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LIBERAL EDUCATION AND OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE: A SURVEY OF GRADUATES

WESLEY GENE WOLFE, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze information collected from graduates of the Creighton University College of Arts and Sciences, information relating to the graduates' postbaccalaureate educational and career decisions. The graduating classes of 1961, 1966, 1971 and 1976 were surveyed. Specific objectives of the study were to determine the number of graduates who completed advanced degrees; the nature of career choices; level of job satisfaction; relationships between major and career choice; the graduates' evaluation of their liberal arts education; and how the graduate's perceptions of the outcomes of the liberal arts education compare with the College's goals for liberal education. A four-page questionnaire including twenty-two items was developed for the study. It was mailed with a cover letter to 1060 graduates. A return rate of 58.5 percent was achieved. Data from the returned questionnaires were organized, coded and processed through the Creighton University Academic Computer Facility, utilizing the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Twenty-eight tables of data relating to the six questions formulated for the study were developed and presented. Major findings of the study were as follows: over 50 percent of Creighton graduates completed advanced degrees; nearly three-fourths made career choices within four occupational areas (educational and social services, social sciences and legal services, management and planning, medicine and medical technologies); half of the graduates made their occupational choice after graduation; most graduates were satisfied with employer and occupation; nearly three-fourths of the graduates reported some relationship between undergraduate major and occupation; in general, the graduates gave high evaluation to their undergraduate educational experience.

Subject Area

Higher education

Recommended Citation

WOLFE, WESLEY GENE, "LIBERAL EDUCATION AND OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE: A SURVEY OF GRADUATES" (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8217567.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8217567

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