May 2002 Graduation Clouded by Weak Economy

One Hundred Ten optimistic undergraduates and fourteen graduate students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas on Saturday, May 18, 2002.  The sky was gray and threatened rain throughout the ceremony, which may have been ironic symbolism for the economic climate in to which these graduates were entering.  Many career services professionals branded this year as the worst placement year since the great depression.

Nevertheless, graduates from the College of Textiles did not let the gloomy outlook dampened their optimism.  Despite warnings in the early interview preparation meetings, many students naively began the year expecting the traditional two to three “perfect” job offers to fall into their laps. 

Several students, who consequently are still seeking employment, are still waiting for the ideal job in the ideal location to materialize.  For the majority, basic math was all they needed to realize that this was not a normal year.  Only twenty-two companies came on campus to interview this year.  This struggles to even compare to the 59, 56 and 74 companies that did on-campus recruiting in the three previous years respectively.  Instead of two, three and four offers, most students were happy to receive one offer.  The most cautious students quickly accepted that one offer.

In past years, students could turn to non-textile companies when the textile market experienced a slow-down…but not this year.  Even the “economy-proof” companies of the 1990s were having to cut-back and lay-off employees.  Having read all this negative information, one would deduct that the College of Textiles would be experiencing it’s worst placement year ever…and you wouldn’t be too far off.  However, the raw numbers are not as bad as one might think.  Of the 184 graduates (December 2001 and May 2002), 141 (77%) registered with and used the college for career services.  As of June 15, 2002, one hundred and five (74%) have reported being “placed.”  However, of the 26% remaining, 11 are conducting restricted searches, 6 are seeking only non-textile employment and the status of 8 graduates is unknown, leaving only 13 registered students actively seeking textile employment, thus resulting in a surprisingly high adjusted placement rate of 91%.  The largest percentage of graduates (44%) has accepted positions with textile or textile-related companies, while graduate school, the “back-up safety net” for many, caught 32% of the class. Additionally, 15% accepted non-textile employment.

During the ceremonies, Mr. Darryl Demond Willie, out-going NC State student body president and textile student, delivered the student commencement speech.  Seventeen students were also presented with academic and leadership awards.  Among the graduating class, there were eight perfect 4.00 GPAs, thirteen co-majors, and eight university scholars.