"No, the SAT is not Required." More Colleges Join Test-Optional Train

[Data10]

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Harvard – 98% grad rate, 3% tech majors (using older CDS since no new ones seem to be available)
You sure about the 3% tech? Engineers are small (4%) percentage of Harvard graduates as reported on the NCES site, but there is another 3% if you count Computer Science at Harvard as Tech and add 12% if you include Chemistry, Physics and Math as tech (and a LOT more if you count Bio) - so perhaps 18 or 19% is a fairer number for Harvard.

As mentioned in my earlier post, what I am calling “tech majors” includes only engineering and CS, not chemistry and physics. I’d expect chemistry and physics would not show the degree of graduation rate influence as CS/engineering since fewer chem/physics majors pursue co-ops or take a break from school to pursue work/startups, and chem/physics generally require fewer credits within the major to graduate than CS/engineering. I am using the CDS for the reported percentages in these majors. As mentioned in your quote, I was unable to find a recent CDS for Harvard, so the value was a few years out of date. Searching around, I did find a more recent 2012 CDS at <a href=“http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2011-2012.pdf”>http://oir.harvard.edu/files/huoir/files/harvard_cds_2011-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt; . It mentions 2% CS and 3% engineering, for a total of 5%… a significant increase. Harvard has been making a strong effort to increase their engineering presence in recent years, so the increase is not surprising.</p>

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But I don’t think anyone will complain much about 92% vs. 95% graduation rate and some might even argue that the lower number may be closer to optimal

It depends how you look at it. 92 vs 95% might not sound like much, but it can be a large difference in relation to ranking of peers. For example, in the IPEDs data Caltech does not rank among the 50 colleges with best 6-year graduation rate. It ranks below many less selective colleges, such as William and Mary and Tufts. Some on this forum (and some donating alumni) care about how colleges rank in relation to their peers by almost any measure. Many college ranking lists also care about graduation rank measures, including USNWR. </p>

<p>One might make a similar argument about test scores. I wouldn’t think it matters if a college’s test scores increase by ~20 points, but a few years ago Claremont McKenna College was caught exaggerating reported test scores by ~20 points as described at <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/education/claremont-mckenna-college-says-it-exaggerated-sat-figures.html?_r=0”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/education/claremont-mckenna-college-says-it-exaggerated-sat-figures.html?_r=0&lt;/a&gt; , so this seemingly miniscule difference in numbers obviously mattered to them.</p>