Lies, more lies, and statistics

Here's some statistics I nagged the Admissions Department to give me. Thanks Raissa!

This post is gonna have lots of numbers and explanations and thoughts. Remember, statistics are trying to condense information into simple numeric values. However, many people have learned the art of exploiting statistics, so you should always be wary of the accuracy and authenticity of this statistics. I honestly believe that the two most important classes you can take are a civics class (understand how our government works please, don't just vote based on your parents) and a statistics class (seriously, where did the newspaper gets these numbers?).

Anyways, Mudd numbers!

Graduation Rate: 80% for class of 2008, oscillates between 77-84%
The 4 year graduation rate is defined as graduating in 8 consecutive semesters. This means it doesn't include anyone who took a semester off. I believe there have been posted numbers of around 86% for graduating in 5 years, but I'm not sure what their definition is of that. It might include 4 graded semesters but 1 year taken off, it might be the 9 semester kids, I don't know.

Freshman to Sophomore Retention Rate: 95% for 2007 to 2008
That's right, 95% of the students who entered in 2007 came back for a sophomore year in 2008. Note that this number needs to reduce to somewhere around 80% in 3 years. In reality, Mudd tends to lose the majority of its students somewhere during Sophomore year. By Junior year people are pretty set, unless they got into a major they don't actually like, and Seniors dropping out is pretty rare. Changing to an off-campus major is more likely, but then again that's also rare.

Breakdown of graduating majors (Class of 2008):
Major      Total %
  
Biology     4 2.37%
Chemistry and Biology   4 2.37%
Chemistry    6 3.55%
Computer Science   20 11.83%
Computer Science and Mathematics 7 4.14%
Engineering    73 43.20%
Individual Program of Studies   0.00%
Mathematical Biology   1 0.59%
Mathematics    23 13.61%
Physics     26 15.38%

Off Campus    5 2.96%

Um.... yeah. Engineers rule. We apparently also like the majors enough (or are too lazy) to make our own major. Also, note that there aren't that many Chemists or Biologists. That doesn't mean the departments are bad, we for some reason just don't have a lot of them. Weird. CS probably stole all of them.

Continued Schooling: 34% for 2008
This is typically around 40%. This includes going to professional school as well as graduate programs like a Masters or PhD. PhDs in Physics are especially high, and kinda required if you want to do something Physics-y with that degree, like be a professor.

Average Debt: $17,957 for 2008
Median Average Starting Income: $65K - $70K for 2008
These two combined are weird. I know for a fact I have way more that 18K in debt. Well, to be fair, they're probably only counting student loans, in which case that's closer to my number, but parental loans tend to be big. So, this statistic out of all of them is probably the most misleading. That isn't to say I have to pay all 40K a year, I do get some nice scholarships and such, but my parents definitely are fronting huge loans to get me through this. Don't forget us Engineers tend to skew the income number, a bunch of CS kids last year got eaten by this 80K paying company, and this number probably ignores students who aren't making anything. I mean, grad student stipend is only around 18K.

Females: 40% incoming class of 2008, 37% graduating class of 2008, 36% current total body
Please note that the last few incoming classes have been getting more and more females in them, so it's not like we're losing females faster than we lost males. Well, we might be, but you can't claim these statistics show that. Note that the incoming class of 2007 had a whopping 42% female class, better than any other major tech school. But, as the saying goes, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd." =] To be fair, the majority of the students can pass off as normal humans in society. Just don't ask them about relativity or anything, and you might never know.

"Top 10% of class:
95% of incoming students who gave a HS ranking are in the top 10 % of their class (mind you 157 out of the 202 gave a rank). Out of the whole class regardless if they gave a rank or not 74% of the students are in the top 10%."

"Top 5% of class:
60% of incoming students who gave a HS ranking are in the top 5 % of their class (mind you 157 out of the 202 gave a rank). Out of the whole class regardless if they gave a rank or not 46% of the students are in the top 5%."
This is for this last incoming class. This is also quoted from the e-mail I got back. Yay for transparency.

National Merit Finalists: 61 out of 202 = 30% of the incoming class
I am not one of these. That's right, I was too lazy (or too stupid) to study for that PSAT test. Come to think of it, did I even study for the SAT....?

Out of State: 35% of the incoming class
This is based on permanent address not citizenship or visa status. I am also not one of these.

International Students:
"This is based on citizenship and visa status not permanent address. So non-US citizens and non-permanent residents, would be 5% of the incoming class. We also have a fair amount of Americans abroad, basically US citizens and permanent residents who are graduating HS outside of the US. That number is 3% of the incoming class."
Go diversity. Oh, did I forget to mention one my Clinic Team members is a French Foreign Exchange Student?

Live on campus all years while attending: 99.6%
Um.... yeah. Everyone is on campus. Seriously. Walk down the hall and bug those upperclassmen, they like feeling important. They also want an excuse not to do their own homework. Also, note you are guaranteed housing all your years on campus. And if the dorms run out, they'll help subsidize a place off campus.

Average Mudd Graduating GPA: 3.2?
OK, the Admissions office doesn't track this, but if I recall correctly there was this other article that posted this number or something close to it. We do indeed battle grade inflation.

And now, for something interesting that got written back to me:
"Usually guide books ask for the most recent year but the thing is they are usually 1-2 years behind by the time they publish. For example the Yale Insider's Guide just asked me for numbers for their 2009 edition. I've given them the statistics for the class of 2012 (folks starting fall 08) and that goes to press and is distributed by early to mid 2009. By the time it's being sold we already have stats for the class of 2013 (folks staring fall 09)."

Cool stuff.

Leave a comment if you want me to go dig up other stuff.