Students at Rensselaer exhibit hard work, determination, dedication, and commitment to meet every challenge head-on. With support, guidance, and co-curricular activities, Rensselaer students connect to a network of faculty, staff, and other students, ensuring that they are part of a strong community of learners. As students strive to become the leaders of tomorrow, the Rensselaer experience helps them develop the intellectual agility, multicultural sophistication, and global awareness that will enable them to change the world.
The individuals who also participate in Division III intercollegiate athletics while enrolled at Rensselaer not only meet academic expectations, they exceed them. Rensselaer scholar-athletes boast a remarkable 99 percent Academic Success Rate (ASR)—the NCAA’s measurement of graduation success among student-athletes. The national, four-class Division III student-athlete average is 87 percent.
“We could not be more proud of the commitment and dedication our student-athletes make toward their academic success,” said Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton. “It is their first priority at Rensselaer and we work hard to set the conditions to allow them to excel in all aspects of their lives from the time they are on campus and well into the future.”
The data was collected on the most recent cohort, 2007-08, based on a representative sample of 140 schools participating in the 2013-14 academic year.
In general, Division III student-athletes continue to graduate at higher rates than their peers in the student body and Rensselaer is no exception. The 2007-08 graduation rate for all Rensselaer students was 85 percent, while the student-athletes was 87 percent. The four-class average, which includes those enrolled from the academic years of 2004-05 to 2007-08, was 84 percent, compared to 89 percent for the student-athletes. (Rensselaer men’s and women’s ice hockey teams compete in NCAA Division I. The national Graduation Success Rate was 88 percent with a four-class average of 93 percent for Rensselaer hockey student-athletes.)
Since 2009 the NCAA has annually collected data from Division III institutions on a voluntary basis with the purpose of calculating the Academic Success Rate. The measurement is similar to the Division I Graduation Success Rate and the Division II ASR in that it includes transfers in the calculation but removes students who left school while academically eligible. More than 200 member schools have participated over the past five years, including Rensselaer, which has done so each year. This year’s 140 schools is the highest number of participants to date.
“The focus on academics has been a focal point of the NCAA at each of its three divisions,” said Knowlton. “It is clear that Rensselaer student-athletes not only meet, but far exceed, those standards.”