Valparaiso University 2017–2018 Alumni Achieve 97 Percent Graduate Placement Rate
Graduate Placement Exceeds 90 Percent for 26 Consecutive Years
View the 2017-2018 Graduate Report
More than 90 percent of recent Valpo graduates have secured employment or enrolled in graduate school within nine months of graduation for the 26th straight year.
The overall placement rate for 2017–2018 alumni is 97.2 percent. This is based on data from more than 90 percent of graduates, significantly higher than the national recommended minimum of 65 percent. For the past four years, the average placement rate is 92.3 percent.
“Our Valpo alumni achieve career and graduate school placement across the country and throughout the world. They repeatedly demonstrate extraordinary integrity and character alongside their remarkable education in ways that positively impact the world around them,” said Mark A. Heckler, Ph.D., president. “Their success, indicated by continually high placement rates, is a testament to Valpo’s intellectually rigorous and innovative education, as well as our gifted faculty and dedicated staff who provide the resources and mentoring necessary for graduates to succeed in and beyond the classroom, and in life after graduation.”
Each year, Valparaiso University’s Career Center sponsors nearly 100 career preparation opportunities including networking events, mock interviews, panel discussions and professional development workshops. In addition, the Career Center hosts two major career fairs, both with more than 100 employers in attendance. The College of Engineering also hosts a STEM career fair with more than 45 employers in attendance.
2017–2018 alumni are employed across the country and world, with companies such as the Walt Disney Company, Caterpillar, NASA, General Mills, ABC7 Chicago, General Motors and Northwestern Medicine.
Highlights of the 2018 Graduate Report include:
- Graduates are working or studying in 36 states, the District of Columbia and 14 countries outside the United States. More than 40 percent of the 2017–2018 alumni work or attend graduate school in Indiana.
- Eight respondents are involved in full-time service: three at Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, three in the Peace Corps, one in AmeriCorps and one in Jesuit Volunteer Corps.
- Seven respondents are in the Armed Forces: two in the Army, one in the Navy, two in the Air Force, one in the Indiana National Guard and one in the Army National Guard.
- Six graduates were awarded Fulbright scholarships and are in Germany (2), Malaysia (2), Taiwan, and Poland.
