<p>Many non-selective schools, almost by definition, see their mission as "being inclusive", or "giving as many students as possible a chance at a college education". Because the student body has not gone through a stringent pre-selection process, many more students get "selected out" when they are actually in college. Granted, in many cases a less-capable student body may create pressure to reduce academic standards, but this can only happen to a certain extent and beyond that, those who are less capable or less committed will tend to drop out. I can't believe that administrators at such schools are happy about the resulting high attrition rates, but I think this may be the natural consequence of a very worthwhile mission.</p>
<p>Concerning Collegehelp's data on freshman transfers, I'd like more information about Oberlin's reported rate of 16%. Seeing as their freshman retention rate appears in various guides as 90-91%, I don't see where this figure comes from.</p>
<p>greenblue-
The Oberlin transfer rate came from the IPEDS website. Oberlin has an 83% graduation rate, 16% transfer somewhere else, 1% drop out.</p>
<p>Wisconsin reports a 4.4% transfer out rate.</p>
<p>That doesn't include drop-out rate though.</p>
<p>Well, would you say that Caltech is subpar to MIT? I believe Caltech's grad rate is in the high 80s.</p>
<p>Transfers don't include dropouts. See big table--transfers only. About another 3% leave for non transfer reasons.</p>
<p>I doubt very much that the reported rate for Oberlin is accurate.</p>
<p>UW-Madison is 93% on the list from USNWR which confirms its accuracy with that PDF which says 92.9%.</p>
<p>One metric I think is helpful is alumni giving percentage. High participation is one indication of long-term "satisfaction" and impact.</p>
<p>^ It's also an indication of the persistence of a school's phone banking office, however. I know that senior giving and alum giving are not the same, but I figure that they're at least remotely comparable...so having just witnessed five schools' senior gift drives, I'm pretty wary of these particular stats right now. As any of these facts and numbers...definitely useful to an extent, but never anywhere near the whole story.</p>
<p>Financial issues are a major factor in a decision not to return to college. SAT scores are highly correlated to family income, so colleges with higher reported scores tend to have more affluent student bodies. This differential is enhanced by the fact that the super-elite colleges also tend to be well endowed and generous with aid. </p>
<p>I'd suggest pulling data for # of pell grant recipients and also look at average rate of student indebtedness at each college and factoring that into the formula somehow to compensate for differentials in retention rate, simply based on the assumption that poor kids facing a high debt load are more likely to need to take time off from college to earn, or transfer to less expensive colleges. It's not the whole story - so it just should be a variable that is factored in -- and I have no idea of how you want to factor it. But if you pulled that data and charted it along with the other info, you might see some interesting trends emerge.</p>
<p>check out the data available here:
<a href="http://nces.ed.gov/ipedspas/ExPT/index.asp%5B/url%5D">http://nces.ed.gov/ipedspas/ExPT/index.asp</a></p>
<p>and some definitions from the NCES:</p>
<p>"Total entering (undergraduate-level) students are all students coming into the institution for the first time. This includes students who initially attended the prior summer term and returned again in the fall; all first-time, first-year students; students transferring into the institution at any undergraduate level for the first time; both full-time and part-time students; and all degree/certificate-seeking as well as non-degree/certificate seeking students.</p>
<p>Graduation rates are those developed to satisfy the requirements of the Student Right-to-Know (SRK) Act and are defined as the total number of individuals from a given cohort of full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates who complete a degree or certificate within 150 percent of normal time (for the degree or certificate), divided by the entire cohort of full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates minus any allowable exclusions. Institutions are permitted to exclude from the initial cohort students who died or were totally and permanently disabled; those who left school to serve in the armed forces; those who left to serve with a foreign aid service of the federal government, such as the Peace Corps; and those who left to serve on an official church mission. Transfer-out rate is the total number of students from the cohort who are known to have transferred out of the reporting institution within the same time period, divided by the same adjusted cohort. Only institutions with a mission that includes preparing students to transfer are required to report transfers out.</p>
<p>Full-time retention rates are defined as the number of full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who enter the institution for the first time in the fall and who return to the same institution the following fall (as either full or part time), divided by the total number of full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates in the fall of first entrance. Part-time retention rates are similarly defined. For 4-year institutions offering a bachelor’s degree, this rate is reported only for those students seeking a bachelor’s degree. For less-than 4-year institutions, the rate is calculated for all degree- or certificate-seeking students."</p>