Analysis Of College Graduation Rates Using Markov Chains

In this project, I analyzed graduation rates of a large, comprehensive university in the southeast United States using Markov chains. This analysis was performed by applying Markov chains to different populations at the university including entering freshmen, sophomore transfers, and junior transfers. This was done to determine differences between the groups’ long-term behavior. Entering freshmen and sophomore transfers’ progression were also analyzed within each of the individual colleges at the university. Some prescriptions based on the analysis include: increasing the freshman retention rate and encouraging sophomores to change majors rather than leave the university. Additional post-analysis recommendations and discussion are included, as well as limitations of the analysis.