<p>B-Schooler has a good post, but I disagree with this assessment:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Cornell’s six-year graduation rate has been 92% in recent years, as opposed to Penn’s 95%. And the difference is even smaller when you look at the 4-year graduation rate. Cornell is at 87, along with Columbia and Harvard, and ahead of places like Dartmouth and Brown:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/highest-grad-rate]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/highest-grad-rate)</p>
<p>What explains the six-year graduation rate differential? I don’t think it is just student intelligence. </p>
<p>You can also attribute it to a) Cornell is a larger school, so it’s relatively easier to get ‘lost’, b) Cornell is much more socioeconomically diverse than a lot of its peers, meaning students are more likely to have to drop out to move back home to support family, etc., and c) Cornell has relatively more hard science majors than schools like Columbia or Penn.</p>