Babson is #1 in Graduation Rate of Highly Competitive American Institutions
Babson College has been named #1 in the U.S. ‘Highly Competitive category’ in graduation rate in a study by The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. The report documents and analyzes the variation in graduation rates across more than 1,300 of the nation's colleges and universities.
Using official U.S. Department of Education graduation rates, the report identifies the top and bottom performers among institutions that have similar levels of admissions selectivity, as reported in Barron's Profiles of American Colleges. The research shows that fewer than 60 percent of new students graduate from four-year colleges within six years, and though completion rates increase as one moves up the selectivity scale, and within each category of selectivity, there are large differences between the schools that graduate most students and those that graduate few.
To account for differences in the selectivity of colleges and universities, Barron’s selectivity rankings were used. Schools were coded into six categories based on their selectivity as reported by Barron’s, using the most recent selectivity data. The categories are Noncompetitive, Less Competitive, Competitive, Very Competitive, Highly Competitive, and Most Competitive.
Top Ten Highly Competitive Schools, Graduation Rate Percent, Category
1 Babson College, MA 89 % Special Private
1 Mount Holyoke College, MA 89 Baccalaureate Private
3 University of California, Berkeley 88 Research Public
3 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 88 Research Public
5 Bentley College, MA 87 Master’s Private
5 Grinnell College, IA 87 Baccalaureate Private
5 Trinity College, CT 87 Baccalaureate Private
5 Providence College, RI 87 Master’s Private
9 Gustavus Adolphus College, MN 86 Baccalaureate Private
9 Smith College, MA 86 Baccalaureate Private
9 St. Olaf College, MN 86 Baccalaureate Private
9 Union College, NY 86 Baccalaureate Private
9 Wheaton College, IL 86 Baccalaureate
In classifying schools, Barron’s takes into account a variety of factors: SAT/ACT scores, the percentages of 2007–2008 freshmen who ranked in the upper one-fifth and upper two-fifths of their high school graduating classes, the minimum class rank and grade point average required for admission (if any), and the percentage of applicants to the 2007–2008 freshman class who were accepted.
The Highly Competitive category is defined (by Barron’s) as colleges that “generally admit students with high school grade averages of B to B+ and accept most students from the top 20–35 percent of their high school class; have median freshman test scores ranging from 620 to 654 on the SAT and 27 or 28 on the ACT; and accept between one-third and one-half of their applicants.”
“Graduation rates as calculated here do convey important information—information that should be readily available to students selecting a school, parents investing in their child’s education, and policymakers and taxpayers who finance student aid and public institutions. We believe that the graduation rate measure included here should be just the beginning of a deeper inquiry into college success—one driven by more accurate measures broadly defined: in future earnings, in acquiring knowledge, in workplace success, and ultimately in becoming the kind of citizens who can contribute to the stability and prosperity of our society,” according to the report.
