Career Paths

The occupational choice of Scripps alumni are typical of research-trained scientists, with the largest two groups choosing careers in teaching and research. More detailed graphs on each of these categories follow:

• Teaching Careers
• Research Careers
• Management/Administrative Careers
• Other Careers
• Postdoctoral Appointments
• Largest Employers of Scripps Alumni
• Scripps Alumni at the University of California
• Scripps Alumni at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Top 10 Employers
• Scripps Alumni Living Outside of the United States
• Scripps Alumni Living in the United States
• Scripps Alumni Living in California

Teaching Careers

31% of Scripps alumni are teaching. Of those, 87% hold a tenured position, 6% are in a non-tenured position, and 7% are teaching at the community college or K-12 level:

Research Careers

Of the 27% of Scripps alumni who chose a career in research, 44% are employed at a four-year college or university, 24% are working in government (20% federal government and 4% state or local government), 16% are in industry or business, 12% are employed at a research institute, and 3% are in the non-profit sector

Management/Administrative Careers

Of the 17% of Scripps alumni in management or administrative positions, 52% are employed in industry, 16% are employed in government, 9% are at a four-year college or university, 8% are at a research institute, 8% percent are in the non-profit sector and 7% are working for their state or local government:

Other Careers

13% of those who responded fall under the category of "Other" a catch-all category that includes those in fields such as law, medicine, engineering, consulting and writing. It also includes those who are continuing their education and those in the military. The following graph provides a snapshot of the largest groups.

Postdoctoral Appointments

Of the alumni currently holding postdoctoral appointments, 60% have held that position for one-two years and 40% have been in a postdoctoral position for three-five years:

Largest Employers of Scripps Alumni

The University of California is the largest employer of Scripps alumni, employing 120 graduates. The largest group (92 alumni) is based at the San Diego campus.

Of those employed by the University of California, San Diego campus (UCSD), 85 are based at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). Seventy-six of the alumni employed at Scripps have a PhD degree; the remaining 9 hold a master's degree.

After UCSD, the second-largest employer of Scripps alumni is the University of Washington, employing 25 Scripps alumni, followed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, employing 24 Scripps graduates. The following graph depicts the top ten employers of Scripps Alumni:

Scripps Alumni Outside of the United States

12% percent of Scripps alumni are living outside the United States in 28 different nations. The following graph shows the ten countries with the highest number of Scripps alumni.

Scripps Alumni in the United States

Eighty-eight percent of Scripps alumni live in the United States. The largest group live in California (38%) followed by Washington and Massachusetts. This is understandable considering the University of California, the University of Washington and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are the largest employers of Scripps alumni.

Scripps Alumni in California

Of the Scripps alumni who live in the state of California, 73% are living in the southern region, 27% are in the northern region.