<p>Lowest reported freshman retention rates among US News top 50 LACs:</p>
<ol>
<li>Bard 88.2</li>
<li>Sewanee-University of the South 88.8</li>
<li>Smith 90.2</li>
<li>Scripps 90.2</li>
<li>DePauw 90.2</li>
<li>U Richmond 91.0</li>
<li>Dickinson 91.0</li>
<li>Connecticut College 91.2</li>
<li>Centre College 91.2</li>
<li>Gettysburg 91.2</li>
<li>Trinity 91.5</li>
<li>Occidental 91.5</li>
<li>Franklin & Marshall 91.5</li>
<li>Furman 92.2</li>
<li>Union 92.2</li>
<li>Hamilton 92.5</li>
<li>Grinnell 92.8</li>
<li>Mount Holyoke 93.0</li>
<li>Skidmore 93.0</li>
<li>St. Olaf 93.0</li>
<li>Oberlin 93.2</li>
<li>Colby 93.2</li>
<li>Macalester 93.2</li>
<li>Colorado College 93.2</li>
<li>Colgate 93.5</li>
<li>Kenyon 93.5</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m not sure I see much of a pattern here, but there are several prominent women’s colleges (Smith, Scripps, Mount Holyoke), Midwestern LACs (DePauw, Grinnell, St. Olaf, Oberlin, Macalester, Kenyon–a high percentage of the best Midwestern LACs), and LACs in remote or isolated locations (Bard, Mount Holyoke, Hamilton, Grinnell, Colby, Colgate, Kenyon). But then, other schools in all these categories do better.</p>
<p>But then maybe leaving a school after a year or two isn’t always the worst thing. Barack Obama started college at Occidental (91.5% retention rate), left Occidental after two years and earned his BA at Columbia; after a stint as a community organizer in Chicago he was admitted to Harvard Law School, elected President of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, and went on to turn the political world upside down. He wouldn’t have figured in Occidental’s freshman retention rate because he left after his second year, but if some of these schools are providing some of their students a springboard to even bigger and better things, maybe we shouldn’t judge them too harshly. I’d still be cautious and ask a lot of questions, though, anytime freshman retention rates dip into the low 90s or lower.</p>