Despite the emphasis placed on reputation, students’ choice of undergraduate institutions may have less of an impact than expected.
A report by C.D. Howe Institute was published Aug. 27, titled Degrees of Difference Comparing Bachelor’s Degree Outcomes Across Ontario Colleges and Universities. It examined outcomes for graduates across four types of Ontario post-secondary institutions: medical doctoral universities, comprehensive universities, primarily undergraduate universities, and colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees.
These categories are distinguished by the level of research, graduate, and second entry programming available.
Queen’s falls into the medical doctoral category. This category identifies universities who offer a broad range of PhD programs, have medical schools, and substantial research activity.
The report found that among graduates who entered the workforce immediately after completing their bachelor’s degree, early-career earnings varied relatively little across institutional types.
Three years after graduation, median annual employment income was $69,500 for graduates of medical doctoral institutions, compared with $62,400 for graduates of comprehensive universities, $60,200 for primarily undergraduate universities, and $58,100 for colleges.
Roger Pizarro Milian, an adjunct professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the University of Guelph, and one of four authors on the paper, spoke about the study in a statement to The Journal.
“The point we’ve tried to emphasize is that the institution you get your bachelor’s degree from in Ontario is not a ‘make or break’ factor,” he said. “And that the anxiety around this is not justified by our data.”
The report notes that employability is an important consideration for applicants and is also incorporated into many institutional rankings.
Chloe Chang, ArtSci ’27, said in an interview with The Journal that while employability was a consideration for picking her path, that wasn’t her deciding factor for coming to Queen’s.
“I don’t think I necessarily applied to Queen’s because of prestige,” she said. “I think a lot of people apply because of the culture socially and the outcomes they produce academically.”
In a statement to The Journal, Queen’s said, “Graduate earnings are one important measure of student outcomes, but they are not the only measure of the value of a university education.”
The employment rate for Queen’s graduates six months after graduation is 92.9 per cent compared with 86.2 per cent per cent across Ontario universities according to the 2022-23 Ontario University Graduate Survey.
“I also think that employment after graduation comes with the connections you make.” Chang said.
In a 2023 article from Robert Walters, an equity, diversity and inclusion report of the North American workforce found 77 per cent of companies place a higher value on a candidate’s personal connections over their skills.
According to the C.D. Howe Institute’s report, graduates from medical doctoral universities were the most likely to enroll in graduate or second-entry programs, at 32.3 per cent. That is in comparison with 21.9 per cent for primarily undergraduate universities, 21.3 per cent for comprehensive universities and 5 per cent for colleges.
Milan said while there are many reasons this correlation appears, it may be due to student preference rather than the effect of the institution.
“The type of student who enrols at a big research university in Ontario would be more likely to pursue career paths requiring more advanced credentials, regardless of where they got their Bachelor’s,” he said.
“I already had my eye on colleges,” Mandy Guo, a fourth-year student of Film and Television at Sheridan College, said in an interview with The Journal. She found the hands-on learning approach was more suited to what she wanted to get out of her education.
She said her program being a bachelor’s degree helped “appease” expectations. Older generations may be more accustomed to seeing colleges as a pathway to further education rather than as a student’s final credential. She also found an important factor in outcomes after graduation is work experience during education.
“It’s all about co-op nowadays,” she said. “I do feel like that prepares you for employment after graduation a lot more than just studying.”
Queen’s said in their statement that the Queen’s Undergraduate Internship Program has more than doubled over the past five years.
Career services also deliver many career development opportunities and aids, such as one-on-one advising, workshops, and employer connections, which are available to all alumni for a year after they graduate.
Tags
career earnings, degree, Reputation
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Stacy Kelly
An interesting read. However, I can’t agree with the author’s framing of the C.D. Howe report.
The very first chart in the report demonstrates that Queen’s graduates rank #2 in median earnings among all Ontario post-secondary institutions in the data. It is clear that medical-doctoral graduates (including from Queen’s) earn statistically significantly more than everyone else (~11% more than the lowest group, translating to real premiums). While the earnings parity is certainly among the other three categories of institutions, it is not between medical-doctoral istitutions (such as Queen’s) and the other types.
Moreover, the author glosses over the fact that the report shows that Waterloo and Queen’s aren’t just slightly above average. Rather, they actually drive the top of the earnings distribution. I concede this is overall earnings data (so results will vary per degree program) but that does not negate the fact that the C.D. Howe report show a statistically relevant earnngs difference bwteen those top-2 earnings results versus the entire field.
While the overall earnings gap across categories is relatively small compared to the author’s stated expectations, a ~$9,300 annual median gap at just 3 years post-grad between Medical Doctoral universities and undergraduate colleges is not negligible. Compounded over a career, that represents a substantial return on investment.