<p>ahappymom: </p>
<p>People bailing out because of the thesis is certainly one of the reasons for the relatively high attrition rate. But there are some other noteworthy periods when people leave:</p>
<p>1) Within the first several weeks. Many people get overwhelmed with the student culture right from the get go and conclude that they’re not going to fit into the environment. </p>
<p>2) After the first semester or during the second. The people in this category, in my experience, left due to not being able to hack it academically. </p>
<p>The freshman retention rate is about 80%, which suggests that about half of those who leave do so within the first year. The rest are probably evenly sprinkled throughout the remainder of the time.</p>