Student Success & Achievement
The University of the South prepares students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Theology for a lifetime of success and achievement. Each student pursues an individual journey of academic growth, personal development, and civic and work experiences, culminating in the granting of a degree recognizing his or her academic program. Beyond the degree, the success of the preparation truly will be assessed only over the course of a lifetime. Nevertheless, the University is firmly committed to enrolling students who can flourish and to support them in completing their academic programs as planned.
College of Arts and Sciences
To monitor this commitment, the University sets goals for the first-to-second year retention rate and the six-year graduation rate for undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences. These goals acknowledge that, for some students, adverse personal and other circumstances will intervene, and at the same time express the University's highest aspirations for its students.
The University of the South also benchmarks against comparative peer and aspirant peer institutions first to second year retention rates and six year graduation rates.
In 2013, the University of the South adopted the following institutions for its comparative peer group: Centre College, Denison University, Dickinson University, Furman University, Gettysburg College, Rhodes College, and Whitman University. For its aspirant peer group, the University of the South has adopted the following institutions: Bates College, Carleton College, Colby College, Colgate University, Davidson College, Hamilton College, Kenyon College, Macalester College, and Washington and Lee University.
Additionally, we track the Career Outcomes Rate, finding full-time employment, academic study, or related pursuits within six months of graduation, of the graduates of the College of Arts & Sciences compared to national averages from the National Association of Employers and Colleges (NACE) First-Destination Report.
We also publish annual first-destinations Career Outcomes Data for graduates here annually.
Data above comes from the University of the South’s Office of Institutional Research and Analysis, the NACE First Destinations Report, and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and includes data from the most recent years available at the time of publication.
