ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
The University of Notre Dame once again claimed the 2012 national championship for graduating its studentathletes in all sports -- in the process posting the top NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) figure (99) for its studentathletes for the sixth straight year. The GSR number for all Notre Dame student-athletes rated the Irish first among the 120 football-playing institutions in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A). The 2012 NCAA figures are based on entering classes from 2002 through 2005. Whether measured by the federal government in its Department of Education report or by the NCAA through its GSR numbers, graduation rates for Notre Dame student-athletes once again ranked either number one or among the handful of national leaders in five major categories among all major footballplaying colleges and universities. Notre Dame’s institutional research found that Irish student-athletes in 2012 ranked number one in five of 10 major categories -- ranking second in three others and third in another. That’s based on the NCAA-issued GSR and federal figures.
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Fighting Irish
For the fourth year in a row Notre Dame led the nation in four GSR categories--for all student-athletes (at 99), male studentathletes (98), female student-athletes (100) and football student-athletes (97). Notre Dame also ranked number one in the federal numbers for male studentathletes (89). In calculations that include all studentathletes in all sports, Notre Dame ranked first among the FBS schools in the GSR figures, which were initiated in 2005 by the NCAA. The University’s 99 percent GSR for all its student-athletes ranked just ahead of the 98 figure for Duke. Using the federal formula, Notre Dame graduated a four-year average of 91 percent of its student-athletes, just behind Stanford at 92. In the GSR standings, the Irish led the way in four categories. In addition to its number-one ranking for all studentathletes (99), Notre Dame finished first among female student athletes at 100 (tied with Wake Forest), first among male student-athletes at 98 percent (ahead of Duke and Northwestern at 96), first among football players at 97 percent (tied with Northwestern), and second among black student-athletes at 98 percent (behind only Rice at 100).
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Notre Dame graduated 94 percent of all women competing in varsity athletics to rank second among its peer institutions based on the federal calculations (behind Stanford at 96). Among men, Notre Dame’s 89 percent federal rate also was first, tied with Stanford. Notre Dame graduated 82 percent of its black student-athletes, ranking third based on the federal rate, and Irish football players graduated at an 83 percent rate, to rank sixth. Nineteen of 22 athletics programs at Notre Dame compiled graduation rates of 100 percent, and none were below 91 percent, according to the eighth year of GSR measurements developed by the NCAA. None of the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-A) programs in the country had a higher percentage of 100 GSR scores than did Notre Dame with its .863 number (19 of 22). In addition, Notre Dame ranked second among all FBS institutions with nine perfect scores among 22 sports (.409) in the federal graduation rate analysis. The University of Notre Dame ranked number one once again among all Football Bowl Subdivision institutions with 15 of its athletics programs receiving