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I would not throw it out. I’d want to know if the retention rate is unusually high or low. But the thing is, most of the schools on the PR happy list have rates above 90%. Those are good rates. Colgate’s for example is all of 2 points lower than Harvard’s. </p>
<p>Chicago’s retention rate is about 97%. It’s a great school, but how likely is it to make PR’s happiest students list? </p>
<p>So, while there may be some correlation between self-reported happiness and retention, it appears there are other factors at work to entice students to stay at some schools, or leave others, regardless of how happy most students at those schools say they are.</p>