The Doctoral Student Experience Survey and Master’s Student Experience Survey help the GC understand student experience and satisfaction in areas such as program information and academic advising, professional development and career advising, community building, and support and obstacles. The most recent survey also asked questions about diversity, equity, and inclusion and the impacts of COVID-19.
The Master’s Student Exit Survey provides information on graduating master’s students' immediate employment plans, whether this employment is related to their degree, and whether they believe completing their degree was worthwhile. Once a master’s student has deposited their thesis or capstone project with the library, they are directed to complete the Master’s Exit Survey.
The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) is an exit survey given to all graduating doctoral students and is administered by the National Science Foundation. The SED gathers information annually from new research doctorate graduates from U.S. universities about their educational histories, funding sources, and post-doctoral plans. The SED data are added to a historical national record dating back to 1920 that is used to track the number of graduates in various disciplines, follow their educational paths and movement into the labor market, and study related information about doctoral education. The most recent SED national results are located here, on the NSF website.
The Master’s and Doctoral Exit survey responses are merged with other information in our Alumni Tracking Database about the employment outcomes of Graduate Center students.
The GC is an affiliate partner in the PhD Career Pathways project conducted by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and participates in two of its surveys. The CGS Student Survey is developed by CGS and administered by OIRE to current doctoral students. It provides information on the types of jobs students aim to have and the extent to which students believe their program is providing them the necessary research skills and professional development opportunities to realize those career goals. More information and posted national findings are located here, on the CGS website.