Survey shows alumni successful after Rice

By Catherine Bratic     11/20/08 6:00pm

Rice isn't just churning out doctors, lawyers and engineers, but also business owners, pastors, world record holders and a large number of community organizers, according to an alumni survey conducted by Alumni Affairs this summer. The one thing that united the diverse group of respondents was that no matter what their professions or achievements in life, they felt their Rice educations prepared them well for the path they chose: 91 percent of those who returned the survey said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with their experience as a Rice student, Vice President for Public Affairs Linda Thrane said.

Thrane said the survey aimed to get to know Rice's alumni better and find out what they have accomplished as adults.

"We wanted to learn more about what happens to our alumni after they leave Rice," she said. "What kind of impact do they have on the world?"

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The survey, which was conducted by the company Questar and sent to 42,000 alumni, received a 25 percent response rate. Thrane said this response was a powerful indicator of alumni interest.

"To get a one-quarter response rate like that really says something about Rice alums and their feelings about the university, that they're that interested in participating," Thrane said.

The survey confirmed many assumptions, such as the fact that the majority of Rice students come from Texas and generally stay in Texas, Thrane said. She said 62 percent of those surveyed went to high school in Texas, and 41 percent of alumni said they have spent the majority of their careers in the state.

However, the survey showed some surprising trends, she said. The majority of alumni - 58 percent - said that their strongest Rice connection was to the university itself. Only 13 percent listed their residential college as their strongest tie.

More alumni surveyed classified themselves as teachers than engineers with 14 and 4 percent, respectively. Doctors or physicians comprised 15 percent of respondents, and 13 percent reported owning their own business.

Of those who responded, 2,249 had founded companies, employing 150,000 people and collectively generating more than $42 billion in annual revenues.

Outside of their jobs, the survey showed Rice alumni are also involved in their communities. More than half reported donating at least $1,000 to charity in the past year, and 35 percent said they served in a leadership role for a charity.

"Just based on my own experience with alums, I would have to say we have a very accomplished group of alums overall," Director of the Office of Alumni Affairs Ann Peterson said.

Of those who donate to charity, 80 percent count the university among their charities.

While the survey presented Rice alumni as extraordinarily successful and pleased with the university, Thrane admitted that there may be some danger in extending those results to the entire body of alumni.

"The answer, for example of how many business founded, is somewhere between what we have and multiplying by four," Thrane said. "There's a degree of self-selection in responding to the survey."

Thrane and Peterson said they were not able to apply the statistics to the entire alumni population at this time since only 25 percent responded. They said the positive responses bode well for the Centennial Campaign, however, which aims to raise $1 billion for the university by 2012.

Thrane said she hoped the survey's findings would give potential donors - both individuals and federal officials - confidence.

"I would hope that these kinds of findings at large really tell folks that if you make a contribution to Rice, it's going to go into some area of our educational mission or our research mission that gives students a very a rich experience and produces students that go out and make a difference in the world," Thrane said.

One last element is a good sign both for future university donation prospects and the future of current Rice students. Of those surveyed, two-thirds said they were making more than $100,000 a year, and half reported earning more than $150,000.

Max Bethman, a Lovett College sophomore, said he was encouraged by those numbers.

"The salary figures are really surprising, but that's coming from looking at salary data for first-year jobs," Bethman said. " I imagine the numbers are different after working for 10 or 20 years.

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