Pathways Project

About Us

The Post Penn Pathways Project is an interactive data project conducted by The Signal and the Wharton Dean's Undergraduate Advisory Board that tracks recently-graduated alumni career progression. Our purpose is to alleviate confusion around choosing a "perfect job" right out of college and expose students to a diverse set of possible journeys to take post-grad.

The sample includes 200 Wharton alumni who graduated after 2010. The team randomly found these alumni using a LinkedIn and MyPenn search filtered by graduation date. The data were analyzed and visualized using R and Plot.ly. Because of the random nature of this search, this sample can be used to gain insight into Wharton graduates more broadly.

 
 

Graph 1: Progression of Industries Across the First Seven years

From left to right, this chart represents the industry each person was in at that year in their career, from 0 (right after graduation) to 7 years after. For example, 84 students started in Investment Banking, and 82 were still in IB after 1 year. Between 1 and 2 years, 8 people moved from IB to private equity. Readers can follow the chart from left to right to view the career progression of different students across each year. Some students did not have data up to 7 years, having graduated more recently, which explains why the height of bars drop as the years increase.

Graph 2: Progression of Industries Across First Three Job Changes

From left to right, this chart represents the change in industry for individuals who have held three or more jobs. For example, 56 students started their first job in consulting. 44 stayed in consulting across their first job change. 4 students went from their second job in consulting into graduate school.

Legend

Investment Banking (IB) - Blue

Venture Capital (VC) - Orange

Private Equity (PE) - Purple

Gap year - Purple

Airline - Blue

Financial Services (FS), includes hedge fund - White

Energy - Pink

Life Sciences, includes pharmaceuticals, healthcare, biotechnology (LS) - Orange

Consulting - Red

Technology (Tech), includes startup - Yellow

Real Estate (RE) - Green

Media, includes marketing and sports - Pink

Education - Orange

Industrials, includes chemical engineering (Ind) - Yellow

Graduate school, includes business school - Green

Retail, includes fashion - Black