Everyone wants to get in today already, and if they look low enough, they will get in. After all, student loans are readily available. The issue is slightly d

Everyone wants to get in today already, and if they look low enough, they will get in. After all, student loans are readily available. The issue is slightly different, the real task is to discourage those who won't finish their degree because they aren't cut out for it early on, so that the student and the university won't waste their time. When I got my degree back when in Europe they did just that. The attrition rate in the first year was high - 30 %, but whoever had passed the sieving exams usually came out at the other end with a degree. Unfortunately one of the metrics US unis are judged by is retention rate. This will have to change.