Outcomes: Careers After Cornell

Class of 2025 Outcomes

83% knowledge rate for the Class of 2025 (n=1,065)

Primary StatusPercentage
Employed66.6%
Attending Graduate School28.8%
Seeking Employment1.3%
Other Endeavors*3.3%

* Other Endeavors includes preparing for graduate school, traveling, volunteering, taking time off, participating in related fellowships, etc.

Employment details

Class of 2025 graduates entered 17 unique sectors following graduation.  Sectors not listed below had 1% or less of the graduating class employed.

Employment SectorPercentage
Financial Services23%
Technology21%
Consulting/Professional Practice10%
Human Healthcare Services9%
Education7%
Law/Legal Services6%
Communications/Media4%
Other 4%
Government3%
Nonprofit Organization3%
Manufacturing3%
Retail2%
Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals/Life Sciences2%

Salary

  • Average: $88,426
  • High: $250,000
  • Median: $85,500

Top employers

Top Companies who hired Cornellians. 490 unique employers hired Class of 2025 graduates.

  1. Epic Systems
  2. Amazon Web Services
  3. JP Morgan Chase & Co.
  4. Meta
  5. Capital One | Deloitte | Google (tied)
  6. Cornell University | Goldman Sachs | Microsoft (tied)

Graduate school details

Class of 2025 graduates entered 123 unique graduate fields following graduation. Fields/degrees not listed below had 1% or less of the graduating class enrolled.

Graduate FieldPercentage
 Computer Science21%
Engineering9%
Law8%
Business 6%
Biological & Life Sciences6%
Medicine5%
Other Health Professions5%
Social Sciences5%
Chemistry4%
Other Physical Sciences4%
Information Science4%
Humanities4%
Statistics and Data Science3%
Fine & Performing Arts3%
Mathematics3%
Public Affairs & Services3%
Education2%

Degree types pursued

Degree TypePercentage
PhD21%
MEng20%
MS18%
JD8%
MA8%
MPS6%
MD4%
MFA3%

Sample Graduate Schools Attended:

Class of 2025 graduates attend 105 unique graduate institutions.

  • Brown University
  • Carnegie Mellon University
  • Columbia University in the City of New York
  • George Washington University
  • Harvard University
  • London School of Economics
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Stanford University
  • University of California - Berkeley
  • University of Cambridge
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  • University of Oxford
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Yale University

Where A&S Grads Are Headed

For the past five years, a majority of graduates have entered the workforce upon graduation, while about 1/3 enter graduate school. Most Cornellians applying to law school apply a few years after college, usually within one to three years of graduation. The majority of Cornellians applying to medical school take 1-2 gap years after graduation, meaning that they apply as a senior or one year after graduation.  This is increasingly common with other graduate and professional programs as well.

Graduates of A&S find success at organizations across the world in a diverse array of career fields: from technology, law, and finance to communications, government, and nonprofits. Similarly, A&S graduates pursue a bright diversity of graduate degrees after finishing their undergrad degrees here. A&S graduates find success in fields like computer science, medicine, mathematics, social sciences, fine arts, business management, law, engineering, and more.

About the Data

Cornell University conducts an annual survey of the postgraduate activities of our graduates. The reports provided represent first-destinations as reported by students and also through knowledge rates. Graduates of the College of Arts & Sciences go on to prestigious graduate programs, advanced professional degrees or directly into challenging and rewarding careers.

Overall reports for each major are available for survey years 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Major reports may include data from multiple graduating classes depending on the number of graduates.

  • For the Class of 2025, majors with 40+ respondents in the most recent year, we provide percentages for the most recent year.  
  • For majors with 50+ respondents in the last 5 years, we provide percentages for the last 5 years.
  • For majors with <50 respondents in the last 5 years, we provide descriptive information, but no percentages.
  • Majors that are new to the College of Arts & Sciences, such as Jewish Studies and Public Policy, do not have reports, as they do not have a significant number of graduates yet.

View and download college and major reports

If you need accessible versions of any of these documents, please contact as_communication@cornell.edu. You will receive a response within 2 business days.