Like John Denker, I can't fully explain the "dropout" statistics. However,
having advised science students for 30 years, and watching patterns, and
seeing statistical reports from my institution as well as others, I can
supply a little bit of insight.
Bluffton University has a 4-yr graduation rate of 51%. This rises to 58%
after 6 years. This rate is far from the best, but not the worst.
In our case, this should not be viewed as a "flunk-out" rate because very
few students are asked to leave. For any entering class of approximately
250 traditional freshmen, less than 10 are asked to leave (less than 4%).
This not only includes leaving due to bad grades, but also leaving for
misconduct (such as alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse... dishonesty... theft...
vandalism... etc.). Every student who leaves without a degree has to go
through a set of interviews if they want to leave under good standing.
(Good standing allows them to get transcripts, re-enroll at a later date,
keep their email account, etc.) The interviews include a meeting with the
advisor, the department chair, a campus-life representative, and a
financial-affairs representative.
The most common reason given for leaving is lack of money. Money problems
dominate by far... all other stated reasons pale in comparison. But this is
a tricky subject because some degree of unhappiness or academic problem most
likely plays a large role. A better way to explain the situation probably
would be that the benefit of staying in school no longer appears to justify
the cost. Although a parent could force a student to leave against the
student's will, I believe most students can find the money to stay in school
if they believe it is worth staying. The reasons can be quite diverse.
Here are a few...
[1] The student was a high-school football quarterback, but not good enough
to play for an NCAA division 1 or 2 university, so he came to a division-3
school where he hopes to play football for another 4 years. Unfortunately,
another quarterback from a different high school also came, and the other
quarterback is better. If this seems unusual, let me point out that Ohio,
like many states, is sports crazy. At small colleges and universities
anywhere from 20% to 40% of the traditional-age student body is on an
intercollegiate athletic team. At Bluffton it is about 30%. Because there
is no female counterpart to football, this 30% includes more men than women,
but outside of football the men and women teams are about equal sized.
Obviously a lot of athletes mostly sit on the bench. If the desire to play
is the primary reason they came to college, the bench sitters are going to
have to believe they will eventually play, or they are going to have to come
to the conclusion there is more to college than athletics. Those who can't
see this are very likely to conclude that college is not worth the money.
[2] I am totally amazed how many entering "science" students declare they
are pre-med majors, but they don't like math and science. You know right
away there is a problem when the high school transcript shows physical
science, general biology, plus one other science course such as anatomy or
environmental science... but no chemistry, no physics, and no advanced math.
Once they get to college and start getting grades of B and C in chemistry,
calculus, physics it becomes very clear they are never going to go to med
school. They are not exactly flunking out... they could get a degree in
something... but what? It's pretty hard when mom and dad, and grandma and
grandpa, and aunts and uncles all know you are going to become a doctor, and
already in your freshman year you realize you are not going to become a
doctor. What do you do? How do you tell them? Some leave right away and
complain about money problems. What they really mean is there is no use
spending more money on a dream that isn't going to happen. A few will find
another major and stay in school. Sadly, some cannot find the strength to
tell everyone back home that they are not pre-med material, so they continue
on to organic chemistry, anatomy and physiology, microbiology and continue
to get mostly C grades. Financially the college is happy to take their
tuition, but I feel guilty and I advise them to find a different major or
drop out of school and rethink their goals.
[3] Computer science is often similar to pre-medicine. Students believe
there are computer jobs, and they like using computers, so they will come to
major in computer science. But their computer experience is either games or
maybe using a word processor or a spreadsheet program, or maybe presentation
software. They might be pretty good at one or more of those, and people
have told them "you have a real knack for computers." Then they get in
college and discover they have never written a computer program before...
and they don't like it... and a computer science major requires lots of
programming, plus calculus and discrete math, and physics. All of a sudden
they don't like the major they told everyone they were going to pursue, so
again we have students who don't see any value in paying big bucks to stay
in a program they don't like. They need to find a different major, or drop
out.
I could give more examples, but you get the point. I think this explains
the high retention at the prestigious schools like the Ivy League schools,
or Caltech and places like that. The top notch schools are so hard to get
into that they predominantly get the cream of the crop, and these top-notch
students are way more realistic about their chosen major and what it takes
to complete that major. And of course they indeed have the mental ability
to complete that major. If they know they can do the program, and they are
good enough to rise to most challenges, and they have a much better
understanding of what the major involves and what the post-graduate
opportunities are... they are much more likely to view college as worth the
money.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Bluffton University
1 University Drive
Bluffton, OH 45817
419.358.3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu