The Kelley Career Progress Study: A dream partially realized

Abstract

This study provides an initial examination of data from a passion project of Tim Baldwin, known as the Kelley Career Progress Study (KCPS). The KCPS is a longitudinal study designed to track Kelley School of Business students and their subsequent career outcomes. As originally intended, the study was set to track students 30 years into their careers. With the unfortunate passing of Professor Baldwin, we sought to provide an initial analysis to honor his memory. Using information gathered beginning in 2002 and subsequent LinkedIn data from 2020, we provide observations focused on occupational attainment. Specifically, we describe first occupations attained along with later occupations and find that after 18 years, a majority of students had attained a managerial-level role. We further examined the level of occupational prestige associated with first and last occupations and related factors such as geography, initial job, and obtaining an advanced degree. Importantly, student characteristics like intelligence, gender, and race, as well as undergraduate grade point average, were not associated with managerial attainment or occupational prestige. We conclude with some advice for graduates and with suggestions for further research as the KCPS continues.