In higher education, politics and media, but even in discussions about performance criteria for higher education institutions, university alumni with short duration of study, low job entrance age and good final grades are often untestedly assumed to have better career chances than their former fellow students. In alumni surveys, the influence of those factors on career chances and others, e.g. factors given in students’ advisory literature, have so far hardly ever been investigated. Such determining factors could also be the quality of studies, study specializations, personal contacts and relationships as well as social competencies. The present article unveils a substantial analysis of potential determiners of job and career success, based on the alumni survey of the Technische Universität Dresden from 2000 to 2004. The methodological focal point of the analysis is multiple regression analysis. Criteria of career and job success are not restricted to income (at different points in time) and job satisfaction, but include the study field/job field adequacy. The analysis partly reveals unexpected results of factors with remarkable and less remarkable influence.