<p>Graduation rates obviously don't give us the answer. </p>
<p>Though Ivies have reputations for academic rigor, some are less difficult than others. For example, Cornell is supposedly harder on students than the others. Additionally, many schools are perpetrators of grade inflation.</p>
<p>Which schools, and not just Ivies, are the most academically mind-blowing? That is, requiring constant studying, mountains of assigned work due, a difficult curriculum, and no easy graders?</p>
<p>Many liberal arts colleges have coursework that puts students through the ringer. I recall Middlebury, Reed, Swarthmore, and either Williams or Amherst being considered notoriously difficult.</p>
<p>I think it also depends on the major. Engineering courses are generally harder and graded lower than humanities, but that of course is a gross generalization.</p>
<p>I've heard more than once that Occidental grades pretty harshly. I don't know this as a fact, but I'm guessing that most/all top LACs are the same way</p>
<p>Actually, the schools that are hardest to graduate from are schools that provide limited financial aid and cater to a very broad socio-economic swath. The failure to graduate, statistically, is almost always money-related in one way or another -- needing to work full-time to pay for college, etc.</p>
<p>It's cutting a very fine hair to talk about graduation rates at elite private colleges where the graduation rates are uniformly above 90%.</p>
<p>A student who is incapable of doing the academic work required to graduate at these elite colleges has virtually no prayer of getting accepted in the first place.</p>
<p>interesteddad makes a good point. However, while 90% is very high, you have to consider it within the context of the strength of the student body. These student bodies are very strong, and so comparatively, 90% puts them in a position of at least seeming difficulty.</p>
<p>Of course, the phrase "hardest schools to graduate from" is not necessarily "difficulty." It could very well be due to factors like socioeconomics, lack of proper advising, etc.</p>
<p>Thus, might not be a good point to boast about how I graduated from a school that is among the hardest to graduate from. </p>
<p>Student A: "I graduated from a very hard school to graduate from."
Student B: "Oh, I though the school was suppose to be supportive. Given the 50K a year you spend on tuition..."
Student A: "<strong><em>Cryy</em></strong>"</p>
<p>I agree with Interesteddad (#14). However, some well connected legacies, who could afford sticker price, have slid under the radar and gotten accepted. Many of them make up a portion of the drop-out numbers. Thankfully, there are still plenty of professors, with ethics, who look at what you know as oppose to who you know.</p>
<p>I knew people wouldn't read my post. People are just repeating what I've already mentioned and discounted from the beginning. I appreciate everyone's input, but I specifically stated in my post that graduation rates don't have anything to do with the quality I'm actually asking about here, so I'll reiterate: please disregard graduation rates (and all the non-academic/self-selecting population factors affecting them) and discussions about them, and reread what I'm actually asking.</p>
<p>Purdue? That's an interesting one. Duly noted.</p>