Four year graduation rate aside, Stevens still has a lower five year and six year graduation rate than Princeton and TCNJ. Stevens is also far from the only college to have a co-op program and if a standard engineering degree really does require 143-150 credits, that’s not a good thing. It’s not a good thing to have to spend more money and time at school to get an undergraduate degree, especially when other colleges, like Rochester Institute of Technology, offer dual undergraduate and graduate degrees for the same amount of credits. Again, where is the 65% statistic coming from? Stevens’ own website gives the 30% number.
These claims about the credentials and abilities of Stevens students are subjective. There is no concrete evidence to prove the average students at Stevens have the “focused and goal driven” mindset described here (which isn’t helped by the five and six year graduation rates being lower than TCNJ’s). More importantly, even if they do have that mindset, that doesn’t mean they got it from attending Stevens. Students have that determined mindset before they apply to colleges, which is how they’re able to get into good schools in the first place.
I never said the science and engineering at “small liberal arts colleges” have the same opportunities that students at research universities have. In fact, I flat-out said Stevens was better at providing a STEM education than TCNJ. However, as I emphasized my previous post, not everyone is a STEM student. Not everyone’s strengths are in STEM. And just because their strengths lie different fields of study does not make them any less hard-working and dedicated than STEM students. They’re also trying to find a future in what they do best in.
Since you have no evidence to support your claims, I take what you say about your work experiences and the value Stevens has to those places with a grain of salt. And even if that is all true, so what? You’re not automatically employed just because you have a degree from a certain school. Determination, experience, work ethic, and timing are the key factors in employment. An applicant with a degree from TCNJ and past work experience related to the open position is more appealing to employers than applicant with a degree from Stevens and no prior work experience. Also, so what if TCNJ is virtually unknown outside of New Jersey? That doesn’t invalidate the degree the graduates received, nor does it invalidate the education they received. And again, employers are more concerned with the work experience of applicants than the college they graduated from.
I used Princeton Review for the selectivity number, not co-op participation, and that 44% number is current. That number appears in their 2017 college ranking they published just a few weeks ago. Where are you getting the 38% number from? I see the 38% number on Google, but Google also says that number is from 2013. The 30% co-op participation number is coming from Stevens’ own website and I still don’t see where you’re getting the 65% number from. Graduation rate isn’t a be-all, end-all factor, but it is a factor. It is a sign of the students’ work ethic and a sign of a school’s competence. Plus, it’s usually better to get out of college as soon as possible so you can work towards professional success - the main point of having a degree.
Yes, post-graduation accomplishments are what matter the most. But the college an individual attended is not the key factor in his or her accomplishments. No matter how many successful alumni of Stevens you list off, that doesn’t change the fact that graduates of “lesser” schools proved to be successful in their own right. A degree from a certain school alone does not make you a success story. It is ultimately you alone who determines how accomplished you become. Steve Jobs attended a “small liberal arts college”, which he wasn’t even able to graduate from due to financial problems, and he became a household name. Eureka College is a “small liberal arts college” that’s virtually unknown outside of California and it has a president of the United States as an alumnus.
In the end, trying to argue the superiority of your college over other colleges is an exercise in futility. All of the statistics and successful graduates you list off won’t change the fact that people graduated from different schools, were happy with the schools they attended, and were still successful after they graduated. You could argue you found more success than they did - but then I’d have to question how successful you really are if you feel the need to assert your accomplishments over the alumnus of other colleges.