Glossary and Technical Information about the Outcomes Dashboard

History and an Overview

For each of the 2013-2020 graduating classes, every summer (2014-2021), the Office of Institutional Research (OIR) produced an annual report on the placement rates, employment, graduate school attendance, and other statistics (e.g., placement by Major) within 12 months after graduating from Gettysburg. Published on the OIR website, these reports used data collected by the Center for Career Engagement (CCE) and the OIR. In addition to summary statistics, each report included two appendices: Appendix A (Employment by Major: Job Title; Employer; Employment Location), and Appendix B (Graduate School Attendance by Major: Graduate School; Graduate Degree; Graduate Field of Study).

Largely based on those reports, during the 2021-22 academic year, OIR created an interactive data visualization-Outcomes Dashboard. First published in April 2022, the initial dashboard included eight graduating classes (2013-2020). Later, four additional graduating classes were added: 2021 graduating class (added in mid-December 2022), 2022 graduating class (added in February 2024), 2023 graduating class (added in April 2025), and 2024 graduating class (added in mid-December 2025). 

This dashboard provides a snapshot of recent graduates' first destinations. For each of these 12 graduating classes, a large sample is displayed. In total:

  • About 4,250 graduates are included in the Employment section.
  • About 1,300 graduates are included in the Graduate Schools section.
  • Taking into account approximately 50 graduates included in both sections-those who were both employed (in a position other than being a graduate assistant) and attending graduate school within that timeframe, close to 5,500 graduates (unduplicated headcount) are included in the dashboard (i.e., about 460 per graduating class).

Some graduates self-reported (on the exits surveys; see below) that they had accepted a job offer or would be attending graduate school in the coming fall. Some self-reported being employed or attending graduate school on the alumni follow-up survey. Yet they did not provide their employer or graduate school name and their LinkedIn profile was not found (at the time of the study). Therefore, these graduates are not displayed on the dashboard.

Double Majors 

Employment and graduate school information of double majors are displayed under both majors. For example, when you select the 2019 graduating class and the French major, you will notice a graduate pursuing a PhD in Microbiology/Virology; when you select the 2019 graduating class and the Biology major, that information is displayed as well, as that individual was a double major of French and Biology. A few students were triple majors-they were included under each of the three majors. 

Interactive Features 

  • Using the filtering boxes, you can select one or more Graduating Classes at a time. You can select either All Majors or one Major at a time (but it won't allow you to select multiple Majors at a time). 
  • When you click an Industry in the Word Cloud, that Industry will be highlighted (shaded in light blue) and the Employers, Positions & Location linked with that Industry will appear. To clear your selection and restore the full view, click that same Industry again; otherwise, you are stuck with a partial view.
  • Click a graduate degree (e.g., Ph.D.), the graduate schools and graduate fields linked with that degree will appear. Click that degree again to clear your selection. 

Data Sources

For each graduating classes, multiple data sources were used, including:  

  • Alumni Follow-up Survey conducted annually by the CCE, typically during late spring or early summer (2013-2024 graduating classes) 
  • LinkedIn profile search conducted by the OIR and the CCE (2013-2024 graduating classes) 
  • HEDS Graduating Senior Survey conducted annually in mid-April to early May by the OIR (2013-2019 graduating classes & 2024 graduating class) 
  • Senior Commencement Prep Day Survey conducted annually in mid-April to early May by the CCE (2018-2024 graduating classes) 
  • Academic departments and personal knowledge of the CCE staff

For the 2021-2024 graduating classes, employment and graduate school data were mostly collected by the CCE.

For a small number of graduates, information was obtained from Facebook or company/institutional websites.

Outcome Categories and Rates

The “Employed” category also includes graduates who were in military service or in National Service (e.g., Teach for America).

A small percentage of graduates were both Employed and Attending Graduate School; they were coded based on their (supposed) primary activity (Employed or Attending Graduate School) and were counted only once in the calculation of summary statistics (e.g., outcome rates).

The “Other” category includes graduates who were applying to graduate school, travelling, or volunteering (but not in National Service).

Sources of summary statistics (Knowledge Rates; % Employed; % Attending Graduate School/Pursuing Further Education; % Other; % Seeking Employment): 

  • 2013-2020 and 2024 graduating classes: OIR
  • 2021 & 2022 graduating classes: CCE
  • 2023 graduating class: OIR and CCE

Position/Job Title

A graduate's Position/Job Title was based on their self-reported job title on surveys or LinkedIn profiles. Some Positions/Job Titles were collapsed/combined for this dashboard purpose. For example, teachers of all grades and subjects were collapsed into one Position/Job Title category: Teacher. Various analysts such as business analysts and financial analysts were collapsed into: Analyst. 

Employer Industry

For those who were employed, CCE categorized their Employers by Industry (each Employer was indicated with one Industry). 19 Industry categories were used. The coding scheme has limitations, e.g., some Employers may fall into more than one category, and some categories are not mutually exclusive. 

Post-graduate Degree Type

Medical Doctorate/Post-graduate Degree in Health Professions:

  • Medical Doctorate: includes graduates pursuing MD (Doctor of Allopathic Medicine), DO (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine), DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) or DMD (Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry or Doctor of Dental Medicine), DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine), DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy), DOT (Doctor of Occupational Therapy), PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy), OD (Doctor of Optometry), and DC (Doctor of Chiropractic). This group constitutes the largest proportion (about 50%) within the combined category: Medical Doctorate/Post-graduate Degree in Health Professions.
  • Post-graduate Degree in Health Professions: includes
    • those pursuing a master's degree in Nursing, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant/Physician Assistant Studies, Occupational Therapy, Clinical Psychology, Acupuncture & Herbology, Biomedicine, Cardiovascular Perfusion, Clinical Exercise Physiology, Dietetics, Exercise & Sport Science, Exercise Physiology, Exercise Science, Genetic Counseling, Human Nutrition, Nutrition Education/Sciences, and Surgery
    • those pursing a second/accelerated bachelor’s degree in Nursing
    • One graduate pursuing a DVM/PhD (a combined-degree program: Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences)
    • Two graduates pursuing a Psy.D (Doctor of Psychology; graduate field: Clinical Psychology)
    • One graduate pursuing a MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery)

Other Terminal Degree/MFA: Includes those pursuing a Master of Fine Arts (mostly in Creating Writing, also in Screenwriting, Writing, Photography, Acting, Ceramics, Theatre). This was a new category added in Dec. 2025-Previously, MFA was coded as Master's. The number for earlier graduating classes might be approximate-A few graduates pursuing an MFA might have been missed. 

Graduate School Name

  • "The Pennsylvania State Univ." refers to the Penn State Main Campus located at University Park, except for a few graduates who attended Penn State Dickinson Law (located in Carlisle). 
  • "West Virginia Univ." refers to its main campus in Morgantown.
  • "Univ. of Georgia" refers to its Athens Campus.
  • "Univ. of New Hampshire" refers to its main campus in Durham.

Other Technical Information  

For this dashboard, some December graduates were included in the graduating class of the same calendar year; in the Gettysburg College Fact Book, they were designated as part of the subsequent graduating class; for example, some December 2024 graduates were included as part of the 2024 graduating class for this dashboard purpose, while the Fact Book designated them as part of the 2025 graduating class. Some December graduates, however, were included as part of the subsequent graduating class for this dashboard. Regardless of classification method, there was no double counting.

During winter 2021-22 and early spring of 2022, for the 2013-2020 graduating classes, additional LinkedIn profile search was conducted by OIR for the creation of the dashboard, obtaining career information of those originally "Unknown" individuals by checking the particular 12-month period following their graduation; these were the individuals for whom no career information was available when the OIR released its original report for that graduating class. Because of the additional LinkedIn search, the Knowledge Rates and Outcome Rates were adjusted for those earlier graduating classes, resulting in a slight increase (1~6%) in the Knowledge Rates, but no change in the combined percentage of "Employed" and "Attending Graduate School/Pursuing Further Education" compared with the figures in the original PDF reports by the OIR.