Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing that OP is thinking about those people who brag about their kid going to college with one or two years of credits and graduating early.

Red shirting has nothing to do with that.

I'm guessing that OP is thinking about those people who brag about their kid going to college with one or two years of credits and graduating early.

I think op's red shirt was from blood dripping out of the artery that was supposed to feed her brain.

I hate it when people throw out statistics without any context. It varies by institution type (public schools, private nonprofit schools, for-profit schools). Typically, private non-profit has higher 4 year graduation rates, followed by public, and for-profit has the lowest 4 year graduation rate. Commuter campuses also have lower 4 year rates, since they attract students that have full time jobs and were never on a 4 year plan to begin with. Also, it varies by major. Much easier to graduate on time (or early) with a history degree than an engineering or computer science degree. Some frequently mentioned colleges on DCUM:
Yale has a 90% 4 year graduation rate.
Georgetown is 89%
Washington and Lee University is 89%
University of Virginia is 85%
Vanderbilt University is 85%
Villanova University is 85%
Johns Hopkins is 82%
George Washington University is 76%
Juniata College is 73%
Carnegie Mellon University is 69%
James Madison University is 67%
University of Maryland: College Park is 64%
Penn State University Park is 62%
https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/college-graduation-rates/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest will be graduating this year at 21 with a four-year degree because they started kindergarten at barely five years old. I'm glad we thought ahead and didn't redshirt. Nobody stops to think about the ramifications of having a 20-year-old high school senior but that day is quickly approaching for many parents who started their kids at six or seven.

The only way you could have a 20-year-old high school senior is by holding back a winter/spring kid twice or a summer/fall kid thrice. However, it’s only fall kids who are considered for redshirting. They start school a year late and they’re never held back again. So a redshirted student will start their senior year of high school at 17 and turn 18 shortly after. But at no point during the year will they turn 19, let alone 20.

Inaccurate. My son was not redshirted- turns 18 shortly after senior year start. Redshirted are usually SUMMER birthdays and are 18 when school starts.
Maryland & PA- k cutoff is Sept 1
DC & Virginia- k cutoff is Sept 30
But yes, there aren’t going to be 20 year old HS seniors without being held back multiple times.

Anonymous wrote:I understand redshirting is so rare that anyone reading this post probably knows, at most, one person who was redshirted.

If you do know someone who was redshirted, did they take at-least 3.5 years to graduate from college?

This is one of the most useless, dumb posts on dcum this week. Tell us about yourself.

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea what the original question means!

Agree. OP makes no sense.

I have no idea what the original question means!

No doubt the OP of this ridiculous thread is the same poster who carries her grudge against red-shirted kids throughout this site.

Anonymous wrote:Most people take 4 years to graduate college, regardless of how old they were when they started kindergarten. What do you think is the connection?

My redshirted kid will take 5 years to finish college. The same reason we held her back -- her disabilities -- still impact her years later. It's not a race.

Actually most people take 5 years.

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest will be graduating this year at 21 with a four-year degree because they started kindergarten at barely five years old. I'm glad we thought ahead and didn't redshirt. Nobody stops to think about the ramifications of having a 20-year-old high school senior but that day is quickly approaching for many parents who started their kids at six or seven.

The only way you could have a 20-year-old high school senior is by holding back a winter/spring kid twice or a summer/fall kid thrice. However, it’s only fall kids who are considered for redshirting. They start school a year late and they’re never held back again. So a redshirted student will start their senior year of high school at 17 and turn 18 shortly after. But at no point during the year will they turn 19, let alone 20.

Anonymous wrote:I'd be very wary of sending a kid to a university that didn't have at least an 85 percent 4 year graduation rate, regardless of whether a kid was red-shirted.

But I would assume the red-shirted students are overwhelmingly special needs, so a 5 or 6 year time year horizon may be more realistic for the red-shirt population.

Many students at elite universities are “special needs” these days, some are 40-50%. Yet the 4 yr graduation rates are high. So your assumption seems off trying to connect special needs to graduation rates.

What? It takes most people at least 4 years, so I'm not sure what you are on about?

I'd be very wary of sending a kid to a university that didn't have at least an 85 percent 4 year graduation rate, regardless of whether a kid was red-shirted.

But I would assume the red-shirted students are overwhelmingly special needs, so a 5 or 6 year time year horizon may be more realistic for the red-shirt population.

Based on all the college tours we've been attending, I think most kids graduate in 6 years - that's the stat admissions officers are sharing (98% of students graduate within 6 years).