As autumn's academic aura deepens, application season students are in the final stretch, many eagerly anticipating their dream offers.
While receiving an offer is exhilarating, it is more important to successfully complete your studies and find a suitable job after graduation.
Therefore, when choosing schools, we must inevitably consider graduation rates to avoid unfortunate pitfalls, wasting time and money without due returns.
According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, only 58% of students who began college in fall 2012 earned a degree within six years.
Although overall figures have risen, the rate remains low. On average, more students graduate from four-year private schools than public ones, yet the average completion rate at two-year community colleges and for-profit four-year institutions is below 40%.
Let's take a look at the top 20 US colleges with the lowest graduation rates, compiled by Business Insider from the 2019 U.S. News top 50 national universities and liberal arts colleges.
20. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 48
Six-year non-graduation rate: 15%
18. University of California, Irvine
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 36
Six-year non-graduation rate: 15.1%
18. Pepperdine University
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 50
Six-year non-graduation rate: 15.1%
17. Connecticut College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 46
Six-year non-graduation rate: 15.2%
16. University of California, San Diego
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 37
Six-year non-graduation rate: 15.5%
15. Occidental College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 39
Six-year non-graduation rate: 15.6%
14. Gettysburg College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 53
Six-year non-graduation rate: 16.4%
13. New York University
U.S. News national university ranking: 29
Six-year non-graduation rate: 16.5%
12. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 50
Six-year non-graduation rate: 16.6%
11. Bryn Mawr College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 27
Six-year non-graduation rate: 16.6%
10. Tulane University
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 40
Six-year non-graduation rate: 16.6%
09. Pitzer College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 35
Six-year non-graduation rate: 16.9%
08. University of Texas at Austin
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 48
Six-year non-graduation rate: 17.2%
07. Case Western Reserve University
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 40
Six-year non-graduation rate: 17.4%
06. Centre College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 53
Six-year non-graduation rate: 17.7%
05. University of California, Santa Barbara
2020 U.S. News national university ranking: 34
Six-year non-graduation rate: 18.5%
04. Trinity College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 46
Six-year non-graduation rate: 19%
03. Thomas Aquinas College
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 35
Six-year non-graduation rate: 20.7%
02. United States Air Force Academy
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 39
Six-year non-graduation rate: 22.4%
01. Sewanee: The University of the South
2020 U.S. News liberal arts college ranking: 43
Six-year non-graduation rate: 22.7%
Student life in the US is vastly different from that in China. Compared to the 'free-range' style of Chinese universities, American colleges are known for being 'easy to enter, hard to graduate.'
So receiving an offer is by no means the end of the story; you must maintain a studious mindset to truly succeed in the long run. May all students who receive offers graduate smoothly.
