Graduation Rates

<p>Clemson's 4 year graduation rate of 54% seems a bit low. It increases to 77% after 5 years. Does anyone have any insight as to the reason for the low 4 yr. rate, e.g., difficulty in registering for required classes, etc.? Does this challenge tend to occur more for certain colleges or majors within Clemson?
Thanks</p>

<p>DougCT, I personally took a semester off to intern with the US Forest Service during the Spring semester of my junior year. I know a lot of people who take a semester off to study abroad. I know a lot of people who participate in Clemson’s cooperative education program (where you work with an employer and alternate work and school semesters 3 times). So there are many factors that play into graduation (as a result of my one semester off, I will be graduating a semester off. People who co-op will graduate a year late.) Then there is also the possibility that someone switches majors which adds extra time to their time at Clemson. So the graduation rate certainly isn’t bad for 5 years and is pretty reasonable for a public institution like Clemson. Getting classes that you need to graduate can be frustrating at times if you want a certain elective but overall compared to other schools it’s not a headache at all (have been initially closed out of a class but have eventually gotten into it later on). There are just a lot of outside factors that can delay someone’s graduation date.</p>

<p>Just looked at a bunch of schools ranked similar to Clemson and here are the 4-year graduation rates:</p>

<p>Texas A&M: 50%
Purdue: 38%
Georgia: 55%
Pittsburgh: 61%
Maryland 66%</p>

<p>Texas A&M and Purdue are big engineering schools like Clemson and many engineering majors do some sort of internship/co-op program so I suspect similar reasons why the graduation rate is as low as it is.</p>

<p>Pierre,
Thanks. This information is very helpful. My son is receiving an admission offer off of the wait list and we are doing some research. He wants to major in Environmental and Natural Resources so your US Forest Service internship is of particular interest.</p>

<p>No problem! Let me know if you have any other questions about Clemson! I’m not an E&NR major (civil engineering) so I don’t know how much I can help you out with questions about that. I do think overall on a whole, Clemson students are successful at securing some type of internship/co-op position (the Career Services office and online job posting service is very helpful!). I’ve had 2 (and about to start a 3rd) internships since I’ve been at Clemson.</p>

<p>Doug, most U’s that have engineering and architecture majors (and others) will have their 4 year grad rates skewed since those programs generally require 5 years…</p>

<p>and then there are the kids that don’t want to leave (because they love it) or they want one more football season…which my kid is lobbying for (not happening!)</p>