17 numbers to know from the senior survey of Harvard’s Class of 2017
Harvard is full on annual traditions. But perhaps one of the most newsworthy customs is the Crimson‘s survey of the graduating class on everything from national politics to social life.
The student newspaper says its 2017 poll received responses from nearly half of this year’s class, though not every respondent answered every question.
Here are 17 of the most interesting and noteworthy figures from the survey’s results:
8: The increase in the percentage of Class of 2017 students who politically identify as liberal or very liberal (67 percent) compared to when they first arrived at Harvard (59 percent).
5: The percentage decrease in students who said they identify as conservative or very conservative (14 percent to 9 percent).
75: The percentage of graduating seniors who said the country is on the wrong track.
93: The percentage who said they have an unfavorable view of Donald Trump.
1 out of 5: Students who said the 2016 election “changed their postgraduate career plans in some way.”
37: The percentage of students who said they were considering jobs in federal government, but decided against it. However, 12 percent said they decided to take jobs in the public sector instead of the private sector because of the election results. Ten percent said the election motivated them to run for office someday.
13: The percentage increase in international seniors who said they plan to leave the United States (36 percent), compared to last year’s graduating class.
1 out of 5: Students who said they plan to stay in Massachusetts after graduating, tied with New York for the top state Class of 2017 graduates said they plan to live. Fourteen percent said they plan to live in California.
65: The percentage gap between self-identified conservatives (7 percent) and liberals (72 percent) who said they supported the strike by the school’s dining hall employees last fall.
52: The percentage of students entering the workforce who said they plan to join the consulting (18 percent), finance (18 percent), or technology (16 percent) industries.
$52,569: The average national starting annual salary for a bachelor’s degree candidate, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ fall 2016 survey.
52: The percentage of graduating Harvard seniors who said their starting salary will exceed $70,000 a year.
23: The percentage of graduating students this year who said they had cheated during their time at Harvard, marking a small but steady increase over the least four years. Males were nearly 50 percent more likely to say they cheated. The vast majority of those who admitted cheating said they cheated on homework assignments, compared to the less than a quarter who said they cheated on papers or exams.
43: The percentage of seniors who said they had more than four sexual partners in college.
7: The percentage of seniors who said they had more than 20 sexual partners in college.
51: The percentage of seniors who said they had tried marijuana.
30: The percentage who said they had tried tobacco.
