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Comparing NC State to Peer Institutions

Freshman Retention & Graduation Rates
(ranked by avg freshman retention rate)

Institution
Freshman Retention
4 YR Graduation Rate
5 yr Graduation Rate
6 yr Graduation Rate
Cornell University
96%
87%
92%
93%
University of Florida
95%
56%
77%
82%
Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison 
94%
51%
79%
82%
Univ. of Illinois – Urbana 
93%
64%
80%
82%
Penn State Univ.
93%
60%
82%
85%
Univ. of Maryland
93%
63%
80%
82%
Univ. of Georgia 
93%
51%
75%
80%
Georgia Institute of Tech.
92%
31%
70%
77%
Ohio State 
92%
42%
68%
73%
Texas A&M Univ.
92%
41%
73%
78%
Michigan State 
91%
47%
72%
75%
University of California – Davis
90%
47%
77%
81%
Virginia Polytechnical Institute
90%
52%
75%
78%
NC State Univ. 
89%
37%
64%
70%
University of Minnesota
87%
41%
61%
66%
Purdue Univ. - Main Campus 
85%
38%
66%
72%
Iowa State University 
85%
34%
63%
67%

Graduation Rates: Percentage of freshmen who graduated within a six-year period for most recent cohort. This excludes transfers into the school.

Average Freshman Retention Rate: Percentage of first-year freshmen who returned to the same college or university the following fall, averaged over the first-year classes entering between 2003 and 2006.

Source:US News & World Reports College Comparisons, Fall 2009
For more information e-mail: karen_helm@ncsu.edu