Student Achievement

Undergraduate program

Christendom College has identified three primary measures of achievement for its undergraduate students: First-Year Retention Rate, Four-Year Graduation Rate, and Six-Month Employment Statistics. These measures quantify the success of the College in carrying out its particular mission.

Student Retention Rates

Table 1: Freshman Retention Rates

The College considers such a measure appropriate because it indicates that the College has met the freshman students’ expectations, so the College’s representation of itself in recruitment and advertising material is a good representation of reality.

• Threshold: Based on historical data (2015-2017), Christendom College has determined a baseline threshold of 87% per year.
• Goal: Christendom College has committed to matching or exceeding the average of Virginia public colleges and universities. Virginia public colleges and universities are chosen, instead of private, because in Virginia the former tend to have more selective admissions standards than do the latter and so in the aggregate are more similar to Christendom than are the private, less selective colleges.

n/a = not yet available from our data sources
Data sources: State Council for Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)

Table 2: Christendom College Student 4-Year Graduation Rates

The College uses this measure because it indicates that the College has successfully engaged students in the academic program and continues to meet their expectations for their education.

• Threshold: Based on the College’s historical data (2012-2014), Christendom has determined a baseline threshold of 63% per year.
• Goal:  Christendom College has committed to matching or exceeding the average of Virginia public colleges and universities. Again Virginia public colleges and universities are chosen, instead of private, because in Virginia the former tend to have more selective admissions standards than do the latter and so in the aggregate are more similar to Christendom than are the private, less selective colleges.

n/a = not yet available from our data sources
Data sources: State Council for Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)

Employment Statistics for Graduates

Table 3: 6-month Employment Statistics

Data gathered from the 6-month out survey. This is a survey sent to the graduating class every November, six months after they have graduated.

As noted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities in 2014, the unemployment rate for recent liberal arts graduates was 5.2%.

graduate program

The Graduate School of Christendom College has identified three primary measures of student achievement: success rate on the comprehensive exam, graduation rate, and student satisfaction statistics. These measures help to quantify the success of the Graduate School in carrying out its particular mission.

Success Rate on Comprehensive Exam

Success rates on the comprehensive exam reflect students’ achievement relative to the mission because performance on the comprehensive exam is one important indicator of intellectual preparedness, which is necessary for a life spent in pursuit of truth and wisdom. Performance on the exam also indicates students’ aptitude at expressing knowledge orally and in writing, which is necessary for them to be informed and articulate members of Christ’s Church and society.

The success threshold regarding the first criterion is a pass rate of 95% with at least 10% earning a P+ and not more than 10% earning a P-.

Table 1: Comprehensive Exam Results 2014–2021

Graduation Rate

Due to the particular demographic we serve as a graduate school and our rolling admissions policy, it is helpful to use an average time of completion in the means of assessment for graduation rate. That is because the vast majority of our students are at a stage in life which requires them to balance part-time study with competing responsibilities such as full-time employment and family duties.  So we assess a 5-year graduation rate: dividing graduating class size by the number of admissions five years prior, since our typical completion time (the duration it usually takes students to complete the degree) is five years. 

A graduation rate of 52% is the threshold we apply here.

Table 2: 5-Year Graduation Rate

student satisfaction metrics

“Student Satisfaction Metrics” refers to the results of an exit survey which the Graduate School asks graduating students to complete in order to measure student satisfaction.   On the exit survey, students are asked a battery of questions on areas pertaining to their experience within the MA program.

The success threshold for the third criterion, concerning the exit survey, is an aggregate score of 4 out of 5 across the relevant question batteries which treat the Catholic identity of the program, the academic quality of the program, and students’ development and research competency.

Table 3: Student Satisfaction, The 2018-2021 Survey Results