A top-notch university achieves its status with a combination of a few things.
Qualified professors teaching undergraduate classes, research opportunities for professors and students, and nationally ranked programs come to mind.
But what makes an institution with these qualities a university is its students.
Ball State's recent efforts to attract more dedicated students and keep them at the university are paying off.
Maybe programs like Freshman Connections are working. Maybe 90.6 of the freshmen enrolled in the fall were just more likely to stay because the university raised admission standards.
Students with higher standards are more likely to stay in school and complete their higher education.
Ball State should see this as a way to attract more students with higher academic standards to the university. The retention rates show that students who are serious about their education are looking to Ball State.
More dedicated students leads to better academic programs, as professors will be working with people who are in class because they want to be, not because they feel they have to be.
Ball State should continue to develop the retention tactics that it has used in the past few years. The ripple effect that higher standards and higher retention create can elevate Ball State to the top-notch status it wants to achieve.
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