sunmachine

Over on the College Search forum there are threads comparing minority graduation rates at top schools. According to the data posted (which frankly surprised me), Hispanic and African American students at Bowdoin have, respectively, 15% and 18% lower graduation rates than Bowdoin's overall graduation rate. Meaning, I suppose, that the disparity between their graduation rates and the rates of white students is even higher.

If this data is correct, Bowdoin is doing much, much worse than its peer LACs (e.g., Amherst, Williams, Bates, Swarthmore) in graduating Hispanic and African American students, notwithstanding the laudable successes Bowdoin has achieved in admitting a divese student body.

Does anyone have any insight into what is going on with minority graduation rates at Bowdoin? Thanks.

dadx3

Bowdoin is not unique in having graduation rates for African American and Latino students that are significantly below that for whites. collegeresults.org is a good source of these statistics. While it is true that Amherst and Williams show graduation rates for these minorities that are very close to the graduation rates for white students, other highly rated colleges, like Haverford, Pomona and Carleton have disparities for African American graduation rates that are similar to Bowdoin's. For Latino students, Bowdoin's graduation rate (at 85%) is significantly higher than Haverford's (at 68%).

Luckie Starchild

Maybe the graduate rates are connected to the amount available for financial aid?

aglages

^^^
How about more of an explanation for those of us that are not too bright?

torasee

I would guess that the relatively high transfer rate for AAs has something to do with the location of Bowdoin in Maine . .