Ever wonder why campus is jam-packed with students in the first couple weeks of classes but comparatively quiet toward the middle of the semester?
“It may seem like there are more people in the first few weeks,” said Mark Chisholm, director of institutional research, “but it is probably just that they are on campus more, buying books, registering for classes and figuring out their financial aid and scholarships,” he said.
Chisholm said students’ withdrawal after the first few weeks could account for the campus being less busy, but said he doubted the withdrawal rate was high.
“We don’t track mid-semester drop rates, but last year, 92 percent of incoming freshmen re-registered for the spring. A few students probably drop a class or two, though.”
But which classes have the highest drop rates? UNM Office of Institutional Research compiles a list of what it calls “kill classes” — classes that have withdrawal or failure rates greater than 20 percent each year. In Spring 2011, most of the kill classes were 100-level classes. Math 120 topped the list with a 65 percent fail/withdrawal rate, while upper-level courses like CHEM 301 still posed difficulties for students, but only had a 33 percent fail/withdrawal rate.
“I withdrew from O-Chem (Organic Chemistry) once and failed once,” said former student John Carr. “I think I just didn’t realize how hard you have to study; I was so used to high school. I also changed my major, and when I did, I didn’t have the math I needed. Plus — let’s be honest — I was just lazy.”
Jeff Saul, a lecturer in the physics and astronomy department, said 300-400 level classes contain students who are more invested in the classes’ topics of study compared with freshman in lower-level classes.
“(In) classes whose primary population is non-majors, the main reason is that the student population is very different in these introductory classes than in the upper-division classes where most students are majors, highly motivated, and have developed the knowledge base and skill they need to succeed,” he said.
Saul said introductory physics classes present students with difficult concepts to those fresh to the subject. He said students’ interest and their major played a large role in student success rates.
He said withdrawal rates vary from 3 to 30 percent in his classes. Students reported medical issues and family emergencies, not academics, as their main reasons for withdrawal. More than half of students who withdraw do so during the first half of the semester, he said.
One of the ways in which the physics department addresses withdrawal and failure rates is to offer a Physics 110 course that students can switch into from 151 or 160 in their eighth week if they are doing poorly. The course prepares students to take more difficult classes in following semesters without requiring them to drop mid-semester.
Senior researcher for UNM’s Office of Institutional Research Connie Dennison said her department develops ways to aid new students who may not be prepared for college-level course work.
“A lot of science faculty tell us that freshmen don’t have the necessary math skills,” she said. “We create this list to try to help student drop rates by working on strategies for success.”
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Dennison said the Freshman Learning Communities (FLCs), are designed to keep students interested by combining two required courses with smaller classes and exciting topics.
“We want to keep people interested and keep students semester to semester,” she said.
Only about 13 percent of students graduate in four years, and only 45 percent graduate in six years, according to the Office of Institutional Research freshmen cohort tracker.
“We don’t have a very high four-year rate, but most public universities don’t,” Dennison said. “If you look at the numbers, many more students graduate by the end of six years.”
She said UNM’s six-year graduation rate, which was 57 percent last year, is the best it’s been in years. In 2005 the six-year graduation rate was only 43 percent, she said.
