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The Citadel ranks No. 3 nationally among public colleges and universities in our Carnegie classification in the percentage of students who graduate in four years. That category includes colleges with master's level programs. The latest data shows that 62.4% of entering freshmen graduated from The Citadel within four years. The national average four-year graduation rate is about 30%.
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The Citadel leads South Carolina public colleges and universities in its four-year graduation rate.
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The U.S. News & World Report rankings for 2008 recognize The Citadel in several different categories:
- The college is ranked the No. 1 best value and No. 2 best public college in the South for institutions offering master's degree.
- For the seventh straight year, The Citadel School of Engineering has ranked among the top 50 undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, earning this year's No. 38 ranking
- No. 5 among the best public and private universities in the South offering up to a master’s degree but few, if any, doctoral programs.
The Princeton Review for 2008 named The Citadel School of Business one of the nation's 290 best business programs.
With more than 80 percent of its students returning each year, The Citadel enjoys one of the best retention records in the country.
Among South Carolina's public colleges and universities, The Citadel has the highest four-year graduation rate for athletes. More than 90% of cadet-athletes who have exhausted their four years of eligibility earn a diploma.
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During the 2004-2005 academic year, the 2000 cadets at The Citadel performed nearly 34,000 hours in community service projects assisting charitable and community causes in South Carolina's Lowcountry and across the state.
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The Citadel's Army ROTC program won the McArthur Award in 2007, ranking No. 1 in the region and edging out 124 other programs in the eastern United States.
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The Citadel, the only specialized four-year public college in South Carolina, has been designated as an essential Military College, and its ROTC detachments are authorized to offer commissions in the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Navy. An average of 30 percent of graduating cadets are commissioned into military service following graduation.
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Throughout our nation's history, Citadel alumni have understood and accepted the obligations of service to their country . About a third of the graduating classes typically accept military commissions. More than 1,000 alumni have served or are currently serving in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, some paying the ultimate sacrifice in the service of their country.
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The Citadel is a teaching college with a student-faculty ratio of 15 to 1 with highly qualified faculty teaching all classes.
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The Citadel's engineering graduates are in such demand that all who want to enter the work force have jobs well before graduation. Others go on to some of the most elite graduate programs in the country. Ray Foltz, '05, was one of five engineering students to win a highly competitive National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship in 2005. The other winners included two from U. Cal. At Berkeley and one each from MIT and Stanford.
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Seven cadets have received Fulbright Scholarships to study abroad since 2001. That is a larger number than any other college or university in South Carolina during this period.
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The Citadel Regimental Pipe Band is the only all-student college pipe band in the country. The pipe band was started by General Mark Clark in 1955.
The Citadel Reading Program has been working for 25 years to help at-risk middle school students improve their reading skills. In 2004, The Wachovia Foundation awarded The Citadel a substantial grant to continue its work with literacy training.
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The Citadel School of Business Administration gives cadets and students in the The Graduate College the benefit of professional mentors through a program that links more than 100 business professionals in the region with the cadets and students.
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The Citadel is a national leader in the percentage of female students who are athletes. More than 50 percent of its female cadets compete on seven varsity teams -- an outstanding achievement given the fact that female athletics started in 1997.
