Is Utah anything more than a commuter school w/ a good med school?

[myboynoah]

Audit: U. should beef up college admission standards; too many students not graduating

Too few students at the University of Utah graduate within six years compared to other competitive research institutions, according to a legislative audit released today.

While schools like Pennsylvania State and the University of Washington have graduation percentages in the 80s, the U.'s graduation rate was 58 percent for the incoming class of 2003, according to the report.

[Blueintheface]

That was my residency. My medical school was much better than Mayo's.

At which Mayo Clinic did you do your residency? MN, AZ, FL...?

[MarkGrace]

Audit: U. should beef up college admission standards; too many students not graduating

Missions. And all those darn ski bums.

[LA Ute]

Missions. And all those darn ski bums.

Did the study cover Weber State?

[MarkGrace]

Missions. And all those darn ski bums.

What's more, BYU — which wasn't part of the audit since it's a private institution — has a six-year graduation rate of 77 percent and even more students leaving on missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Or maybe not. That or BYU is fudging the numbers! Must be the ski bums.

[myboynoah]

Did the study cover Weber State?

You would have thought they would cover all the in-state schools. They mentioned BYU, which scores a 77 as Gracie points out (despite all those 1-2 year MRS degree students).

[MarkGrace]

You would have thought they would cover all the in-state schools. They mentioned BYU, which scores a 77 as Gracie points out (despite all those 1-2 year MRS degree students).

This likely indicates that Utah has the biggest problem with its graduation rates among the state schools.

[TripletDaddy]

Must be the ski bums.

Please refer to them as National Champions, thank you.

[wuapinmon]

You would have thought they would cover all the in-state schools. They mentioned BYU, which scores a 77 as Gracie points out (despite all those 1-2 year MRS degree students).

[falafel]

Rosebud has an MRS degree?

[Coach McGuirk]

Sorry, this one fits better, and will probably work,

[il Padrino Ute]

Please refer to them as National Champions, thank you.

Those who are considered National Champions are the students who bartered their ability to ski for an education. The ski bums are those who enrolled for one or perhaps two semesters (quarters for those who attended Utah before the 00s) and then dropped out in order to work off-season jobs to have enough money to ski throughout the winter.

Ski bums = OWS
Ski team = gainfully employed

[falafel]

Ski bums = OWS
Ski team = gainfully employed

That's just it - both groups are doing the same thing, but only one group is being compensated for it! Totally unfair.

[il Padrino Ute]

That's just it - both groups are doing the same thing, but only one group is being compensated for it! Totally unfair.

One group just needs to put more effort into skiing if they want to be fully compensated.

[Paperback Writer]

You would have thought they would cover all the in-state schools. They mentioned BYU, which scores a 77 as Gracie points out (despite all those 1-2 year MRS degree students).

Utah St. was mentioned with a graduation rate of 55% but " had a top graduation rate among five noncompetitive research institutions". Weber St and Southern Utah "performed in the middle of the pack when compared to similar schools" but their graduation rates were not cited. The U is being compared to a different set of universities than is Utah St. and Weber St. and Southern Utah use a different set as well.

I see two factors that are affecting the U's graduation rates and both are mentioned in the article. First, lower test scores (ACT) than the set of universities being compared against. And second, number of students working significantly and also going to school.

The first can be addressed with raising acceptance criteria. I was surprsied to learn that BYU's 6-year graduation rate was 77%. That has been a big improvment from 20 years ago. But when the average ACT score for BYU has risen by 6-8 points during that time, it's not so surprising. Hopefully, it also means fewer women are dropping out of BYU after marriage. I think the U can raise its acceptance criteria and not hurt the economy of Utah. There are other good in-state colleges for those students to attend who may not now get into the U with a rasied bar for acceptance. I also think it might raise professional wages in Utah if there were fewer U graduates. I don't agree that there will be a shortage of college educated labor in Utah as there are many LDS non-Utah or former-Utah college educated people who would relocate if the professional wages were more competitive.

Not sure what the U can do about working students. It typically takes longer for working students to graduate because they take fewer credit hours. What Texas has done is to pay a tuition rebate of $1,000 for graduating in 4 years. But a lot of it is cultural. Many LDS expect their kids to pay for most of their college. My own expereince is anecdotal but my non-LDS friends didn't work their way through college - their parents paid their college costs exclusively or substantially. Now that I have kids in college and have gotten to know some of the families of their friends, I'm finding the great majority are paying for their kids college. Same is true for my non-LDS neighbors. But a straw poll of my LDS circle of friends show that most are expecting their kids to pay their own way through college. Still doesn't explain why BYU is sitting at 77% and the U is at 58%. Maybe it is all ACT scores.