Campus & Community

Top Ten Finish: Syracuse Athletics Among Nation’s Best Academically

Tuesday, November 17, 2020, By News Staff

Syracuse University Athletics ranks in the top 10 among Power 5 schools with a 94 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR). The GSR measurement reflects Orange student-athletes who enrolled in 2013-14 and earned their degrees within six years. The 94 percent score is the highest at Syracuse since the NCAA started measuring the GSR. Ten athletics teams achieved a perfect 100 percent GSR, which is also the best finish in Syracuse history.

Syracuse’s 94 percent GSR is above the national GSR of 90 percent and ties for 10th among Power 5 schools. Syracuse is one of six Atlantic Coast Conference schools ranked in the top 10 of the Power 5 schools this year.

The NCAA started measuring the GSR, which also includes those who entered midyear, as well as student-athletes who transferred into the institution, in 2004.

Syracuse’s women’s tennis and women’s volleyball programs achieved a perfect 100 percent for the ninth consecutive year, the longest active streaks in the athletics department. The Orange men’s cross country, men’s track and field, men’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, women’s rowing, women’s basketball, women’s ice hockey and women’s soccer programs all scored a perfect 100 percent. Every Syracuse team posted a GSR higher than 82 percent.

“This is so impressive,” says Syracuse University Faculty Athletics Representative and David B. Falk Professor of Sport Management Rick Burton. “At Syracuse, we treat academic performance and post-graduation career success as being incredibly important. The commitment made by SU’s athletics director, sport supervisors, coaches, academic support staff and student-athletes is there in the numbers. Fans of Syracuse University Athletics should take as much pride in this outcome as an Orange ‘W’ in competition.”

The volleyball program leads all Syracuse programs with 11 perfect GSR scores, followed by the men’s cross country, men’s track and field, and women’s tennis programs, which have posted a perfect 100 percent GSR nine times. Women’s lacrosse and women’s soccer have each achieved a 100 percent GSR on eight occasions.

“Our student-athletes continue to demonstrate excellence in athletics and academics,” says Assistant Provost for Student-Athlete Academic Development Tommy Powell. “Their hard work, focus and commitment to achieving academic success is inspiring. I’m incredibly proud of everything they have accomplished on campus and look forward to their positive impact on our global society.

Syracuse’s GSR Success By the Numbers:

  • Power Five Ranking: Syracuse ties for 10th among Power 5 schools (94 percent GSR)
  • ACC: Syracuse is one of six Atlantic Coast Conference schools in the top 10 (Syracuse, Duke, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Boston College, Virginia)
  • Teams with a 100 percent GSR in 2020: Ten (women’s tennis, women’s volleyball, men’s cross country, men’s track and field, men’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, women’s rowing, women’s basketball, women’s ice hockey and women’s soccer)
  • Consecutive 100 percent GSR scores: Nine years (women’s tennis, women’s volleyball)
  • Most 100 percent GSR scores: 11 (women’s volleyball)

The NCAA instituted the GSR to more accurately reflect the mobility of college students as compared to the Federal Graduation Rate. The federal rate counts any student who leaves a school as an academic failure, whether or not the student enrolls at another school. The federal rate also does not consider students who enter as transfer students. The GSR formula provides a more complete and accurate picture by removing from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and including student-athletes who transfer to a school after being enrolled at another university.

The release of the GSR follows last spring’s announcement of the impressive success of student-athletes as reflected in the University’s Academic Progress Rate (APR).