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  • Baylor student-athletes lead Big 12 in Graduation Success Rate for 7th straight year

    // Posted In Academics, Athletics, Honors

    Baylor women's basketball student-athlete Moon Ursin dressed for graduation and uniform

    For the seventh year in a row, Baylor student-athletes have led the Big 12 Conference in Graduation Success Rate (GSR) — the 12th time in the last 14 years that the Bears have finished either first or second in GSR.

    But it doesn’t stop there. Not content with simply extending their run of dominance, Baylor student-athletes in 2020 set a school record for GSR with a score of 94 — three points higher than last year’s conference-leading score. Baylor’s most recent total is also the best in the state of Texas and ranks in the top 10 nationally among Power 5 schools.

    What is GSR? It’s a measurement created to provide a more thorough and accurate assessment of student-athlete academic performance than the federal graduation rate. For instance, GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students, where the federal graduation rate does not. Outgoing students who transfer in good academic standing also do not penalize institutions in GSR. (Baylor has fared well in both statistics; this year, Baylor’s federal graduation rate was 73% — also No. 1 in the Big 12. Overall, the Bears have finished either first or second in the conference in federal graduation rate 14 times in the conference’s 25 years of existence.)

    En route to a school-record GSR, it’s no surprise that many individual programs excelled. Six programs earned a perfect score of 100: baseball, men’s golf, women’s golf, soccer, women’s tennis, and volleyball. Two other programs (football, and men’s cross country/track and field) also led the Big 12 in their respective sport, giving the Bears eight programs that paced the conference.

    Since his arrival in 2016, Baylor athletics director Mack Rhoades has consistently urged his department to prepare student-athletes to be not just champions on the field, but champions for life. Academic achievement is, in fact, the first of four pillars that support that vision. Even in a challenging year, numbers like these show that Baylor student-athletes are making us just as proud in the classroom as they do on the field or court.

    Sic ’em, Baylor student-athletes!