<p>My son is comparing his list of acceptances. Does anyone know where we can find the four year graduation retention rates for various schools? He does not want to go to a school where everyone transfers out in the first two years.</p>
<p>The U-Can database is a convenient place to start:</p>
<p>University</a> and College Accountability Network - Free. Easy.</p>
<p>If a school is not there, you can track down their common data sets via a google search or by searching for some of the older threads on CC devoted to the CDS.</p>
<p>You can search the college board website at College</a> Search - SAT Registration - College Admissions - Scholarships When you view the school's profile ther is a tab at the top which says "Admission" When you click that you get their freshman to sophomore retention rate. It's not exactly what you want but I imagine if that is high than the 4 year retention rate will be also (although there would be some drop). You can also compare schools in this way on the college board site.</p>
<p>There's also The</a> Education Trust site.</p>
<p>USNews online is a terrific bargain and full of this type of data.</p>
<p>USNWR sells a "fatbook" it has retention rates and 4, 5, and 6 year graduation rates. Any large bookstore.. about $26</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to the U-Can. Lots of helpful information there, easy to read.</p>
<p>The National Center for Education Statistics. This will give you every available statistic for any school you are interested in researching. </p>
<p>College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics</p>
<p>wow, I am in awe of all the resources everyone has posted here.
Thank you all.</p>
<p>I second the NCES site. One can also find it via Google with "COOL"--College Online Opportunities Locator. That may be easy to remember. That site is quite useful once one gets the navigation hang of it. Choose colleges by state, select them as favorites, then compare them. It has 4 and 6 year graduation rates, and transfer out rates in some cases.</p>
<p>For a certain class of college applicants (I must admit my senior son is of the CC crowd--and sent off all the apps. 2 days ago--YAY, but I work with very disadvantaged HS students who DESERVE some advantages--my hobby as an "educational advocate") the graduation rate, retention rate, and 6 year graduation rate, is really important. Kids who are desiring to move from one type of lifestyle and orientation to another (to put it gently) need to be hanging around with peers that are AMBITIOUS, and not in college to party. Ya can party for far less $$ at home, for goodness sake! But these kids so often don't have the credential "chops" to get into schools with more "ambitious" peers. Any suggestions on schools like that for them, BTW (I have no clue what CC forum would cover that end of the spectrum, that also have decent FA, would be excellent). Written from S. New England....these kids don't tend to want to go too far, nor can I afford to get them there. My son will do just fine without extra boosts, as will most of the people on CC, but it's these kids that REALLY need something that will make a permanent difference in their lives--like what a good college could offer them.</p>
<p>An observation: I was interested recently to notice some discrepancies in 4 year rates among some schools I would consider very comparable in all other regards (small LACs) and in wondering about it realized that I do not think the 4 year rates reflect the effects of combined programs(eg: 3-2 programs in engineering, 4-1 programs in languages, education, etc., some combined med programs)--so if a school you love seems lower than another you might want to ask about this. Because kids often do not get their LAC degree until they complete the "rest of the program" elsewhere--their years to "graduation" are extended beyond 4 (but they have a second degree or graduate credential when done)--and given small class sizes the numbers in combined programs can have a disproportionate effect on the "percentage" in 4 years numbers.</p>