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Graduation Success Rates

B Blprkfrnks100+ posts
While browsing the NCAA website I found a listing of GSR's or Gradation Sucess Rates for colleges. This seems to be the percentage of student-athletes that go on to graduate from their college. If I read it correctly, the students drafted early or transferring to another school do not count aganst them. Overall DI GSR was 68%, with the bottom 3 sports being Basketball (62%), Football (66%), surprisingly to me, Baseball (68%).

I found these numbers valuable because my son is looking to get a degree first and foremost and would like to choose a school that will support that goal. I'm sure he could graduate from any school with the proper effort, but the schools with the highest GSR would likely be more supportive of his goals, and hopefully allow him to pursue the majors he is interested in.

We looked at California schools since he would like to go to school in-state. This is a list of schools that we have looked at due to baseball, academic majors, or coaches contacting us. The numbers are for the baseball programs only. I was amazed at what we found:

100% Stanford
100% UCSD
85% UC Irvine
84% UC Berkeley
72% Santa Clara
71% UCLA
71% Cal Poly Pomona
69% UC Davis
61% Cal State Long Beach
50% UC Santa Barbara
50% UC Riverside
48% Cal Poly SLO
36% USC
43% Cal State Northridge
33% San Jose State
27% Cal State Fullerton

The 100% numbers are amazing.

I was surprised that UCLA was so low and that Cal Poly Pomona was so high.

But what really amazed me was how low Cal Poly-SLO, USC and Fullerton ranked. These graduation rates are terrible. Cal Poly-SLO and USC are great academic schools and should be ashamed of these rates. Fullerton and San Jose must make no effort at all to graduate their athletes.

Am I the only one that finds these low rates to be a red flag? I would tend to eliminate these schools that have low grad rates. My thought is that the baseball program is not working hand in hand with the academic department. If Stanford and UCSD can get 100% GSR what does that say about those that can't get 50%?
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CPLZCPLZ1,000+ posts
I would caution you against using GSR as a highly influential number in your college research. Although it appears impressive, think of the various ways those numbers can be achieved.

Of course the most obvious, is that the oversight process at these schools is tremendous. Another reason may be that schools funnel athletes into majors that are less demanding in order to maintain APR (Academic Progress Rate) and achieve laudible GSR figures. Even Jim Harbaugh threw his Alma Mater, Michigan, under the bus about academics, claiming that football coaches insisted players stay away from a great number of majors. Harbaugh said the coaches told him that his major was football.
justbaseballjustbaseball10,000+ posts
I agree about putting too much stock into the numbers. Its more up to the player than anyone else to get it done. I believe in personal responsibility in these things.

I will say that Stanford puts tremendous importance on progressing quickly towards graduation. The coaches, in particular, are very involved in that. And there is very high peer pressure to return and get it done for those that leave after junior year.
H Homerun041,000+ posts
Some programs are better than others in supporting academics, but I am surprised about these numbers with the APR program that has been put in place.

I don't see how Fullerton would have any baseball scholarships with these numbers.

Do you have a link to the site; it would be interesting to see other school.

I also agree that you should be cautious about using these numbers as a determination of which school you pursue for baseball, there is a lot of difference in baseball ability.
L LHPMom2012100+ posts
We attended the USC camp over winter break. Grades were stressed very highly, so much so that my son got the impression that the school would prefer a recruit to be a great student and a good baseball player, rather than a good student and a great baseball player (so did I.) The head coach said this year's freshman class had an average 4.2 GPA and something like a 2200 SAT. He was looking for players who had about a 3.5 GPA and something like an 1800 SAT.

Maybe with only 11.7 scholarships to be divided amongst the entire team, the result is that a lot of college baseball players can't afford their degrees? Fifty percent at USC still leaves you responsible for over $26K a year.

LHPMom
fanofgamefanofgame5,000+ posts
WOW , I dont know if I would want my son at a school where the avg. GPA is 4.2-4.5 and over 1800 on SATs. My son was 3.58 and over 1700 on SAT and I think it would be hard to hang with those kind of students.Maybe with all the academic help it would be ok. My friends son goes to Cal, not a baseball player, but what a brilliant kid. He told me that in one of his chemistry classes that the professor graded on a curve. Some scored so high, that he got a 90% and it was a B. So a 70% might not be a C. some brilliant young students out there at those schools.
Last edited by fanofgame
B Blprkfrnks100+ posts
Thanks for all the input. This was my first viewing of these numbers and it kind of shocked me. Looking at the non athlete Graduation Rates makes me realize that this is not just an athlete issue. An amazing amount of people just don't finish college.

Sombody mentioned that the trend has been improving. I think the numbers we are looking at on the NCAA site are kind of outdated. Maybe there has been some real improvement since the scholarships can now be taken away (the APR thing).

I see the point about not putting too much weight in these numbers, but some of them really stand out as curious.

For instance, UCLA and USC have similar standards of admission, but UCLA is at 70% and USC is at 36%. Thats a big difference.
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
Caution on assumption. Tranfers in or out are not counted in the graduation rates, one of the reasons why the NCAA put down their foot on revolving doors. I think it unfair to assume that this reflects lack of priorities by certain programs.

To me these percentages reflect a lot of movement in the past, not necesarily everyone graduationg in 4-5 years.

You actually will have to wait out a 4-5 year maybe 6 year period to see results. Baseball allowed transfer, which reflects poor graduation rates.
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
quote:
Originally posted by dswann:
I wonder what the graduation rate for non athletes would be.
Several years ago I read the national average is between 55-60 percent. But, a lot of kids start college who aren't really college material and are unlikely to graduate. A baseball player should be getting in at least three years. A majority should get in four years. Shame on any kid who runs out of eligibility a few credits short of graduating and doesn't get it done.
CPLZCPLZ1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by RJM:
quote:
As a baseball player 3.5 and 1800 will get you into most schools except Stanford and IVies.

I know of two kids from our area in Ivies with these numbers.


I've always maintained that entrance GPA requirements are on a sliding scale directly relative to ERA and BA Big Grin Those two must really bring/swing it Wink
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
quote:
Originally posted by CPLZ:
quote:
Originally posted by RJM:
quote:
As a baseball player 3.5 and 1800 will get you into most schools except Stanford and IVies.

I know of two kids from our area in Ivies with these numbers.


I've always maintained that entrance GPA requirements are on a sliding scale directly relative to ERA and BA Big Grin Those two must really bring/swing it Wink
One attended one of the academically high ranked high schools in the area. The baseball program is one of the best in the area. He can fly and cover gap to gap in the outfield.

The other attended a prestigious private school. Aside from bringing it in the 90's, he was also a 6'4" linebacker. Two athletes for the price of one.
Bob SandersBob Sanders10+ posts
I agree that highschool you hold their hands and college is where they grow up---but putting your son's academic future in the hands of some of these Athletic academic advisers is just plain dumb. With athletes transferring from D-1's to JC's and back to D-1's you have to be careful of what transfers and what doesn't...and if they have enough credits to get into the college and degree of interest once they get to the baseball program and college they plan on finishing college at. Our son had 154 credit hours after his first semester of his senior year(on the Dean's List)...with that many credits he should of been on his masters by then. I applaud the programs that keep a close eye on their student athletes academic progress---and not for just their APR and GSR but for the students themselves. My advice is keep a hold of theirs hands a little longer.
S shortstopdad10+ posts
I would like to share a related observation. As I scour the roster of some major D1 college teams looking for graduating major I find it remarkable that out of players who have decided their major most of them are in areas are sociology! only a very few in majors like economics. After all for some kids the baseball dream will not continue past college. The question to wonder if these maojors like " sociology" ( I do not mean to bellittle it here) were picked for ease of graduation. These majors would not be in great demand in looking for work and kids would have to adjust for more studies beyond this.

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