Career outcomes for the Augustana Class of 2024

A total of 406 of the 480 graduates in Augustana's Class of 2024 completed the survey used in the First Destinations Report, for a response rate of 84.58%.

See the report (PDF)

More student outcomes
 

Augustana College and families of prospective Vikings have an important tool for seeing a snapshot of the value of an Augustana education. It's called the First Destinations Report.

Each year, Augustana's Office of Career Development and Vocation reports on the positive outcomes of the most recent graduating class—those starting on their careers, entering graduate or professional school, or taking time to continue research or learning experiences that will strengthen applications and clarify goals. 

At 99.5%, the positive outcome rate for the Class of 2024 surpasses the 98-99% of recent years.

Laura Kestner-Ricketts is Augustana's executive director of career development and vocation, based in CORE (Careers, Opportunities, Research, Exploration). Working with colleagues in both CORE and institutional research, Kestner-Ricketts administers the report each year.

For the college, it's important to see what the report says about how "Augustana's commitment to experiential learning and career preparation translates into real-world success," said Kestner-Ricketts.

Gathering data on experiential or hands-on learning, the report shows the percentage of students who had at least one internship at Augustana and/or engaged in at least one research experience. For the Class of 2024, the combined percentage was 79%—the highest percentage since the 2020 report, in which data reflect the accumulated experiences of students during the four years leading up to the pandemic.

More proof of Augustana graduates' high level of ability and achievement is the rate to which they are accepted into one of their top two graduate school choices. Of the 38% of students who applied to graduate school in 2024, 97% were accepted. Of those graduate-level students, 93% were accepted into one or both of their top two schools.

Most graduate students from 2024 are in the health science fields: dentistry, medicine, mental health, nursing, optometry, physical therapy, public health, speech-language pathology and veterinary medicine. Others are in fields from business and law to engineering to the creative arts.

While the data can show that certain experiences contribute to success, it doesn't show the number of mentoring relationships and depth of the connections that students make, as they develop their career paths with the support of incredible success teams.

"CORE helped every step along the way in my professional development—such as helping me develop my résumé for a summer career, apply for an internship and practice interviews for medical schools," said pre-med major Kira Nelson '25, from Milan, Illinois.

"The relationships I've made have helped push me to become the best student, athlete and person that I can be—which I know will apply to my future as a doctor."

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