The vast majority of Stanford students who graduated from the Graduate School of Education (GSE) last year found jobs within four months of graduation, often with multiple offers and usually in the geographical areas they desired, according to a new report. 

Stanford EdCareers, the career services and professional learning hub for Stanford GSE, has released its annual career placement report for the Class of 2019, which comprised 207 master’s degree and PhD recipients and 19 undergraduate students who pursued a minor or took honors courses. 

This year’s results showed that Stanford graduates were sought after in many fields. Recent graduates working in academia reported posts in public and private universities, school districts, and educational research and services. Others reported positions in organizations including the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Google, Adobe, the World Bank, and McKinsey & Company.

Stanford GSE offers degrees in four areas: doctorate (PhD), master of arts, master of arts in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP), and a two-year-old program for undergraduate students who minor in education or participate in an honors program in education. STEP prepares future teachers at the elementary and secondary levels. Other MA candidates can specialize in international comparative education; learning, design and technology; or policy, organization and leadership. A few pursue joint degrees in education and business administration, public policy or law.

The vast majority of graduates found jobs within four months of graduation, often with multiple job offers and usually in the geographical areas they desired. 

Recent graduates shared how their Stanford experiences translated into new careers. Thieny Nguyen, a graduate of the Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies (POLS) master’s program who is now working at Google, described “pivotal moments” during her time at the GSE where she was able to collaborate with peers on creative projects and harness team members’ strengths. “Having those memorable teamwork moments led me to seek out roles and organizations that value and thrive on true collaboration.”

Lisel Murdock-Perriera, a PhD graduate who is now an assistant professor at Sonoma State University, praised students and faculty for providing a supportive community. “My colleagues in my cohort and the cohort above meat the GSE also gave extensively of their time, and I most certainly would not have secured the position I have now without their support and care.”

Gabriela Netter, a joint MA/MBA graduate who is now an associate partner at NewSchools Venture Fund in Oakland, Calif., said of her peers: “Their willingness to share about their own experiences and introduce me to people in their networks allowed me to have exploratory conversations with tons of people from all kinds of organizations, which played a huge role in helping me narrow my interests.”

Eszter Meszaros, a graduate of the Learning, Design and Technology (LDT) master’s program and founder in residence at Entrepreneur First in Singapore, echoed Netter’s emphasis on supportive peers and mentors. “Stanford is such an amazingly supportive community,”Meszarossaid. “My professors and peers helped me not only get through a highly stressful year, but they also showed that they believed in me throughout, no matter what. The emotional support, trust and guidance I got helped me gain enough confidence to dare to move to yet another country and jump into entrepreneurship.”

Of the GSE’s 24 PhD graduates in 2019, all are employed, and 96 percent found jobs within four months of graduation. 

Of the 96 MA recipients (non-STEP), GSE was able to determine employment status for 98 percent. Within four months, 85 percent of them were employed, continuing their education at Stanford or Harvard, or had started new organizations. 

Twenty-two of the 87 graduates of the STEP program took jobs at elementary schools, and 65 took jobs at secondary schools. The report found that 97 percent of the STEP graduates were employed within four months. Of them, 99 percent were in full-time roles, 61 percent had received two or more job offers, and 92 percent reported working in their desired geographical location (predominantly California). 

The GSE tracked employment for 89 percent of the 19 students in the two GSE undergraduate programs (minor and honors). Of those, 24 percent were continuing their studies. Of the other 76 percent, 92 percent found employment within four months of graduation, half of them in the field of education. 

See the full report and others detailing alumni career impact.