Northwestern sports’ graduation rates rank among nation’s best

Bobby Pillote, Assistant Sports Editor

New data released by the NCAA on Tuesday showed the Wildcats posted a 96 percent overall Graduation Success Rate in the latest data collection period, making Northwestern one of the top-performing institutions in the nation.

The GSR is a metric that tracks the success of student-athletes in earning their undergraduate degrees. Athletes are given six years to complete a degree from the time they enroll as freshmen.

Ten of NU’s varsity sports — cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, men’s golf, men’s soccer, men’s tennis, volleyball, women’s golf, women’s swimming and diving and women’s tennis — received perfect GSR scores of 100 percent for the most recent set of data, which tracked student-athletes who began school in 2004-07.

The football team received a score of 97 percent for the third consecutive year, a mark that leads all other schools in the Big Ten by 10 percentage points and is second among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

NU’s was the only men’s soccer program in the Big Ten to score a perfect 100 percent, and wrestling tied with Minnesota for the best score in the conference with a GSR of 95 percent.

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