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2021 Illini success

AHS grads succeeding despite pandemic

The seventh annual Illini Success report released today shows that University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduates in summer 2020, fall 2020 and spring 2021 found jobs, enrolled in graduate school or began volunteer programs on par with previous years—despite the global COVID-19 pandemic.

That held true for graduates of the College of Applied Health Sciences as well. Ninety-seven percent of AHS graduates secured a "first destination," meaning employment, grad school or volunteer program, with the Department of Speech and Hearing Science reporting a 100 percent placement rate.

“Our most recent Illini Success report once again shows what we at Illinois have known for a very long time,” Chancellor Robert J. Jones said. “A degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of the best decisions and best investments a student can make for their education, their career and their life. We are thrilled to see that they are succeeding at such high rates.”

Top employers include Amazon, Apple Inc., Caterpillar, Deloitte, Google Inc., John Deere, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Meta (formerly known as Facebook), Microsoft Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., PepsiCo Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., PwC and others.

Top graduate and professional schools include Columbia University, Cornell University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Texas and the University of Wisconsin.

The average salary for AHS graduates was $49,996, according to respondents.

Joseph Anthony Manning, a 2020 graduate of the Recreation, Sport & Tourism master's degree program, said, "Being in the University’s [Recreation, Sport & Tourism] graduate program and learning the different ways that I can affect my community, and then turning around and actually being a full-time member of the community [as an Athletics Coordinator for the Urbana Park District] is something that has been really eye-opening and has brought a wholeness to what I study."

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