7 October 2014
New from AIP: One Year After Receiving a Master's Degree
Richard Fienberg AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force
This announcement comes from Patrick Mulvey, Statistical Research Center, American Institute of Physics:
The Statistical Research Center at the American Institute of Physics (AIP), of which the AAS is a member society, has released a new reports based on the annual AIP follow-up survey of master's-degree recipients, classes of 2009, 2010, and 2011. Entitled "Focus on Physics & Astronomy Master's One Year After Degree," the report describes what physics and astronomy master's recipients who left their departments were doing one year after receiving their degrees.
Highlights:
- The majority of physics masters who were US citizens accepted employment or continued in a position they held while pursuing their degrees.
- The majority of physics masters who were not US citizens enrolled in a graduate program, many in physics at a different university.
- The private sector employed the largest number of masters, which were overwhelmingly working in STEM fields. Masters in newly accepted positions in the private sector had a median starting salary of $60,000.
Similar to exiting physics masters, the astronomy masters took their careers in a variety of directions. About half of the exiting astronomy masters for whom we had outcome data entered the workforce, and a third continued their graduate studies in a variety of fields, including in astronomy at a different institution. A few individuals left the US after receiving their degrees.
For details, see the report on AIP's website.