Reedies Graduation and Starting Salary

One of the interesting things I’ve noticed about Reed College is that the graduation rate and starting salaries for Reedies significantly differs from that of other top tier LACs. I’ve accumulated this info from the federal goverments College Scorecard website:

Reed
Graduation Rate: 78%
Salary: $36,200

Carleton:
Graduation Rate: 93%
Salary: $46,100

Swarthmore
Graduation Rate: 93%
Salary: $49,400

Pomona
Graduation Rate: 96%
Salary: $52,600

Bowdoin
Graduation Rate: 94%
Salary: $54,800

Williams
Graduation Rate: 96%
Salary: $58,100

Claremont McKenna
Graduation Rate: 92%
Salary: $63,600

Does anyone have any insights into why there is such a stark differential? With respect to the salary differential, I understand that geographic location could be a consideration. However, why is the graduation rate so significantly different?

I have no opinion to express as of yet, but a particularly relevant comparison might be to Colgate, a school which, when measured by average student ACT/SAT scores, exactly matches Reed.

(Business Insider, “The 610 Smartest Colleges.” Reed and Colgate tied at an impressive 44th nationally.)

Reed students are very interested in intellectual pursuits. Making money is not a high priority. And for some, neither is getting through college. (Note, though, the most famous Reed dropout in history was Steve Jobs).

Claremont McKenna, on the other end of your list, is pretty pre-professional.

The mid-career salary is 100k (http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/all-bachelors), so I would say they do well for themselves eventually. Reed tends to attract… a weird bunch of students. A lot of people take leaves, leave to pursue their passion/do whatever, transfer out because the place is just so particular, are frustrated by the whiteness of the campus… and what not. The ones that do make their way out of this environment are v. impressive people, and end up doing well eventually.

After visiting other schools AFTER going to Reed, I must say that this place is just very different. It is very traditional academically, maybe more so than those schools on your list, but honestly the student body is just so… bizarre.

I honestly think personally it would be extremely restorative to leave Reed for a semester and come back. To this end, I am definitely going to study abroad.

Interesting discussion. I have a son attending Rome currently. From everything we read in college guides, we knew that Reed had a unique campus culture. My son had to cancel a number of other fly-in programs but he kept the Rome invite because he wanted to see for himself what made Reed different from the others. I can’t wait to speak to him on Sunday evening to get his take.

^^ And?