Findings of a Survey of Alumni of the Department of Sociology

Preliminary Draft, April 27, 2004 Findings of a Survey of Alumni of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University of Camden Fall 2003

By Ted Goertzel and Jon'a Meyer

The survey of majors of the programs in sociology and criminal justice was designed to find out how well their education had served them in their careers and in preparing for graduate education. Many of the items were repeated from a similar survey done in 1995. We wanted the alumni’s perspective on the program, their criticisms, and their suggestions for improvement. We were especially interested in contacting criminal justice alumni since that program had been initiated after the 1995 survey was done. The first criminal justice majors graduated in XXXX.

Instead of selecting a sample, we called as many of Table One the alumni as we could reach from a list provided Sociology and CJ Alumni by the Alumni Office. The master list included 1025 names, but only 538 of them had telephone Soc CJ numbers. Many of the numbers were no longer Female 77% 50% valid, and many alumni were hard to reach. In the Male 33% 50% end, we completed interviews with 143 graduates, of whom 105 had majored in sociology and 38 in Graduated before 2000 73% 11% criminal justice. Interviews were done by students Graduated 2000 or later 28% 89% taking Methods and Techniques of Social Research in the fall semester of 2003. Satisifed with Job 85% 76% Job Uses Education 58% 26% The majority of the sociology graduates were women, while the criminal justice graduates were Degree Helped Get Job 58% 26% equally divided between men and women. Most of the sociology alumni had graduated before Stayed in Student Job 43% 43% 2000, while most of the criminal justice alumni New Job in 6 months 25% 18% Longer than 6 months 17% 7% had graduated since 2000. Thus, the average Grad School 1% 18% sociology alumnus was farther along in his or her Still Looking 11% 14% career and the two groups should not be Did Not Seek Work 2% 0% considered as strictly comparable. Major Coursework: Most of the alumni, 73%, were working, while 7% Very Valuable 39% 37% Moderately Valuable 38% 40% were going to school, 2% were full time Somewhat Valuable 19% 24% homemakers, 9% were unemployed and 9% were Not Valuable 4% 0% in the "other" category. Among those who were working, most rated their job satisfaction "6 or Income higher" on a 10 point scale. Most were earning at Under $30,000 25% 23% $30,000 to $39,999 21% 50% least $30,000 a year. The higher incomes of the $40,000 to $49,000 26% 8% sociology majors reflect the fact that they have Over $50,000 28% 19% been out of school longer. Most of the sociology majors, 58%, but only a quarter of the criminal justice majors, felt that their job was one that made use of the skills they had learned in college (defined as rating 6 or more on a 10 point scale). Similar percentages of each group thought that their college degree had helped them to get their current job. The difference between sociology and criminal justice majors on this variable probably reflects the fact that the, on average, the sociology majors have been out of school longer. However, it may also be that the sociology major is considered preparation for a wider range of jobs, while criminal justice majors expect to be employed within criminal justice.

An unanticipated finding was the high percentage of both sociology and criminal justice majors who continued working in the same job they had held before graduation. Rutgers Camden is not a cooperative-education school, such as Drexel or Antioch, which integrates work into the experience of every student. However, most of our students do work and many choose Rutgers Camden because of their employment in the area. This suggests that more might be done to link our curriculum to students' current work experiences. The internship program in Criminal Justice is a step in this direction.

The alumni were reasonably satisfied with the extent to which their education provided them with skills that they needed on the job (Table Two). The table Table Two considers only responses from alumni Preparation in Skills who said they needed the skills in Inadequate Fair Very Well question; there were some whose jobs did not require quantitative or Interpersonal 7% 51% 42% computer skills. Preparation is weakest for those who require Writing 12% 43% 45% quantitative and computer skills, but Quantitative 19% 47% 34% even here most were fairly or very well satisfied. Most alumni consider Analytical 6% 45% 50% themselves to be open-minded and at least reasonably creative and analytical Computing 22% 38% 40% in their thinking. Most are fairly or Creativity 9% 47% 45% very well satisfied with their preparation in interpersonal and Open-mindedness 6% 34% 60% writing skills. Other 15% 50% 36% Satisfaction with the professors in the department was reasonably high, with 49% remembering their profs as "very valuable," 32% as "moderately valuable," 14% as "somewhat valuable" and only 4% as "not valuable". The percentage "very valuable" was higher in sociology, 53%, than in criminal justice, 38%. Of course, our sample includes only alumni who graduated. Students who found the professors "not valuable" would very likely have transferred to another school or left school altogether. Table Three Jobs Held by Alumni

Soc CJ

Table Three shows the jobs held Teacher or Educator 25 1 by the alumni, cross-tabulated by major. Social Worker or Counselor 17 3 Manager of a Business 11 4 In comparing the two majors, it is Salesperson 7 0 important to remember that the Police Officer 1 5 Probation Officer 3 2 sociology program is older, so many of Court Officer 1 3 the sociology majors have had more Correctional Officer 1 1 Manager Government or Social Service 1 1 time to settle into careers. Before the Nurse or other Medical Profession 2 0 sociology major was established, Financial Counseling, Tax, Benefits 2 0 Editor, Writer, Journalist 1 0 students interested in criminal justice Cook, Waiter, Restaurant Worker 2 0 careers often majored in sociology with Lawyer, Attorney 1 0 Computer, Systems Analyst 1 0 a minor in criminal justice. Loss Prevention Specialist 0 1 Among the sociology majors, by far the most common careers are in teaching, social work or counseling, business management or sales. Many of the criminal justice majors find themselves in these fields as well, but many are also employed as police officers, probation officers, court or correctional officers. Some of the sociology majors are also in these fields, but these are probably students who would have majored in criminal justice if it had been available when they were students. There is a scattering of alumni in other fields, but it seems realistic to think of the sociology major as preparing students for careers as teachers, counselors or social workers and the criminal justice major as preparing students for careers as police, probation or court officers. Students who intend a career in business are probably more likely to major in business, but we should keep in mind that many of our students do make their careers in the business world.