Although the annual U.S. News college rankings are a cause of considerable controversy, the magazine is a source of excellent information. One useful metric is that for freshman retention–the percentage of entering freshmen who return for the sophomore year.
The freshman retention rate can be somewhat misleading, however, because many of the leading universities also have the most selective admissions requirements, making academic success much more likely. Another reason the rate can be misleading is that the nation’s elite private universities not only have the highest-qualified students, as measure by test scores and high school gpa’s, but also provide generous financial support that makes it unnecessary for students to work or drop out of school.
Yet this makes high freshman retention rates in public universities all the more impressive, especially when some of these schools achieve high retention rates even though they are not among the most selective in their admissions. (This is especially so when tuition, fees, and cost of living are above average.) Delaware, Michigan State, Penn State, Pitt, Ohio State, UC Santa Cruz, and Washington are examples. Florida and Florida State also have impressive retention rates, but they also offer strong academics along with very low tuition costs.
Below please see the list of the public universities with the best freshman retention rates. We will list the retention percentage, followed by the percentage of students accepted.
UC Berkeley–97% retention rate, 18% acceptance rate
UCLA–97% retention rate, 22% acceptance rate
North Carolina–97% retention rate, 28% acceptance rate
Virginia–97% retention rate, 30% acceptance rate
Florida–96% retention rate, 44% acceptance rate
Michigan–96% retention rate, 37% acceptance rate
William & Mary–95% retention rate, 32% acceptance rate
UC San Diego–95% retention rate, 38% acceptance rate
Georgia Tech–94% retention rate, 55% acceptance rate
UC Irvine–94% retention rate, 42% acceptance rate
Maryland–94% retention rate, 47% acceptance rate
Ohio State–93% retention rate, 64% acceptance rate
Connecticut–93% retention rate, 45% acceptance rate
Washington–93% retention rate, 59% acceptance rate
Florida State–92% retention rate, 54% acceptance rate
Penn State–92% retention rate, 54% acceptance rate
Rutgers–92% retention rate, 41% acceptance rate
Texas A&M–92% retention rate, 60% acceptance rate
Delaware–92% retention rate, 57% acceptance rate
Pitt–92% retention rate, 56% acceptance rate
UT Austin–92% retention rate, 47% acceptance rate
Virginia Tech–92% retention rate, 70% acceptance rate
Binghamton–91% retention rate, 43% acceptance rate
Michigan State-91% retention rate, 71% acceptance rate
North Carolina State–91% retention rate, 50% acceptance rate
Clemson–90% retention rate, 58% acceptance rate
Stony Brook–90% retention rate, 42% acceptance rate
UC Santa Cruz–90% retention rate, 61% acceptance rate
Minnesota–90% retention rate, 50% acceptance rate