<p>Reed has a particularly rigorous first year program and requires a thesis of all students – that explains the high rate of students who don’t finish up there (this has always been true – I’ve know students who attended there as long ago as the 60’s and know none who remained there for four years…though certainly many students do); if Oberlin is “laid back” by comparison, that does not mean that it is not equally challenging over the four years, just that students there seem to be less stressed out by the experience and more likely to finish. I’ve known many Oberlin graduates, whom I met in graduate school and after, and they all thought they received an excellent education.</p>