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<p>But that doesn’t explain why a school like, say, Franklin & Marshall has a 6-year graduation rate of 79.0% while many similar schools with student bodies of similar academic qualifications and socioeconomic profiles, e.g., Connecticut College, have graduation rates in the high 80s (88%, to be exact, in CC’s case). Entering class SAT scores and class ranks are almost identical at these two schools. Both schools draw from a pretty high-end demographic, with only 37% on financial aid at F&M, and 41% at CC; both have reputations for being heavily populated with well-to-do prep school types. Both schools claim to meet 100% of financial need. The schools have a similar racial breakdown (both predominantly white, both about 4% African-American, both about 5% Hispanic). So if it’s not academic preparation and not socioeconomic factors, something has to explain the discrepancy in the graduation rates. I don’t know those schools well so I don’t want to speculate, and I especially don’t want to pick on F&M; examples like this abound. But I suspect it has to be something about the culture at the place, or the educational experience, or the administration, or the food, or the town. That’s just too big a difference to hand-wave away. I just know when I see 6-year graduation rates in the low 80s or lower, I’d want to make a very careful inquiry before sending my kid there; especially at a small high-end LAC heavily populated with the “rich white kids” you’d expect to be graduating at a much higher rate, and are at the school’s peer institutions.</p>