Students at Highly Selective Colleges Much More Likely Than Others to Graduate in Four Years

April 10, 2009

IOWA CITY, Iowa—Students who attend colleges with very selective admission policies are much more likely to earn a bachelor's degree—particularly within four years—than students who attend less selective schools, according to the results of a new survey by ACT, Inc.

More than seven in 10 students (72%) at colleges and universities with "highly selective" admission policies (defined below) earned their bachelor's degree within four years of entering that school, while only half (49%) of students at colleges with "selective" admission policies did the same. And, in turn, students at schools with "traditional" (31%), "liberal" (28%), and "open" (30%) admission policies were even less likely to complete their degrees within four years, with rates varying little among these three less selective categories.

Highly selective colleges and universities also had significantly higher five- and six-year graduation rates than did colleges with less selective admission policies.

"It's not surprising that schools with more selective admission policies have higher graduation rates," said Wes Habley, principal associate at ACT, who has been conducting these analyses since 1983. "However, the difference between those colleges and schools with less selective policies is more pronounced than we had expected. Conversely, the lack of difference among colleges with traditional, liberal, and open admission policies when it comes to graduation rates is also surprising."

Highly selective colleges and universities, which made up 8 percent of the 1,655 four-year colleges that completed ACT's survey, are defined as colleges at which the majority of accepted freshmen were in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. The typical ACT composite score range of accepted students at these schools is 27 and higher. The ACT is scored on a scale of 1 to 36, with 36 being the highest possible score.

Other college admission policy categories are defined as follows:

Selective (21% of study's sample)—Majority of accepted freshmen in top 25 percent of high school graduating class; typical ACT composite score range = 22 to 27.
Traditional (42% of sample)—Majority of accepted freshmen in top 50 percent of high school graduating class; typical ACT composite score range = 20 to 23.
Liberal (9% of sample)—Some accepted freshmen in the lower half of high school graduating class; typical ACT composite score range = 18 to 21.
Open (19% of sample)—All high school graduates accepted to limit of capacity; typical ACT composite score range = 17 to 20.

The findings indicate that, overall, four in ten students nationally graduated within four years of entering a particular college or university, while just over half graduated within five (53%) or six years (56%) of entering that institution. These data are based on 2007 college graduates. Graduation rates for students who transfer from one college to another are not included in the data.

Five-year graduation rates have changed little over the past decade, ranging from 51 to 53 percent overall. This is the first year that ACT has been able to report four- and six-year rates.

Other notable findings in ACT's survey include the following:

Students at private colleges and universities are much more likely than those at public institutions to earn their bachelor's degree, particularly within four years of entering that school.
Students at PhD-granting institutions are significantly more likely than those at schools that offer only bachelor's or master's degrees to graduate within six years.
A sizable number of students who enter four-year colleges—perhaps as many as four in ten—likely never earn a bachelor's degree.

The findings are based on the results of the ACT Institutional Data Questionnaire, an annual survey conducted among two- and four-year colleges across the U.S.

View the complete data set

ACT is also currently conducting its fourth national survey of retention policies and practices, called "What Works in Student Retention?" Results of this survey are expected to be released late this summer.