Not sure if it is normal for 25% of CS students to be continuing education, with the bulk of them enrolled in master’s program at cmu itself!
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I posted this in another thread. It was in my LinkedIn feed. A rejected candidate who refused to be rejected.
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I’d say it’s pretty normal especially with the number of grads wanting to be at a top AI lab as researchers. Those roles generally need enrollment in a masters or phd - even if you don’t finish the program 
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Among school of CS and AI majors, the stats were as follows. The trend seems to be a slight increase in portion working and slight decrease in portion continuing education.
CMU Post Grad Stats
2021: 68% Working (Median Salary = $120k), 31% Continuing Education, 1% Seeking
2023: 70% Working (Median Salary = $135k), 25% Continuing Education, 4% Seeking
2025: 73% Working (Median Salary = $140k), 24% Continuing Education, 2% Seeking
Among students continuing education, there appears to be a slight decrease in portion continuing at CMU, although continuing at CMU still makes up the overwhelming majority of those continuing education. This probably relates to CMU 5th year master’s program for School of CS students.
% of Continuing Education Students Pursuing Grad Degrees at CMU
2021: 81% continuing at CMU
2023: 80% continuing at CMU
2025: 75% continuing at CMU
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Thanks. I was just curious if the 2% number is skewed by students at private schools being able to afford enrolling in master’s programs. I think comparable public schools have a much higher percentage seeking employment and lower percentage continuing education.
Among highly selective colleges, public colleges tend to have a higher % continuing education than private universities (intentionally excluding LACs). I suspect finance/consulting plays a role, but I’ve never reviewed in much detail. Georgiatech as limited stats, and Berkeley uses a rolling sample including before kids have graduated, so I’ll use UIUC as an example. Stats are below for UIUC CS majors:
CS Majors: 62% Working (Median Salary = $135k), 34% Continuing Education, 4% Seeking
All Majors&: 58% Working (Median Salary = $80k), 34% Continuing Education, 7% Seeking
& Most common majors are computer science, computer engineering, and psychology
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Boy is this list wrong!!!
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-30-highest-paying-jobs-in-america/
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Thanks for the correction. Somehow in my mind, I thought master’s programs (cash cows) in CS/Engg have mostly private school and international students.
I believe when S22 checked with USC, they said close to 80% students were international in their MSCS program.
Universities make big bucks off master’s programs. A +1 master’s is a fifth year of tuition, and many schools are intentionally designing programs to hook their students to stay enrolled.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the programs are bad, but students should look at them critically and not just assume an advanced degree automatically means better opportunities. They also need to decide if they want a terminal masters or a traditional one.
I’m concerned about the quality of AI-related programs, where demand has exploded so quickly. AI is evolving so fast that I wonder how many universities are truly equipped to provide a high quality education in the field.
And “percent working” would be a lot more valuable if it was “percent using their degree” since underemployment is a big problem.
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Looks like the numbers are mean averages of W-2 income only. Some jobs like big company CEO and elite finance tend to have substantial compensation in forms other than W-2 income.
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Seems like job type could be classified as:
- Job where degree in major is important.
- Job where bachelor’s degree is essential or important, but not heavily major related.
- Job where bachelor’s degree is not normally expected (common definition of “underemployed”).
The middle category may be the norm for some majors, but may be a disappointment for students in more pre-professional majors.
The middle category may also include jobs that have credential creep, where they require bachelor’s degrees but do not use skills or knowledge that a bachelor’s degree indicates over an associates degree or high school diploma.
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I agree. My classification is too simplistic, but more my reaction to current headlines like below. We all like statistics (me, too) to make us feel safe in our decisions, and our risks, but often they don’t tell the whole story.
“Overall, 42% of recent college graduates were classified as underemployed, the highest level since 2020.”
*I don’t know how I quoted myself and my comment ended up in a gray box 
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I agree about international students. In the 2024 CRA analysis, the percent international by degree enrollment were as follows. According to an unofficial reference, IPEDS is higher at 74%, as listed in table below. The enrollment math works out because a lareg portion of CS/engineering international students do their undergrad outside of US.
BS in CS – 14% international, 70% public colleges
MS in CS – 70% international, 64% public colleges
PhD in CS – 71% international, 65% public colleges
This also fits with my personal experience. I was among ~40% of Stanford school of engineering/CS students that do a co-terminal masters (simultaneously pursue BS + MS), yet the overwhelming portion of in-class EE/CS master’s students were international.
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An alternative….
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Yes my daughter just graduated from CS major and Business minor from UMD. She graduated Summa cum Laude in 3 yrs.
Though she had several job offers she chose a start up in San Francisco after deciding she let go of her other opportunities.
Just 1 week before graduation she was told by that SF start up that they overhired and she has no job now…
She has been high achieving student and I don’t know what to say. I had strong feeling about that start up and had begged her not to go to SF as it is too expensive to live. Now I am feeling bad for her at the same time I don’t know how to help her.
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Similarly a parent of a 3-year summa cum laude graduate here, and while my kid’s experience to date isn’t as horrible as your kid’s—having a job offer simply taken away like that because the company was stupid even feels unethical, you know?—the tightness of the entry-level job market is palpable, no matter what the pollyannas on this thread seem to believe. A 5.6% unemployment rate is still more than 1 in 20, after all, and when underemployment is above 40%, yeah, not great even for many of those who are employed.
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Yes, having taking away the job at the last minute is awful! but I told her what if she started and after few weeks , this happened she would have second guessed herself! so as bad it is right now I believe she will figure something out! Gold gets purified in heat!
I told her no job is guaranteed now a days in most of the fields and she has to understand that.
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and since she had multiple offers before, it’s proven that she is more than capable. She’ll find the next fit soon.
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That’s the hope! Hopium 
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You can help her by suggesting she reach out to career services at her college IMMEDIATELY. She is not the only class of ‘26 grad in this particular boat. There will be companies over the summer approaching career services for an early Fall event date, and some of them could be open to bringing someone on over the summer.
She should also reach out to the recruiters at any company where she got an offer or even made it to a final round to reiterate her interest. She can write a brief explanatory email
“I was attracted to the start up culture in SF and accepted an offer for a company working in XYZ, despite my interest in the work that you do at ABC. The offer has been withdrawn due to soft business results, so I just wanted to see if there was a possibility of restarting the process with your company. I enjoyed everyone I met and am confident that I would be a hard-worker and solid contributor to the team”.
Good luck to her. This stinks but isn’t fatal…. yes, the market is tight. But she will land on her feet.
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