Kinston Callahan is a college dropout. But he doesn’t regret it.

After two semesters at OU, Callahan went back to Bozeman, Mont., where he enlisted in the Navy. He ships out to boot camp in a few weeks.

“College is not for everyone,” said Callahan.

About 15 percent of freshmen leave OU before their sophomore year, according to the most recent data from the Office of Institutional Research. The report does not differentiate between students who quit college completely and those who transfer to another school.

According to Susy Jorgenson, an assessment coordinator in the assessment office, of the 17,464 students enrolled in the spring 2007 semester, 378 completely withdrew.

Doug Gaffin, dean of University College, said OU’s numbers are the best in the Big 12.

“We always want to do better,” he said.

Callahan, 19, dropped out in May. He said he liked college and is glad he experienced it, but he wanted something else.

“I sat in a room with all these people who were all just freaking out about, ‘What am I going to do after college?,’” he said. “If you find a reason to be there, I think that’s great. It’s a socially acceptable limbo to find out, ‘now what?’”

The university tries to keep track of the reasons students drop out, Jorgenson said. She said advisers can examine the reasons and determine whether a particular student’s needs can be accommodated.

Students of every grade level cite “family challenges” or other commitments as their main reason for leaving, according to Jorgenson.

Callahan said while there is a stigma attached to college drop outs, his family supported him.

“There’s no shame in it. I’ve had more of my share of meetings with people that tell me that because I dropped out of college, I’d be a failure,” he said. “Ultimately, college isn’t for everybody, and anyone who tells you that it is doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

Jessica Sheets, University College freshman, said before coming to OU she was unsure if she would like college.

“Now that class has started, it’s definitely a different feel, and I like it a lot better,” she said. “It’s just a different atmosphere than high school, and that adjustment can be frustrating for some people.”

Sophia Morren, an OU Traditions Scholar adviser, said drop outs are not as common as people think.

“I’ve only had experience with one student who dropped out the first week of classes,” she said. “He recognized that he was unprepared for the environment at a research university and decided to attend a junior college closer to his home. He was not disappointed in any way with OU, but just felt that he wasn’t ready to be here.”

While some leave OU without a degree, 84 percent said they were satisfied with the university, according to numbers Jorgenson compiled in the spring. Official numbers in the 2008 OU Factbook show that between 2000 and 2006 OU had an 83.5 percent retention rate.

Jorgenson said almost 70 percent of leaving students said they plan to return to OU.

Callahan said benefits offered by the military might lead him back to school.

“Right now, at 19, it’s not what I want to do,” he said. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”