<p>There is a pretty big difference in graduation rates between cal tech and mit. Check it out on collegeresults.org then search for caltech. What do you think the accounts for the difference? Interestingly, the only comparable school to mit and cal tech were each other.</p>
<p>Well, Caltech is acknowledged by most to have the harder workload (see the thread on Engineering in MIT vs Caltech for an example given by Ben). I've also heard that MIT students take on average 4 classes per term, one less than the average here. (In fact, you need permission to take less than 4.) This would lead to a higher rate of burnout and a higher rate of people transferring because they didn't like the workload. In addition, if you transfer majors, it's often the case that you have to add on an extra year, so super seniors (5th year students) aren't that uncommon.</p>