2018 College Track Social Mobility Report 2018 Social Mobility Report | Page 3

Every year, we survey our college graduates
to test our belief that a bachelor’s degree is
the gateway to a successful career, economic
security and unlocking one’s full potential. In
conversations with our graduates, we often
hear affirming stories like Miriam’s:
“Compared to my parents, my
husband and I have a more
flexible lifestyle that allow us
to be financially and socially
independent. We have a say in
terms of what careers we want
to pursue and can travel to other
countries as much as we want. To
a certain degree, my parents still
live paycheck to paycheck and
have very little money for leisure
or savings.”
-Miriam,
2001 UC Berkeley graduate
Is Miriam’s experience representative of all
our college graduates?
Building on last year’s ​report​, we continue
investigating absolute measures of social
mobility such as employment, income and
feelings of economic security immediately
after college. This year we incorporated a
relative measure to refine our definition of
upward social mobility: earning more than
your parents do now. We also surveyed our
students later in their career to get a sense of
long-term outcomes after college.
Key Findings
We are optimistic about
our graduates’ career
outcomes. Five years after
college graduation they are
upwardly mobile, earning
more than their parents
with salaries on par with the
national average. Yet, six
months out of college, only
half of graduates find a full
time job. When comparing
these two age groups,
we infer that our younger
graduates will soon catch
up and enjoy the economic
security of their older peers.
College Track
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