QU Retention Rates

Location, location, location? March 24, 2010

This map shows the schools with the top 9 highest retention rate with blue markers, and Quinnipiac’s location with a yellow marker.

Massachusetts is home to three of these schools – Amherst College, Harvard University, and MIT. New York contains Columbia University and Dartmouth College. Both Yale University and Quinnipiac are in Connecticut. Princeton University is in New Jersey, the Curtis Institute of Music is in Pennsylvania and Bowdoin College is in Maine. The map shows that the schools with the top 9 highest retention rates are all in the Northeastern part of the U.S. So how much does location matter? What role does the location of the school play in its retention rate?

QU Junior Lindsay Kazin thinks it’s more about the prestige of the school and not the location. “I think the New England landscape certainly helps draw people here, but there’s things about QU that people don’t realize after setting first steps on the campus,” says Kazin.  QU Retention Committee member Brian Walach agrees the school itself is truly what counts, and many Ivy League schools just happen to be in the same region. He notes the schools with the highest retention rate are also the most selective. “Once students are finally accepted, their desire to then leave is probably very small and the retention rates reflect this” Walach says.