Helped along by grade inflation and lax requirements not usually associated with top universities, a record 91 percent of Harvard seniors graduated with honors last June, eclipsing peers at 13 other elite US colleges, a Globe study has found.
Harvard's honor roll stunned rival universities, many of whom make exacting, often brutal choices to distinguish outstanding student work from the merely excellent. ''Hilarious,'' the dean of Yale College said of Harvard's 91 percent. ''Can't believe it,'' a Cornell vice provost concurred. ''It wouldn't ever happen at Dartmouth,'' said the dean of faculty at that Ivy, which is sometimes derided as Harvard's academically lesser peer.