Student achievement and retention
Students placed into internships and independent studies
Students Placed into Internships and Independent Studies
| Academic Year | Independent Studies | Internships |
|---|
| 2019-20 |
10 |
3 |
| 2018-19 |
8 |
2 |
| 2017-18 |
12 |
5 |
| 2016-17 |
30 |
5 |
Student Success
(survey taken 6-12 months after graduation)
Class of 2018 Graduate Placement Statistics
| Working in the FRSC field |
17% |
| Working in a lab, not in the FRSC field |
21% |
| Placement into Graduate or Professional School |
38% |
| Other Employment |
10% |
| Not employed |
14% |
| Currently placed in an Internship |
0% |
| Total Responses |
29 (of 38 graduates) |
Student Retention
Student retention is a measure of students that remain in the program from year to year. VCU's Forensic Science program maintains student interest, resulting in high retention rates. Much of student loss is during the first year due to the challenges in the math and science courses, thus resulting in students who change majors. Our program has a >90% retention rate for upper-classmen (juniors and seniors). The national average retention rate for public universities is 81%, but this does not take into account students that change majors as long as they remain at the university1.
1 Data collected from the National Center for Education Statistics (May 2019)
Forensic Science Student Retention Data
| | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|
| Total Undergraduates |
374 |
371 |
355 |
349 |
| Retained Students |
72.2% |
63.3% |
69.3% |
71.3% |
Departed Students Statistics
| Change of Major |
17.4% |
21.8% |
20.3% |
14.0% |
| Left University |
9.6%% |
14.8% |
10.4% |
14.6% |