After Penn students graduate, chances are they will be saying goodbye to Philadelphia for good.
In the past few years, the city has paid much attention to the retention of local college students.
Despite these efforts -- which include former University President Judith Rodin's creation of the Knowledge Industry Partnership, a group charged with attracting and keeping students in the Philadelphia area -- most Penn students still find themselves leaving the City of Brotherly Love after they are handed their diplomas.
"A huge percentage of our students want to go into investment banking or management consulting," Career Services Director Patricia Rose said. "There aren't many of those opportunities" in the area.
Still, "students find Philadelphia an attractive location. They find that there are things to do here. They find that there are affordable places to live here," Rose said. "The thing that's missing is that the jobs our students want don't exist in large enough numbers."
Rose said that most of Philadelphia's job opportunities lie in the education, medical, law and pharmaceutical industries and that the city has "a growing presence in biotechnology."
In addition, Rose noted that students often want to return home after graduation -- which means that Penn students are less likely to remain in Philadelphia because the University is more geographically diverse than neighboring institutions such as Drexel and Temple Universities.
College senior Kenny He is headed for New York City or his home state of California after graduation, citing living expenses as one of his main motivating factors.
"I'm not from Philly," He said. "Eventually if I go to medical school ... tuition would be one of the determining factors," making the possibility of paying in-state tuition at a California school a big plus for his home state, he added.
As is the case with many Penn students, New York City also remains a possibility for He.
"I think New York has more opportunities than Philadelphia itself -- unless I come to Penn specifically for what I do," He said.
College alumnus Bret Hays, who graduated in May 2004 and is now a Penn employee, has chosen to stay in the city mostly because of his ties to the University. His girlfriend is a College senior, and many of his friends also live in the area.
"I'm looking at the possibility of going to graduate school in the near future," Hays said. "It didn't really make sense to set up in another city where I might ... be leaving shortly, when I've already got friends here in Philadelphia."
Unlike for He, returning home was not a real option for Hays.
"My parents moved away from my hometown while I was in college," Hays said. "So where they live now wouldn't really be a place where I feel any connection."
"I didn't really feel like moving to New York City, like so many of my classmates did," he added.
Penn Career Services tracks the employment data of Penn graduates by region. While most students stay in the mid-Atlantic region after graduation, Rose estimated that less than 20 percent of graduates stay in Philadelphia.
Still, there has been improvement in the effort to retain Philadelphia college students.
"KIP has been a terrific program. It's been a model ... one that other cities come to study," said Philadelphia's Commerce Director and KIP Explore Lead Partner Stephanie Naidoff. "The [retention] numbers are generally quite good."
In conjunction with Innovation Philadelphia, a partnership intended to improve the city's economy through technological leadership, KIP has created a program called Career Philly. The program focuses on placing students in local internships to entice them to stay early on.
"There are going to be certain students that go home after they graduate," said Innovation Philadelphia's Vice President of Community and Economic Development Kelly Lee. "We want to make sure that those students that are open to relocate know about their opportunities here."
Penn works to ensure that students know about options available in the city.
"Penn has been a very willing partner," Naidoff said.
Rose works with Career Philly and Innovation Philadelphia to inform Penn students about opportunities in the region.
"I think that having an educated workforce ... is a good thing for Philadelphia, and what's good for Philadelphia is good for Penn," she said.
However, Rose noted that her primary obligation is to Penn students.
"Our job, of course is to help students attain their career goals," Rose said. "If your goal is to work in New York, we don't want to persuade you to live in Philadelphia.
"We want to work to make Philadelphia a more attractive location for our students to select, and I think a lot has happened," Rose added. "More has been done on this issue in the last year than in some time."
