Graduates from the Emory College of Arts and Sciences’ Class of 2025 were again highly sought after, with 98% working, pursuing additional education or volunteering within six months of Commencement.
While on campus, many members of the class expanded their learning by participating in programs through the Emory College Pathways Center, which offers substantial support in advising, internships and hands-on learning that complement Emory’s hallmark undergraduate research and academic excellence.
“You can see it in the data —whatever path Emory students choose, we are invested in creating opportunities that prepare them for a successful future,” says Amanda Long, assistant vice provost of career and professional development, and director of Pathways’ Career and Professional Development office.
The office administers the annual First Destination Survey six months after Commencement. Results for the Class of 2025 show that about 41% of alumni are earning advanced degrees, including at some of the nation’s top universities such as Harvard and Carnegie Mellon.
Almost 57% are forging careers in diverse sectors such as AI, health care, logistics and nonprofits, while about 1% are volunteering.
An introduction to new worlds
Pathways programs like the LA Scholars internship initiative help students combine their personal interests and professional goals. Skylar Lewis and Erin Devine participated in the program in summer 2024; both now work in entertainment roles in Los Angeles.
“Emory gave me the introduction to this world, with a cohort of people also figuring it out, to see if it was possible for me to have a future in film,” says Lewis, who worked in both production and distribution during her Scholars summer.
It was. Lewis worked for an independent production studio and Lionsgate Studios after graduating with a dual degree in sociology and film and media. She recently began agent training at a top talent agency and regularly socializes with others from her cohort.
Devine, who earned a dual degree in creative writing and film and media, now works as a page at NBCUniversal.
“What I learned at Emory was how much it all connects — the support from my friends, what I was learning in class, mentorship from my professors — and how to turn what I was passionate about into a career,” she says.
“I don’t think I would ever have pursued LA without Emory,” adds Devine, whose honors thesis is now a finalist in the Manchester Film Festival’s screenplay competition.
The success of alumni demonstrates what Emory can offer to current and incoming students, says Scott Garner, who co-created the LA Scholars initiative.
Garner, an assistant teaching professor of psychology and film, wanted to translate his 25 years in the entertainment industry into career possibilities for students. The Pathways partnership formalized that into a pipeline that Garner expects to grow.
“Being able to take what you learned in class and apply it in the field builds your advantage for the next opportunity, whether it’s for your next step or to pay it forward,” Garner says.
Building transferable skills
When Yolanda Li came to Oxford College from China, she planned to become a teacher. She decided to double major in psychology and quantitative science, thinking they would prove interesting and practical for her future.
Participating in a teaching fellowship through the Pathways Center widened her scope: serving low-income middle schools in Boston taught her about external factors that affect students’ learning.
After Li took a child psychopathology course with Patricia Brennan, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology, Brennan suggested Li consider graduate study in social work if she wanted to offer clinical counseling for students while also addressing community education.
Li’s discussions with her mentor, Brendan Ozawa-de Silva, the associate teaching professor who leads Emory’s Social Empathy Lab, and with Pathways Center career coach Kendra Owens confirmed the idea.
Li is now completing her first year in the social work master’s degree program at the University of Chicago. She hopes to work with low-income immigrant families after graduation, providing the kinds of support that her final Emory research project showed matter most.
“One thing my research showed is that having personal connections and a sense of belonging was most important not just for academic success but also individual and community growth,” Li says. “Emory has great assets in faculty, staff and students who are kind and supportive. I am so grateful for that experience and all of the insights and support from my community at Emory.”
Desi Naini Ukmar arrived at Oxford College undecided about her major and ready to explore. Her sophomore year, her desire to better understand people as individuals and as societies prompted her to declare a dual major in anthropology and neuroscience and behavior biology.
After her first meeting with Don Cornwell, the health sciences career coach at Pathways, Naini Ukmar thought she was headed for doctoral study.
During a semester abroad at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, she took neurosciences courses and studied Persian. But after two intensive lab research opportunities at NYU Langone Health and in the cell biology lab of Francisco Alvarez at the Emory University School of Medicine, she realized that path wasn’t for her.
Cornwell, along with Naini Ukmar’s family, helped her navigate what she could do next. An informational interview with the founder of the software start-up Bevel led to an internship that needed her research and data skills. The company, which makes a suite of AI tools including free inventory tool for disaster survivors, hired her full-time as soon as the internship wrapped up.
“None of my research directly translated,” Naini Ukmar says. “The benefit of Emory is not just what it teaches you but how it teaches you to learn, to communicate on a team and to adapt to different circumstances.”
Employers seek liberal arts skill sets
McMaster-Carr looks for evidence of that kind of leadership when hiring. The company has recently hired Emory graduates from a range of majors, impressed by the curiosity and rigor they demonstrate, says Freda Wells, vice president of the company’s Atlanta office.
“Emory’s environment encourages exploration across disciplines, and that sharpens the analytical reasoning that our work rewards,” says Wells, who has placed Emory hires locally, in Illinois and in California.
The Atlanta office will host one of the Pathways Center’s Employer Site Visits this spring, eager to connect with more potential employees who want the chance to make a difference for customers.
“Our hiring is for capability, adaptability and long-term growth,” Wells says. “We don’t know what the future world of work will look like, so we need smart folks who can help us figure it out.”
While a completely different industry, Teach for America is routinely one of Emory’s top employers.
More than 500 Emory alumni have worked with the national nonprofit, which trains and places graduates to teach in high-needs schools for up to two years.
Some view it as a service opportunity before pursuing degrees in law or medicine while others want to sample working in education after gaining experience with tutoring and volunteering, says Miesha Adams, a Teach for America recruitment manager.
“You learn every single day as a teacher,” says Adams, who also taught in the program. “What makes Emory students so great is that they are so open to learning, to trying something new and helping people.”
The alumni connection
No one knows that mindset better than Emory alumni. Will Farren arrived at Emory wanting to study finance and economics. He also decided, after seeing so many of his fellow students interested in health care, to tap into those courses.
By the time he graduated — a semester early — in December 2023 with a dual degree in finance and human health, he had completed analyst internships with the biotech company Amgen and with Morgan Stanley’s Investment Bank division.
Farren now works as a health care investment analyst for Morgan Stanley in San Francisco, where he also assists in recruiting for the office. Two of the individuals he’s recruited? Emory analyst interns.
“Emory telling you to take a bunch of classes to test out what you like, then allowing you to pursue them with a double major, really helps you find the job you actually want,” he says. “Combining multiple areas of expertise is the key differentiator for Emory candidates.”