Each year, METS students go off to college, but where they go varies greatly! In a new series, we will be publishing data about where our students go to college, and how they perform once they’re in college.

In the last five years, 589 METS Seniors have enrolled in college. The cohort sizes stayed fairly consistent, ranging from 108 in 2011-2012, to 125 in 2015-2016. In that time, certain trends have emerged, that are worth investigating more closely. Remember that by nature these numbers reflect a fairly small sample size.

Most frequent schools of enrollment

Over the course of the five years, the most frequent schools of enrollment were, in order, the University of Maine Orono (19%), Husson University, and the University of Southern Maine. The University of Maine had the highest enrollment for each year, but the second and third place schools varied from year to year, and included Central Maine Community College, Eastern Maine Community College, Southern Maine Community College, University of Maine Machias, and the University of Maine Presque Isle. The top three schools for each year have been italicized. For the full enrollment in Maine colleges, Table 2 at the bottom of this page is the complete listing.

Table 1: Schools with High Numbers of METS Student Enrollment, 2011-2012 through 2015-2016

Situations we are monitoring

University of Maine
The last two years have shown a relatively significant decrease in the amount of METS Students enrolling at the University of Maine. The reason for this is unknown, and this may just be an outlier. Still, more investigation is warranted.

Geographic Convenience – Community College vs. Four-Year State Schools
A surface look at the results of the outcomes show that there is a greater correlation between their location and attendance in a community college than there is between location and four year institutions, for the most part. This could be the reason why rates at community colleges located further away from METS Target schools, such as York County Community College and Kennebec Valley Community College, have relatively lower rates of enrollment. Again, further investigation is needed.

Table 2: METS Student enrollment in Maine Colleges 2011-2012 through 2015-2016

Next up in our series on METS Outcomes is a closer look into the types of institutions METS Students are attending.

Want to make sure you don’t miss anything new on the METS Site? You can follow us by clicking on the Subscribe link on the bottom of every page of the site!