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My bad, I didn’t express myself very clearly. I was referring to the difference between the 4-year and 6-year graduation rates at UC Irvine. 68% of the 2007-08 entering class graduated in 4 years. Extrapolating from past years, I would expect 85% of them to graduate in 6 years. That’s a difference between 15 and 20%. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.oir.uci.edu/grad/IIIC01-campus-summary.pdf[/url]”>http://www.oir.uci.edu/grad/IIIC01-campus-summary.pdf</a></p>
<p>Several posters expressed concern about possibly needing additional years to graduate because students get shut out of classes required for their degree. I pointed out that most students who want to graduate in 4 years (measured by the 6 year graduation rate) are able to do it in 4 years, so classes filling up doesn’t appear to be a greater concern than at any other university. </p>
<p>(For the record: I attended a wealthy private college with an 8:1 student:faculty ratio and I got shut out of several classes I wanted to take every semester too. I did however get all of the classes I needed to graduate in 4 years.)</p>
<p>Granted, there’s still a significant gap between the 4- and 6-year graduation rate. However, if we believe ThisCouldBeHeavn, the gap is not due to over-enrollment but choices on the students’ part.</p>