pursue graduate study on a full-time basis have been most beneficial and fully utilized by the graduates and is reflected in a very high percentage of graduates pursuing graduate work. >