A month or so ago, a student at a large southwestern university (sounds like the start of a Penthouse Forum letter doesn’t it?) cited some stats about his school.
They suggested that his school would admit anybody who had the money even though a much smaller percentage made it past the first year of partying.
My GQ is what stats (looking for the name so I can do my own search but links would be cool too) would show 1)the percentage of those who apply that are accepted and also 2) flunk out rates at various stages.
This isn’t everything you’re looking for but it’s a start.
Some search terms:
Acceptance Rate
Freshman Retention Rate
4-Year Graduation Rate
e.g.
For Arizona State University
Acceptance Rate: 90.5%
Freshman Retention Rate: 79.5%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 30%
All found here.
Many state universities are forced to accept everyone who graduates from high school in that state. They know that a large percentage of those will not stay four years and everything is built around that fact. I did some graduate work a midwestern college where 40% of freshman were expected to leave after the first year.
I’d be surprised if there were any large state universities in the southwest that didn’t have this pattern.