Approximately 25% of college freshmen do not return as sophomores and only about 60% of students entering a university will graduate within six years. Student retention is particularly important within colleges of agriculture, as the industry faces a shortage of qualified college graduates. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if selected student academic and demographic variables could predict freshman academic outcomes and sophomore retention for freshmen entering a college of agriculture in fall semesters between 2008 and 2012. High School GPA (HSGPA) and scores on the American College Testing (ACT) standardized exam were most highly correlated with freshman GPA (r = .56 and .39), respectively, while being male (r = -.21), a first-generation student (r = -.10), and Pell Grant eligible (r = -.08) all had low to negligible negative correlations with freshman GPA. Year of admission, gender, ACT, and HSGPA explained 32% of the variance in freshman GPA, with HSGPA explaining 15.4% of the unique variance. First-semester GPA was moderately correlated with sophomore retention (r = .45), and explained 29.1% of the unique variance in retention. Odds ratios indicated that each one standard deviation (0.89) increase in first-semester GPA resulted in a 218% increase in the relative odds of sophomore retention. Increased retention efforts should focus on identifying and assisting struggling freshmen early in the first semester to enhance retention.