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As you may, or may not, be aware, the glorious time of the year known as “Football Season” has just officially come to an end. I know… sad, right? Being someone who is an avid college football fan AND a person that is constantly looking at school health statistics, I sometimes wonder how some of these juggernaut athletic programs stack up against each other in other statistical arenas. So I decided to put it on paper to see what it would look like. There is really no purpose for this exercise, other than its interesting to look at. The final Associated Press Top 25 college football poll finished like this.
| 1) Alabama |
| 2) Oregon |
| 3) Ohio State |
| 4) Notre Dame |
| 5) Georgia |
| 6) Texas A&M |
| 7) Stanford |
| 8) South Carolina |
| 9) Florida |
| 10) Florida State |
| 11) Clemson |
| 12) Kansas State |
| 13) Louisville |
| 14) LSU |
| 15) Oklahoma |
| 16) Utah State |
| 17) Northwestern |
| 18) Boise State |
| 19) Texas |
| 20) Oregon State |
| 21) San Jose State |
| 22) Northern Illinois |
| 23) Vanderbilt |
| 24) Michigan |
| 25) Nebraska |
So what happens when we take this list and rearrange them based on some university health statistics? Specifically ones that I routinely look up when it comes to statistics that tend to suggest a strong housing program. The ones I had in mind were “1st to 2nd Year Retention” and “Percentage of First Year Students Living in On-Campus Housing.” So why those? Well, we believe, and have seen, that a strong on campus housing program is core to good university health.
*For more on this topic check out this blog post* 1st to 2nd Year Retention is basically the percentage of freshmen that return to be sophomores. The key here is that, if a university can get a student to return in year two, they are highly likely to keep them until they graduate. So here’s what the Top 25 list looks like reshuffled to reflect retention rates:
| Stanford |
98% |
| Notre Dame |
97% |
| Northwestern |
97% |
| Vanderbilt |
96% |
| Michigan |
96% |
| Florida |
95% |
| Georgia |
94% |
| Ohio State |
93% |
| Texas A&M |
92% |
| Florida State |
92% |
| Texas |
92% |
| Clemson |
90% |
| South Carolina |
87% |
| San Jose State |
87% |
|
|
86% |
| Oregon |
86% |
| Oklahoma |
85% |
| LSU |
84% |
| Nebraska |
84% |
| Kansas State |
82% |
| Oregon State |
81% |
| Louisville |
78% |
| Utah State |
72% |
| Northern Illinois |
71% |
| Boise State |
69% |
The Percentage of First Year Students Living in On-Campus Housing is important because the freshman and sophomore classes are the heartbeat of a housing program. Students we talk to all the time, mention the “community” of a university and how important that is to them. The 1st and 2nd year in housing is when the foundation of “community” is built.
*click here for more on this topic* So, again, here is the Top 25 list, rearranged by the Percentage of First Year Students Living in On-Campus Housing.
| Stanford |
100% |
| Notre Dame |
100% |
| Vanderbilt |
100% |
| Northwestern |
99% |
| Georgia |
98% |
| Clemson |
98% |
| Michigan |
97% |
| South Carolina |
94% |
| Ohio State |
92% |
|
|
92% |
| Nebraska |
92% |
| Northern Illinois |
91% |
| Florida |
88% |
| Oregon |
83% |
| Oklahoma |
82% |
| Oregon State |
79% |
| Florida State |
78% |
| Kansas State |
74% |
| Louisville |
69% |
| Texas |
66% |
| Texas A&M |
62% |
| LSU |
59% |
| San Jose State |
56% |
| Boise State |
54% |
| Utah State |
DNR |
So if we’re declaring a “national champion” based on these polls Stanford University would take home the trophy, with Notre Dame tied or slightly behind. In fact, in both of these lists, your top four is almost identical. Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt. Obviously none of this is shocking, because these are all prestigious institutions, and these institutions are amongst the heathiest in the country. They are likely healthy because of a myriad of reasons, but there is one thing they all have in common… a strong housing program.
What other statistics do you look at when determining the health of a university?
