For college students, June is a month filled with final tests, projects, end-of-the-year parties and graduation events. It is a time of farewells and new beginnings — a gap for most between one school year and the next. But for some, June marks the end of their university experience.
Beneath the hand-shaking and picture-taking is the quiet realization that students’ paths in life are about to diverge radically, perhaps never to reconvene. The graduates now face the threshold that every student prepares to cross. Have all their studies readied them for life’s journey, and, of course, what comes with life after graduation?
It’s easy to fall back on statistics to gain a sense of security in the future; a core promise of a college education lies in the dividends that it will pay out over the course of a lifetime. UCI’s Division of Career Pathways reports that for the most recent cohort of Anteaters to become alumni — those who graduated between 2022 and 2024 — have an average salary currently at $62,640 per year.
Following that same report, recent graduates from the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences take in the largest incomes, averaging $76,413 and $84,264, respectively, while the other schools mainly range between averages of $50,000 and $65,000 per year.
The University of California’s report on UC alumni at work graphs the steady rise of graduates’ incomes over their early careers; 5 years after graduation, they present a median income of $74,730. A decade after their time at UCI, the report details a median of $103,038 for the college’s alumni.
When gazing at averaged calculations of the future, statistics can reassure. But they leave an impersonalized gap when questioning how to prepare oneself for the transition from university to the workforce. That is to say, how does one become that ten-year average?
Five years after graduating, Alumni Emily MacLean looks back on the preparations UCI gave her with full endorsement. She completed her Master of Arts in Teaching with an emphasis on elementary education in 2020, earning her teaching credential at the same time.
According to the “UC alumni at work” report, over 70% of UC alumni continue to work and reside in California after graduation. MacLean follows this trend, currently teaching in the Irvine Unified School District. Reflecting on her career path, she gives credit to the connections made during her time in the Master’s program.
“UCI just does such a great job of partnering with all of the school districts in south Orange County, and I think they’re very well known, so they definitely set us up for success with getting a job post-grad,” MacLean told New University.
She emphasized the impact and connections offered locally by a UCI degree, explaining that, “I think to even have UCI on your resume — it looked really well with school districts in the area, and they also did a great job in our program of preparing us to interview at school sites … I mean, [my cohort] graduated in July 2020, and I got a job in Saddleback Valley Unified School District in August.”
In detailing the worth of a completed college degree, the aforementioned “UC alumni at work” report affirms the principle that a UC degree “provides structure and opportunities for students to develop the attributes sought after by employers,” and that it is through enhancing these attributes that the UC system is “preparing UC graduates for the workforce.”
Responding to the question of how UCI prepared her for the transition from a graduate program to the workforce, MacLean shared that her UC experience gave her solid expectations for the reality of a career in education. In particular, MacLean lauds the immersive, and sometimes intensive, experience offered by student teaching through the Master’s program.
“You were not only taking classes at UCI, but then you were also simultaneously student teaching,” MacLean said. “It was so heavily based in the school sites … you were already sort of in the workforce in that way — very much in the classroom — and being well prepared for taking on a teaching job right away.”
MacLean’s advice to current UCI students grappling with uncertainty after graduation comes from her own experience of student teaching and making connections in her time at university.
“Whatever field you’re in, make sure that you can do the most to be as involved as you can,” Maclean said. “Whether that’s an internship, whether that’s student teaching, whether it’s… in a lab working with somebody and learning alongside them — because being able to ask questions is such a great life skill… it’s really important to feel and be confident in what you’re doing.”
The highlight of her time student teaching remains that, “there was such an emphasis on — you’re not just supporting your mentor teacher, you are actively teaching the classroom at the same time,” adding “you really got a taste [that] this is what it’ll be like.”
That final sentiment sums up Maclean’s takeaway: the best preparation is an active one. Pursuing involvement in a chosen field during a student’s time at university offers a unique testing ground, a glimpse into one’s own future that’s much more personalized than a ten-year average.
Transitions are slow and steady. Graduation is a tremendous milestone, but with preparation, it doesn’t have to be a gap or a cliff face. The truth is, life after graduation can start before graduation.
John Trytten is a Features Intern for the 2025 summer quarter. He can be reached at tryttenj@uci.edu.
Edited by Peyton Arthur and Joshua Gonzales
