Resources and Services

At SUSE, there are many resources and career support services available. The most important of these are our faculty, alumni and academic services staff.

For Doctoral Students

Faculty can assist students in setting their research agendas, gaining field experience, and locating practice or internships that will enhance opportunities for employment upon graduation. The faculty with whom doctoral students work are often the key resource in finding relevant professional placements. The Financial Aid Coordinator within SUSE frequently transmits notices about research or teaching assistantships for doctoral students available within SUSE or in other Schools or departments at Stanford. Some assistantships are available through local education research organizations with whom the School of Education has research partnerships.

For Masters Students

The Director of Career Development works with Masters students throughout the academic year to help them identify internship and pre-professional part-time job opportunities. Career Services maintains a virtual internship and employment center. It is a place for employers, faculty, staff members, students, and alumni to post internship opportunities. It is organized by month to help identify the most recent postings. Other archival databases are also available.

Alumni of the School are willing to give current students career advice both informally and at Alumni events, and to act as supervisors for internships or other applied experiences. Short-term projects also arise frequently and are communicated to students via e-mail.

Career Development Center Services

The Stanford University Career Development Center (CDC) is committed to educating the Stanford community about the world of work and assisting students and alumni with their job search needs. Services include career counseling in either brief "same-day" appointments or longer appointments with graduate counselors who specialize in public service, teaching, and other career fields. Special programs for PhD students such as the annual Academic Job Search Workshop series and the "PhD Pathways: Exploring Your Career Options" series are presented each spring, and several career fairs bring employers from all industries to campus during the year.

Internships

Internship experiences are vital for the career development of many students, especially master's students. Internships often these lead to employment upon graduation. In some master's programs, such as LDT, and the Evaluation specialization within APA, as well as the Prospective Principals Program, a practicum or internship is required. Students work with their faculty advisor and with the Director of Career Services to identify opportunities. The STEP program has a Placement Coordinator to facilitate excellent student teaching placements.

The state of the local economy determines the availability of paid internships for masters students from year to year.

Approximately 50% the students in Masters degree programs participate in some form of pre-professional activity during the year. These may take the form of a paid or unpaid field experience in a school, an education non-profit agency, educational technology company, or educational research organization. Students may earn academic credit for these experiences instead of compensation.

Internships are often developed by the student with the help of their Director or supervisor and in consultation with the Director of Career Development.

Placement Assistance

During the academic year the Director of Career Development is available to counsel SUSE students on internship and career options. Employers frequently contact the School of Education to announce job opportunities, which are posted to the JobTrak web-board through the central Career Development Center at Stanford. Employers are invited to come to campus in the spring to conduct informational and recruitment sessions. There are organized opportunities to meet with alumni and other employers during the academic year targeting employers in technology, education research, teaching and non-profit services fields.

Overall Placement Trends

Doctoral Alumni

SUSE claims as doctoral alumni many distinguished faculty, deans of education schools, foundation directors, and members of select honorary societies. In order to provide helpful and current information to prospective students, we present a brief list of examples of the placement of recent graduates. Please refer to our web page for more detailed information. From recent data we know that about 85 percent of recent doctoral alumni are in educational settings, with about 45 percent employed as university professors throughout the world; approximately one quarter of doctoral students go into education as administrators, teachers or counseling psychologists at university or K-12 levels, in government at all levels, and in foundations; ten percent are in corporations and consulting roles not related to education. About 14 percent of recent graduates are working outside the US in a variety of capacities.

Master's Alumni The placement of our master's alumni is broad, as their interests are diverse. STEP alumni, the largest single group of master's students, pursue teaching at the secondary or middle school level. Of the remaining students, about 15% find their first jobs as research assistants or policy analysts in educational research labs, nonprofit research agencies and foundations or public sector policy roles. About 30% go to work in education-related nonprofit or government organizations, and another 20% will return to the classroom. Of the remaining students, about 20% are international students who return to their home countries with the remainder continuing on to doctoral programs. Often students plan to work for a year or two and then return to doctoral training, most often in the field of education.

Placement Examples of Recent Graduates

Doctoral