Case Western Reserve University’s Class of 2024 entered college in 2020 during the uncertainty of a global pandemic, navigating remote learning, modified experiences and missed celebrations. Now—nearly a year after graduation—they’re reporting remarkable post-graduation achievements in the most-recent First Destination Survey from the Career Center.
Despite facing a more challenging job market, nearly half of graduates secured full-time employment, while 42% pursued advanced education at prestigious institutions around the world. With strong median salaries—matching last year’s record high—impressive rates of professional school acceptances, and wide-ranging career placements across the U.S. and abroad, the Class of 2024 demonstrated resilience and adaptability in charting their post-graduation paths.
“Overall, 96% secured post-graduate plans such as employment, advanced degrees, entrepreneurship and more,” said Drew Poppleton, assistant vice president for careers and corporate engagement. “Our students continue to thrive—both through experiential learning opportunities during their time at CWRU, and at prestigious employers and schools after graduation.”
Data about first destinations for CWRU graduates is collected annually by the Career Center through surveys sent to members of the graduating class, social media and conversations with faculty and staff. This year’s survey boasts a knowledge rate of 91.3%—the highest rate it’s ever achieved.
Once again, this year’s outcomes also include data collected from various centralized application services used by professional programs, and illustrate CWRU graduates’ competitiveness when choosing to pursue advanced degrees.
“The Class of 2024 has demonstrated remarkable success in gaining acceptance to professional schools,” said Krittika Grau, senior associate director for career education. “In fact, 100% of students applying to dentistry, physician assistant, physical therapy, optometry, pharmacy and law programs were admitted to top schools.”
In addition to these impressive outcomes, the survey showed that hands-on learning remains a cornerstone of the CWRU experience, with 98% of the Class of 2024 reporting involvement in at least one hands-on learning opportunity during their time at CWRU—including internships, research, shadowing, entrepreneurship and more.
The full results of the First Destination Survey are available online. For those who would like to explore the data in greater detail, an interactive Tableau dashboard containing the last nine years of data is also available. For the first time, the dashboard also allows filtering by student demographics, such as Pell recipient status, first-generation college status and more.
Employment
For graduates who chose to pursue full-time employment, the industries with the most number of graduates were engineering (26%), research and science (16%), nursing (12%), healthcare/public health (11%), information technology and technology (8%) and financial service (5%).
Ohio (147) remained the most popular destination for graduates beginning their careers, followed in significant numbers by Illinois (21), New York (20), California (17), Maryland (12), Massachusetts (12), Pennsylvania (11) and Texas (11). The value of a CWRU education was recognized internationally as well, with students accepting positions in Spain, Germany, Austria, Japan, Benin and Thailand.
In these sought-after job markets, graduates found positions with top firms, several of which hired three or more members of the Class of 2024:
- Amazon
- Case Western Reserve University
- Cleveland Clinic
- Deloitte
- Epic
- EY
- Intel
- KeyBank
- Lincoln Electric
- Matrix Pointe Software
- McMaster-Carr Supply Company
- National Institutes of Health
- Northwestern Medicine
- Parker Hannifin
- University Hospitals
- University of Virginia
Graduates with permanent full-time employment reported a median starting salary range of $75,000-79,999, consistent with last year’s record high.
Advanced education
Case Western Reserve graduates pursuing advanced degrees (42%) were accepted to more than 118 diverse institutions in the U.S. and abroad including:
- Boston University
- Brown University
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Duke University
- Georgetown University
- Harvard University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Northwestern University
- Ohio State University
- Princeton University
- Purdue University
- Stanford University
- University of California System
- University of Michigan
- University of Oxford
- University of Pennsylvania
- Vanderbilt University
- Yale University
For graduates applying to professional schools, their acceptance rates were consistently higher than the national average, with several programs boasting a 100% acceptance rate for applicants from the Class of 2024:
- Medical school: 73% acceptance rate, compared to 47% nationally
- Dental school: 100% acceptance rate, compared to 55% nationally
- Physician assistant programs: 100% acceptance rate, compared to 40% nationally
- Physical therapy programs: 100% acceptance rate, compared to 74% nationally
Experiential education
Experiential learning is a cornerstone of the undergraduate experience at Case Western Reserve, with students engaging in research, creative projects, internships, co-ops, study abroad, community service and more. These hands-on opportunities provide valuable real-world experience and help prepare students for their next steps after graduation.
Of graduates who responded to survey questions about experiential education, participation included:
- 98% indicated that they participated in at least one experiential education activity;
- 85% conducted research or pursued a creative endeavor;
- 73% completed an internship, practicum or co-op;
- 49% engaged in community service;
- 38% participated in shadowing experiences; and
- 33% studied abroad.
Review the full results of the 2024 First Destination Survey