Alumni Career Paths

Explore career options through the stories of our alumni

How do you visualize your future after graduate school? Your graduate school experience has given you a solid foundation for advancing your career path, whether that career is as a faculty member or in a wide array of exciting opportunities in the private sector or in public service.

Your graduate degree and the experiences you’ve encountered throughout graduate school will add value to any organization you join. You will leave UW–Madison equipped with highly developed skills in writing, teaching, project management, analytical techniques, data collection, collaboration, and leadership – just to name a few.

UW–Madison alumni go on to a variety of successful careers across the academy, for-profit and non-profit sectors, industry, government, education, and more. Explore the variety of career paths open to you as a UW–Madison graduate by reading the success stories of some of our alumni and their advice for current graduate students below.

Jump to a career sector:
Academia | Business and Industry | Government | Nonprofit | More Careers

*Data source

UW–Madison alumni employment statistics are from the CGS Career Pathways project survey distributed by the UW–Madison Survey Center to PhD alumni in fall 2017. Alumni who were 3, 8, and 15 years out from graduation received the survey.

For Alumni: Share your story

Did you earn a graduate degree at UW–Madison? To share the story of your career journey and give advice to current graduate students, enter your information, below. The Graduate School will contact you to follow-up.

Include the degree, the field, and the year (e.g. PhD Chemistry, 2016).