<p>[Which</a> High School Students Are Most Likely to Graduate From College? - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090910/ts_usnews/whichhighschoolstudentsaremostlikelytograduatefromcollege;_ylt=Ag2zreNtnICaPTuDXGHt_2d34T0D;_ylu=X3oDMTNxcTRuNzkwBGFzc2V0A3VzbmV3cy8yMDA5MDkxMC93aGljaGhpZ2hzY2hvb2xzdHVkZW50c2FyZW1vc3RsaWtlbHl0b2dyYWR1YXRlZnJvbWNvbGxlZ2UEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDd2hpY2hoaWdoc2No]Which”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090910/ts_usnews/whichhighschoolstudentsaremostlikelytograduatefromcollege;_ylt=Ag2zreNtnICaPTuDXGHt_2d34T0D;_ylu=X3oDMTNxcTRuNzkwBGFzc2V0A3VzbmV3cy8yMDA5MDkxMC93aGljaGhpZ2hzY2hvb2xzdHVkZW50c2FyZW1vc3RsaWtlbHl0b2dyYWR1YXRlZnJvbWNvbGxlZ2UEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDd2hpY2hoaWdoc2No)</p>
<p>Highlights from a new book of research by two former college presidents from Princeton and Macalaster.</p>
<p>“Parents: Stop fretting so much about which high school your youngsters attend or how they score on the SATs. If you want your student to make it to a bachelor’s degree, it’s far more important for him or her to earn at least B’s in high school and reach for the best possible college. Oh, and saving a few thousand bucks by sending your kid to a community college could turn out to be an expensive mistake.”</p>
<p>“… despite billions of dollars in financial aid and scores of government and private efforts, the college graduation rate for low-income Americans who are the first in their families to go to college has been falling… The new research finds distressing signs that demographic factors such as gender, race, and parental education play large roles in determining a student’s fate, no matter how smart or hardworking the particular student is.”</p>
<p>“High school grades are the single best gauge of how well a student will do in college, no matter how “easy” or “tough” the high school’s grading system is.”</p>
<p>"The size, location, and racial mix of a student’s high school don’t appear to influence his or her ability earn a college degree, the study finds. "</p>
<p>“Those who attend such “safety” schools are far more likely to drop out than those who get into “reach” schools.”</p>
<p>“SAT and ACT test scores are no help in predicting who will graduate from many, if not most, colleges. The widely used tests do help identify those likely to succeed at elite schools, the study found. But for many less selective colleges, students with higher scores were actually more likely to drop out.”</p>
<p>“The new research confirms other findings that students who earn at least a 3.0 grade-point average are far more likely to graduate from college than students just under that mark.”</p>
<p>“Bright, well-prepared community college students are 36 percent less likely to make it through to a bachelor’s than similarly qualified students who start their degrees at four-year schools. . . . . If you want a bachelor’s and you can start out at a good four-year institution, that is what you should do.”"</p>