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<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Nov. 17, 2022</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Bears Tie School-Record Graduation Success Rate</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Five programs earned a perfect GSR score of 100</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">For more information contact: </span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Katy Gilmore, 254-252-2182, </span><a href="mailto:katy_gilmore@baylor.edu"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0563C1">katy_gilmore@baylor.edu</span></a><u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0563C1"> </span></u><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>WACO, Texas – </b>For the third-straight year, Baylor tied its school-record overall score of 94 in Graduate Success Rate (GSR).<b>
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<p class="MsoNormal">BU is second in the state of Texas behind Rice (95) and is No. 13 nationally among Power Five schools.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Iowa State (95) leads the Big 12 this year, followed by Baylor and then Kansas State (93), with Kansas (90) and West Virginia (90) tied for fourth. TCU (89) and Texas (89) are tied for sixth, followed by Oklahoma State (88), Oklahoma (88)
and Texas Tech (84).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Baylor, has finished first or second among Big 12 schools in composite GSR 14 times in the last 16 years.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">“It is an honor and privilege to work at an institution that puts so much focus and emphasis on academic achievement for our student-athletes,” said Emily DeRatt, Assistant AD for Academic Services. “Graduation
does not happen overnight; this number is a result of our student-athletes pushing themselves to be their personal best each and every day. With that strive and dedication comes graduation day, which is one of our favorite achievements to celebrate with our
students!</span>”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Five of Baylor’s programs earned a perfect GSR score of 100, including men’s golf, women’s golf, softball, women’s tennis and volleyball.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For men’s golf, it is the 11th-straight year they have received a GSR of 100, 10<sup>th</sup>-straight for women’s golf, 10<sup>th</sup>-straight for women’s tennis, fourth-straight for volleyball and the second-straight for softball.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Men’s XC/track and field (95), men’s golf (100), softball (100), women’s golf (100), women’s tennis (100) and volleyball (100) boasted the top scores in the Big 12 in their respective sports.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Overall, four sports showed improvement in their GSR since 2020-21 reports, along with six others holding steady.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">“We are proud to see the academic growth of some of our teams this year and the consistency of others in upholding a high standard of academic achievement,” said Lauren Kirby, Assistant AD for Learning Support.
“In our pursuit to prepare champions for life, graduation is a key benchmark and it is exciting to see our students continue to graduate at a high level.</span>”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white">The GSR was developed to more accurately assess the academic performance of student-athletes. The rate holds institutions accountable for students that transfer into their institution, unlike the
federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees. Under the calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing students who leave in good academic standing. The outgoing transfers are included in the receiving institution's GSR cohort.
The NCAA began compiling these figures with the entering freshmen class of 1995.</span> The most recent Division I Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering classes from 2012-15.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">- www.BaylorBears.com</span> -</i><i><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black">__________________________________</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:6.5pt;color:black"> </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#154734">Katy Gilmore</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"> | Associate Director of Athletic Communications</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">Department of Athletics | Baylor University</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">O: 254-710-2743 | C: 254-252-2182</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://baylorbears.com/" title="http://baylorbears.com/"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="160" height="44" style="width:1.6666in;height:.4583in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01D8FA74.055F4670" alt="cidimage002.png@01D79F3C.9D2300D0"></span></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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