@KaffeineKitty . Kitty, UK schools are self selecting, to gain admission to an elite school you have already demonstrated your academic ability through your national high school test results, A levels results for UK kids, AP for Americans, IB etc. Nobody gets admitted to the university that the admissions officer doesn’t think cant complete the course. The big difference, and indeed advantage for American kids applying to UK schools, is that American kids will quite possibly have the required entry requirements of 3 good AP’s in their junior year, rarely if ever do UK kids have the required A levels when applying unless having taken a gap year. As a result it is not uncommon for American applicants to receive unconditional offers within a month of applying. As for on time graduation rates at good schools, they will be in the mid 90’s, rarely do kids drop out due to academics it is usually for health or financial reasons. As for grades, unlike the GPA system, UK schools award degrees according to merit in four different bands, 1st class, upper second 2:1, lower second 2:2, third class, anything else is not worth bothering about, I would say on ave these days 65-70% of kids graduate with one of the second class degrees. Your degree classification is dependent on end year exams, so typically 15%-35%-50% of your final degree will be determined at the end of each year with written papers and oral exams when appropriate. No continual assessment and no multiple choice exams, so writing a coherent essay is important. As an aside, I think some Oxbridge degrees are still determined 100% on your final exam after 3 years but I could be mistaken on that. I hope this helps. Good luck.