Not really. European universities, many of them aren't that hard to get into, but the dropout rate rate is brutal. Streaming is a lot more institutionalised and certified, something the US could stand to emulate. That's a huge part of the difference right there. The top 60% are well served everywhere but the insistence in the US that everyone is potentially college material e.g. in CA the graduation standards are set on the basis of the admission standards for the UC system, set up for the top eighth of the secondary school graduates.