Fall, 1996

Since Eckerd/FPC was founded, about 250 students have graduated with an Economics major. During 1996, we surveyed Economics graduates to see what they have been doing since graduation. We received responses from about 60 people. Together with information from our personal knowledge, and information based on a previous survey, we are able to provide the experiences of more than 150 people. Those entries marked * are dated or based on personal knowledge. They are included to give an idea of the range of experiences our Alums have had.

The survey results of these 150+ graduates represents the experience of every graduate we were able to track down. It is unedited and as complete as we can make it as of the time we went to press. Those of us on the faculty want to thank all the Alumni who responded for sharing their post-Eckerd/FPC experiences with us.

The most common question students ask us is, "What can you do with an Economics major?" We have sought to answer it by helping students understand what our majors actually have done. We asked each survey respondent to indicate their most recent job title and firm (C), their immediate past job title and firm (I), and their first, post-college professional employment (F). This allows us to get an idea of career paths as well as current employments.

Our graduates have had a wide variety of experiences. They work in all sectors of the economy, in many industrial groups and in many job categories. Their career paths are as varied as their employment experiences. Some have changed jobs and occupations over their careers, others remain with the same firm with which they started. Many are with major national corporations, others have followed an entrepreneurial path and run their own firms. Some have made explicit use of their undergraduate major, others have used the degree as a stepping stone to general management positions.

In addition to employment experiences, we asked our Alumni to tell us of their post-graduate education. The most commonly pursued degree by our majors is the MBA. In addition, they hold graduate degrees in Economics, Law, Industrial Relations, Psychology, Biology, Engineering, Divinity, and Public Policy. Many working in the insurance industry are Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters and Chartered Life Underwriters. We have included a list of all the graduate schools and programs our Alumni have been accepted at or attended.

We asked our survey respondents to pass on advice to current Economics undergraduates and to make other general comments to undergraduates. This has been collated so that the advice and comments are presented chronologically. These comments are unedited in terms of content and only slightly edited in terms of style. The advice, as might be expected, covers a wide range of ground, but several clear thoughts run through the observations of our Alumni. All these comments are from only current survey respondents.

Time stands still for no survey and as we go to press there are undoubtedly already changes in job titles, firms, and educational experience. Hopefully, any errors are minimal and, while we apologize for anyone's position we have misrepresented, we are sure that any errors do not change the overall flavor of the accomplishments of our graduates.

Thanks once again to all the Economics graduates who participated in the survey.

The Eckerd Economics Faculty

Joan Combs Durso
Diana Fuguitt (EC '76)
Peter Hammerschmidt
Tom Oberhofer

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