For African Americans, Traditional Colleges have Graduation Rates in the Black!
Want something odd? If you’re African American and you want to graduate from college in Georgia, you should go to Emory. According to recently published research, 83% of African Americans who enter Emory graduate. 66% of African Americans who enter UGA graduate. No information was available for Agnes Scott, Oglethorpe, or Georgia State.
Contrast this with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Morehouse graduates 55% percent of it’s students while Clark Atlanta University sees a mere 32% of its students who enter finish. Only Spellman rises above. They graduate 77% of their entrants.
Of course, if you really want to graduate, you go to Harvard. 95% of their African American students graduate. In fact, the top seven schools in terms of African American graduation rates are all in the northeast and a majority of those are Ivy league universities.
Contrast this with the historically Black colleges and universities of which only 8 have a graduation rate of more than 50% and this represents a significant improvement since 1998. This calls into question the need, purpose, and future of America’s historically Black Colleges and Universities. At the outset there are two contrasting points of view:
1) Their time has passed. The strong ones will evolve toward a more multi-cultural future and start admitting a variety of students based on the strength of their own programs.
2) The other argument is that they need to be strengthened and fortified. In this view, one sees the need for more governmental and private support as an effort to keep African American college enrollment local and strong. A special emphasis would need to placed to induce young African American men to enroll. Right now, far more Black women are going to college and of those who go, half graduate. Fewer men attend college and roughly a third of them graduate. One possible role for these schools is to address that gap.
Still for those whose goal is graduation & with the grades and the intellectual drive to apply, traditional colleges are the way to go. Even with a 77% graduation rate, Spellman cannot touch the Seven Sisters or even Emory.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Alas, the truth is out on us!!!
February 9th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Men have far more career options than do women without a college degree. Offensive perspective or not, call it their one shining hope for success.
A College Graduate.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
If you are looking to graduate, you should look to your study habits and GPA and not to graduation rate. Graduation rates are more reflective of school selectivity. Harvard is more selective than Emory which is more selective than UGA which is more selective than Morehouse. And the graduation rates that were mentioned follow the same pattern.
My problem with this argument is that it is only valid if the students have the same choices, and they do not. A student who gets accepted into Harvard can get in to any of the less selective schools, while the student who is admitted to Morehouse may or may not be able to get into Emory and Harvard. So the point of choosing a Traditional College is moot. It is not an option for weaker students and it is irrelevant to high performing students.
Schools that are less selective take greater risks with their student body. Maybe they do so because they have no choice or because they choose to fulfill a perceived need. The top students who do go to colleges like Morehouse and Clark can and do compete with the top students from Emory and sometimes even Harvard.
Graduation rates, which are tied to selectivity, is definitely a factor to consider when choosing a college, but not for the reasons stated. High graduation rates reflect a better top to bottom ability of the class. This is important when considering the strength of class discussions, study groups, and group projects, but an individuals chance of crossing the stage with a degree. No school has institutional mechanisms that will transform a passive student into graduate.
For an individual looking to graduate, make sure you can do so financially, then study.