Office of Institutional Research 1

Alumni Outcomes and Career Pathways Project Background In 2018, Boise State contracted with EMSI of Moscow, ID for their Alumni Insight service. EMSI employs a detailed

matching process that connects employment data to the list of graduates provided. The resulting employment

information includes data from three categories: government sources, online job posting activity, and professional

profiles and resumes. While the results from EMSI’s matching provide a glimpse into the careers of alumni, these

results are limited to alumni who had publicly available information on their employment/career. Importantly,

these results do not provide calculated rates of employment/unemployment or data on all alumni (such as number

of alumni employed by a particular organization or company).

Methods All living alumni who earned a bachelor’s degree or above from Boise State up through December 2017 were

included in the analysis. The overall match rate, or percentage of alumni for whom EMSI found a match, was

37.4%. As might be expected, match rates were higher for more recent graduates and decline markedly for alumni

who are further from graduation. See Table 1.

Table 1. Match Rates by Degree and Decade of Graduation

Bachelor's Master's Post-Master's (Ed.S.)

Doctorate

Decade of Graduation % Match Total # % Match # % Match # % Match #

2010 - Dec. 2017 45.5% 22,661 51.8% 5,669 20.0% 25 51.0% 155

2000 - 2009 42.6% 15,337 41.8% 3,685 - 40.7% 54

1990 - 1999 31.7% 10,843 24.5% 1,891 - 18.2% 11

1980 - 1989 25.8% 7,059 19.5% 1,011 - -

1970 - 1979 16.2% 5,700 15.4% 447 - -

1960 - 1969 9.4% 498 - - -

Overall Match Rate 37.1% 41.0% 20.0% 46.8%

While EMSI was able to match alumni from every academic college, some colleges had higher match rates than

others. Table 2 below illustrates that regardless of degree level, the College of Engineering and the College of

Business and Economics had the highest match rates of their alumni whereas the College of Health Sciences and

the College of Education had the lowest match rates.

Office of Institutional Research 2

Table 2. Match Rates by Degree and Academic College of the Major

Bachelor's Master's Post-Master's (Ed.S.)

Doctorate Percent Overall Match Academic College % Match # % Match # % Match # % Match #

Arts & Sciences 36.7% 22,352 36.9% 1,770 50.0% 30 36.6%

Business & Econ 45.5% 16,139 50.6% 2,536 45.9%

Education 15.0% 3,377 29.7% 1,441 20.0% 25 42.8% 145 22.2%

Engineering 55.6% 5,002 57.9% 4,269 60.0% 30 55.7%

Health Sciences 30.7% 11,399 42.2% 1,978 53.8% 13 31.9%

Public Service 36.7% 4,350 47.7% 704 50.0% 2 37.8%

From these match rates we can infer that industries and professions have differing requirements and norms for job

seekers. Professions in Health Sciences and Education, for example, may rely less on online profiles and more on

necessary certifications. In contrast, alumni seeking careers in highly competitive professions, such as engineering

and business, may rely more on networking through online profiles in order to gain a competitive edge over other

job seekers. Match rates by degree and specific academic department are provided in Appendix A.

Employment Outcomes: Location Boise State’s 10-county service region includes the following counties: Ada, Adams, Boise, Canyon, Elmore, Gem,

Owyhee, Payette, Valley, and Washington. Through the analysis, EMSI determined whether matched alumni were

residing in or out of the service region. Overall, nearly two-thirds of matched alumni (64%) reside in the 10-county

region. Moreover, Figure 1 illustrates that a higher proportion of alumni who graduated more recently live in the

region compared to matched alumni who graduated several decades ago.

Employment Outcomes: Employed in Field Using a crosswalk from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, EMSI matched occupational information with degree

information to classify employment as being “In Field” or “Out of Field” of study (2-digit CIP to 2-digit SOC

crosswalk). As illustrated in Figure 2, 78% of matched graduates were classified as employed in field, with 21%

employed out of field, and 2% without a listing for current employment. Note that Post-Master’s degrees (Ed.S.)

are excluded from the chart due to a small number of matches.

46.8% 47.8%53.7%

62.1%64.8%

68.6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

1960-69 1970-79 1980-89 1990-99 2000-09 2010-present

Figure 1. Matched Alumni in the Region

Office of Institutional Research 3

To further explore whether rates of employment in field differ based on the number of years since graduation,

data for bachelor’s and master’s degree graduates were examined further. In other words, are graduates from

earlier years more likely to work in field and more recent graduates less likely to do so? See Figures 3 and 4 below.

Figure 3 illustrates that baccalaureate graduates from the earliest years (1960s and 1970s) and from the most

recent years (2010 through Dec 2017) are employed “in field” at the lowest rates. This may reflect that graduates

from the 1960s and 1970s likely have reached retirement age and, thus, have progressed beyond their main years

of employment. Conversely, newer graduates are at the entering stages of their careers and may be still

determining their career paths and/or accumulating experiences to assist in their entre to the career of their

choice. Even still, 74% of the matched recent bachelor’s degree graduates are considered to be employed in field.

Master’s degree graduates, on the other hand, are fairly stable in terms of employment in field regardless of the

recency of their degree award. Overall, 81% of master’s degree graduates were classified as employed in field.

77.0%

81.0%

88.3%

77.8%

21.7%

17.6%

11.7%

21.4%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Bachelor's Degree

Master's Degree

Doctorate Degree

Grand Total

Figure 2. In-Field vs. Out-of-Field Employment

% Employed in Field % Employed Out of Field Current employment not listed

66.0%72.8%

81.3% 80.4% 78.5%74.3%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Decade of graduation

Figure 3. Bachelor's Graduates Employed in Field

Average

78.3% 81.7% 78.6%83.6% 80.0%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Decade of graduation

Figure 4. Master's Graduates Employed in Field

Average

Office of Institutional Research 4

More to Explore Two interactive dashboards are available at ir.boisestate.edu and enable further exploration of the data.

1. Alumni Career Insights (https://ir.boisestate.edu/interactive-dashboards/alumni-career-insights/)

This dashboard enables users to explore employment outcomes, employers, top skills reported, location,

and in-field/out-of-field employment by degree level, department (representing field of study), and 5-year

graduation bands.

2. Career Pathways (https://ir.boisestate.edu/interactive-dashboards/career-pathways/)

The path that individuals take into careers can vary tremendously depending on major field of study,

years of experience, and occupational standards, licensure, or requirements. The image below shows the

career pathways dashboard, which enables deeper exploration based on degree level, major field of

study, and career outcomes.

Summary The EMSI Alumni Insight service provides valuable information about the graduates of Boise State University. As

may be expected, the data are more complete for recent graduates and for graduates in certain professions. On

the whole, nearly 80% of all graduates who were matched are classified as employed in field. In addition, a higher

proportion of more recent graduates are living in the region (over two-thirds) compared to graduates from

decades ago. Because the match rates vary between and within academic colleges, the information produced for

specific departments or fields of study will be more valuable to some areas over others.

Office of Institutional Research 5

Appendix A. Match Rates by Degree, College, and Academic Department (sorted by college and department)

# = Number of alumni who were matched (not total number of alumni in the population)

% = Match Rate; percentage of alumni who were matched

Bachelor’s

Degree Master's Degree

Post Master's Doctorate Degree

College Department # % # % # % # %

COAS Anthropology 159 37.2% 21 50.0%

COAS Art 770 33.0% 28 21.2%

COAS Bachelor of Applied Science 179 47.9%

COAS Biological Sciences 584 30.2% 78 32.2%

COAS Biomolecular Sciences

2 40.0%

6 85.7%

COAS Chemistry & Biochemistry 135 37.7% 6 40.0%

COAS College of Arts & Sciences 21 32.3% 33 28.0%

COAS Communication 1,721 48.7% 66 58.9%

COAS English 914 37.7% 232 43.2%

COAS Geosciences 196 32.3% 50 35.5%

9 39.1%

COAS History 494 28.6% 56 29.2%

COAS Mathematics 248 30.8% 40 40.4%

COAS Multidisciplinary Studies 244 45.9%

COAS Music 219 29.2% 41 30.4%

COAS Philosophy 94 39.3%

COAS Physics 61 43.6%

COAS Psychological Science 1,048 38.3%

COAS Sociology 833 32.7%

COAS Theatre, Film, & Creative Writ

129 33.7%

COAS World Languages 348 39.7%

COBE Accountancy 1,930 44.5% 256 61.4%

COBE College of Business & Economic

1,010 48.5%

COBE Economics 375 44.5%

COBE Finance 816 48.9%

COBE IT & Supply Chain Mgmt 975 50.0% 21 47.7%

COBE Management 2,466 45.1%

COBE Marketing 1,197 49.9%

COBE Marketing & Finance 89 22.1%

COED COED

52 39.7%

COED Counselor Education

123 41.3%

COED Curr, Instr & Fndtnl Stds 650 14.6% 297 21.8% 5 20.0%

COED Early and Special Education 45 19.9% 104 23.5%

COED Educational Technology

606 44.9%

10 71.4%

Office of Institutional Research 6

Bachelor’s

Degree Master's Degree

Post Master's Doctorate Degree

College Department # % # % # % # %

COED Elem Ed & Spec Studies

5 5.6%

COED Literacy, Language and Culture

57 17.5% 147 19.1%

COEN Civil Engineering 263 51.6% 65 55.6%

COEN Computer Science 307 52.2% 67 59.8%

COEN Construction Management 402 49.9%

COEN Elect & Computer Engr 327 58.3% 121 61.7%

10 50.0%

COEN Materials Sci & Engineering 98 71.0% 56 62.9%

8 80.0%

COEN Mechanical & Biomedical Eng 484 62.1% 50 76.9%

COEN Organizational Performance

476 55.2%

COHS Community & Env Hlth 967 36.5% 134 57.0%

COHS Kinesiology 659 29.0% 116 39.1%

COHS Nursing 972 28.6% 24 34.8%

7 53.9%

COHS Radiologic Sciences 173 26.5%

COHS Respiratory Care 268 30.7%

COHS School of Social Work 485 30.1% 562 40.8%

SPS Community & Regional Planning

20 76.9%

SPS Criminal Justice 670 30.0% 45 45.9%

SPS Environmental Studies 72 41.4%

SPS Political Science 860 43.9% 9 56.3%

SPS Public Policy & Admin

262 46.5%

1 50.0%

Prepared by:

Gabriel Stephens Shari Ellertson With project assistance from Jessica Lillegaard

February 25, 2019