Compare the Evidence Behind Career Claims
Graduate programs publish career information in very different ways. A cohort employment report with a disclosed response rate is not the same thing as an alumni salary database, a national occupation benchmark or a list of employers. MSITM.com keeps those evidence types separate so students can judge what each number actually means.
Career evidence types used on MSITM.com
| Evidence type | What it tells you | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Cohort employment report | Outcomes for a defined graduating class, ideally with placement timing, salary statistic and response/known-outcome rate. | Results still depend on response rate and reporting definitions. |
| Alumni-market data | Earnings and roles for graduates matched to public career records over multiple years. | Not a single graduating cohort and may not cover every alumnus. |
| Graduate earnings signal | Published earnings at one or more years after graduation. | May not disclose job-search status, response rate or starting salary methodology. |
| External labor-market / ROI data | Occupation wages or third-party earnings/ROI estimates relevant to the degree. | Not direct evidence of the program’s own graduates. |
| Employer / role evidence | Examples of employers, internships, job titles and career paths. | Does not establish a placement rate or typical salary. |
| Too new for mature outcomes | Program is new enough that a meaningful alumni cohort does not yet exist. | Prospective students must rely more heavily on curriculum, employer access and school-wide resources. |
Examples from current MSITM.com profiles
| Program | Current evidence | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| UT Austin – MS Business Technology & AI | Class of 2025 average starting salary: $110,360. | Cohort-specific school-reported outcome. |
| Michigan – MSI | 2025 graduates: $91,000 overall average salary and 88% employment among respondents reporting a job outcome; outcomes known for 52% of the class. | Useful cohort report with an important known-outcome-rate caveat. |
| Maryland Smith – MSIS & AI | Current profile includes 2025 cohort outcomes and response-rate context. | Cohort evidence; read salary alongside response methodology. |
| Baruch Zicklin – MSIS | 2024–25: 156 graduates; 117 reported outcomes. Salary mean $95,571 and median $85,000, but only 14 reporters supplied salary data. | Strong employment-count context; salary evidence is thin and should carry a prominent caveat. |
| UMBC – MSIS | 1,385 graduates matched to public career data; $97,335 median salary. | Alumni-market evidence, not a single graduating-cohort report. |
| UT Arlington – MSIS | UTA reports average graduate earnings of $79,000 in year 1, $106,000 in year 5 and $129,000 in year 10. | Graduate earnings signal rather than conventional placement reporting. |
| UConn – MS Business Analytics & Project Management | $125,000 highest reported salary for 2024–25. | Highest-reported figure; not a mean or median. |
| George Washington – MSIST | Program page cites external FREOPP earnings/ROI analysis and BLS occupation data. | External market/ROI signal, not a GW cohort placement report. |
| BU MET – MSCIS | Program publishes Lightcast/BLS labor-market salary information. | Occupation-market signal, not alumni starting salary. |
| Temple Fox – ITACS | Career paths, internship support and employer/alumni examples. | Employer/role evidence without a current cohort placement rate. |
| UW–Milwaukee – MS ITM | Paid internship opportunities and employer connections. | Experiential/employer evidence; no current cohort salary/placement statistic on the program page. |
| USF – MS Artificial Intelligence in Business | Target roles are published, but the degree is new for 2026–27. | Too new for mature alumni outcomes; do not treat target roles as placements. |
Want concrete examples? See programs with published career-outcome evidence and the caveats attached to each statistic →
What MSITM.com records when available
- Graduating class or reporting year
- Employment timing (at graduation, 3 months, 6 months, etc.)
- Employed, seeking and continuing-education counts
- Response or known-outcome rate
- Mean versus median salary
- Salary response rate when separate from employment reporting
- Domestic versus international outcomes
- Job titles, employers and industries
Read the career-outcomes methodology → | See jobs & career outcomes →
Last reviewed: September 17, 2026. Career evidence changes as schools publish new cohorts and methodologies.