<p>“This is important to you, presumably, because you want your kid to graduate in 4 years?”</p>
<p>Sorry, but your assumption is not correct. With a 4-1-4 schedule, there is no reason for a traditional liberal arts student not to graduate in 4 years without some reason. Changing a major as an upperclassman is a reason. There are others. But why would one college have materially different rates than other comparable colleges? The whole point of a LA college is broad exploration. Oberlin is not the only school to favor broad exploration, and 4 courses is not an especially heavy course load. So, yes, I’d like to know what is different. As you say, is there an institutional reason, which would in my opinion include admitting students who had issues with the school, whose expectations differed from the reality, or perhaps were just not ready to attend the school.</p>
<p>I confess that I am also a bit concerned that Oberlin spends a substantial amount to attract students, presumably those with higher boards or some other desired quality, who have not requested financial aid. </p>
<p>Now that I think about it, I have never known anyone who couldn’t complete a single degree in 4 years, without a huge change in majors, or without taking a year off. You mention those examples. I would, however, rather my daughter spend an extra couple of years picking up a second graduate degree, than spend 5 years as an undergraduate without a good reason. What happened to summer school if one is a few credits short. Students I spoke to at Oberlin told me that 5 courses was do-able, if not always fun. Does anyone consider 4 years to be a “rush”? Three years is a rush, and I wouldn’t encourage any student to try that unless (a) they were exceptionally talented and/or had lots of AP credits (which I could care less about); or (b) they were in financial difficulty. </p>
<p>Exploring widely is great, but Oberlin’s standard curriculum seems to offer lots of opportunity for that.</p>