What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?

[Anonymous]

Most premed programs nowadays are female dominated. Most biomedical engineering programs are also female dominated. CS or CE are reaching male female balance pretty fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins premed, CMU SCS, Cornell engineering, are epitome of grinder schools. Rigorous curriculum, harsh curve, cutthroat culture, a combination of these.

Male-dominated programs with a lot of men who are academically competitive with each other, sharp-elbowed, some social skills limitations because not very pro-social, intense interest in schoolwork but not in other types of campus activities, focus on getting high-paying or hard-to-get jobs.

Guess you've "never met" any women who fit that description exactly.

PP went to college in the 70s.

+1. Dated observation

From the CMU student newspaper in October:

https://the-tartan.org/2025/10/06/cmu-undergraduate-womens-enrollment-declines-across-colleges/

CMU undergraduate women’s enrollment declines across colleges
Daniel Rios
October 6, 2025

"In 2025, Carnegie Mellon University welcomed a cohort of 1,804 new undergraduate students at its Pittsburgh campus. Though the university’s overall population has 42.2 percent of students identify as women, the incoming undergraduate class in fall of 2025 had a historically low female enrollment of 38.8 percent. At certain colleges, the percentage was even lower..."

"The Census data showed growing gaps in gender diversity across all colleges except the College of Fine Arts and the interdisciplinary programs, the latter of which grew its overall headcount significantly."

"The gap was most severe at Carnegie Mellon’s highly-ranked School of Computer Science (SCS), where only 19.39 percent of all entering undergraduates were female, the lowest out of all of CMU’s undergraduate colleges, including the interdisciplinary programs.

The College of Engineering (CIT) had the second-lowest percentage of entering female students, with just 32.7 percent. Like SCS, CIT had a steady decline in new female students."

Hmmm.....sounds like a male-dominated grinder school to me....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most premed programs nowadays are female dominated. Most biomedical engineering programs are also female dominated. CS or CE are reaching male female balance pretty fast.

And they are intense and grindy. Parent of BME premed at an ivy. Women are 70-80% and study very hard to beat the means. Women have better grades than all but a few top guys. Engineering is grindy at every top school, gender is irrelevant

[Anonymous]

Bump and grind? Lotta schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump and grind? Lotta schools.

Already made that joke above. Thanks for playing.

[Anonymous]

My kid is at northwestern and I think it’s sort of a grind school because the classes are very hard especially in the stem fields and they move quickly because of the quarterly system. But people are generally nice and supportive so I don’t think it’s cut throat. My kid is a workaholic so didn’t mind working hard but really really hates competitive jockeying and the sort of intellectual bullying you find someplace so avoided anyplace with that sort of reputation.

[Anonymous]

To me it means a school where there is no work life balance. Kids are overworked and living with a lot of anxiety; they are not learning for the sake of knowledge, discovery and innovation, but to get good grades and stay afloat.

I always wonder if these kids graduate to become leaders and bosses, or if they simply transition to become work horses in the work place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To me it means a school where there is no work life balance. Kids are overworked and living with a lot of anxiety; they are not learning for the sake of knowledge, discovery and innovation, but to get good grades and stay afloat.

I always wonder if these kids graduate to become leaders and bosses, or if they simply transition to become work horses in the work place.

Basically the college version of TJ, Stuyvesant, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To me it means a school where there is no work life balance. Kids are overworked and living with a lot of anxiety; they are not learning for the sake of knowledge, discovery and innovation, but to get good grades and stay afloat.

I always wonder if these kids graduate to become leaders and bosses, or if they simply transition to become work horses in the work place.

Great point. A lot of these kids have fulfilled their parents dreams by getting into these schools and it is like the dog who caught its tail - now what do I do? And they have very little people skills so while they might get great entry level research or engineering jobs, they will not advance because they won't do well navigate a workforce. For first generation and/or immigrant kids, becoming an engineering manager making a few hundred grand a year might seem like a huge accomplishment (and I am not knocking it). But it is not being wildly successful, particularly after reaching a TT school.

[Anonymous]

CMU
JHU
Cornell
Chicago

Basically schools with a higher concentration of students who have been doing Kumon or other forms of tutoring and prepping since 3rd grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To me it means a school where there is no work life balance. Kids are overworked and living with a lot of anxiety; they are not learning for the sake of knowledge, discovery and innovation, but to get good grades and stay afloat.

I always wonder if these kids graduate to become leaders and bosses, or if they simply transition to become work horses in the work place.

No need to wonder. Look it up on their alums to see the leaders and bosses they produced. Every school has a famous alumni page.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me it means a school where there is no work life balance. Kids are overworked and living with a lot of anxiety; they are not learning for the sake of knowledge, discovery and innovation, but to get good grades and stay afloat.

I always wonder if these kids graduate to become leaders and bosses, or if they simply transition to become work horses in the work place.

Great point. A lot of these kids have fulfilled their parents dreams by getting into these schools and it is like the dog who caught its tail - now what do I do? And they have very little people skills so while they might get great entry level research or engineering jobs, they will not advance because they won't do well navigate a workforce. For first generation and/or immigrant kids, becoming an engineering manager making a few hundred grand a year might seem like a huge accomplishment (and I am not knocking it). But it is not being wildly successful, particularly after reaching a TT school.

What can I say? They are not nepo babies and don’t have the connection to wall street or whatever “wildly successful” career path you fantasized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopkins premed, CMU SCS, Cornell engineering, are epitome of grinder schools. Rigorous curriculum, harsh curve, cutthroat culture, a combination of these.

Male-dominated programs with a lot of men who are academically competitive with each other, sharp-elbowed, some social skills limitations because not very pro-social, intense interest in schoolwork but not in other types of campus activities, focus on getting high-paying or hard-to-get jobs.

Guess you've "never met" any women who fit that description exactly.

PP went to college in the 70s.

+1. Dated observation

From the CMU student newspaper in October:

https://the-tartan.org/2025/10/06/cmu-undergraduate-womens-enrollment-declines-across-colleges/

CMU undergraduate women’s enrollment declines across colleges
Daniel Rios
October 6, 2025

"In 2025, Carnegie Mellon University welcomed a cohort of 1,804 new undergraduate students at its Pittsburgh campus. Though the university’s overall population has 42.2 percent of students identify as women, the incoming undergraduate class in fall of 2025 had a historically low female enrollment of 38.8 percent. At certain colleges, the percentage was even lower..."

"The Census data showed growing gaps in gender diversity across all colleges except the College of Fine Arts and the interdisciplinary programs, the latter of which grew its overall headcount significantly."

"The gap was most severe at Carnegie Mellon’s highly-ranked School of Computer Science (SCS), where only 19.39 percent of all entering undergraduates were female, the lowest out of all of CMU’s undergraduate colleges, including the interdisciplinary programs.

The College of Engineering (CIT) had the second-lowest percentage of entering female students, with just 32.7 percent. Like SCS, CIT had a steady decline in new female students."

Hmmm.....sounds like a male-dominated grinder school to me....

SCS is over 80% male…damn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me it means a school where there is no work life balance. Kids are overworked and living with a lot of anxiety; they are not learning for the sake of knowledge, discovery and innovation, but to get good grades and stay afloat.

I always wonder if these kids graduate to become leaders and bosses, or if they simply transition to become work horses in the work place.

Great point. A lot of these kids have fulfilled their parents dreams by getting into these schools and it is like the dog who caught its tail - now what do I do? And they have very little people skills so while they might get great entry level research or engineering jobs, they will not advance because they won't do well navigate a workforce. For first generation and/or immigrant kids, becoming an engineering manager making a few hundred grand a year might seem like a huge accomplishment (and I am not knocking it). But it is not being wildly successful, particularly after reaching a TT school.

So you are knocking it…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me it means a school where there is no work life balance. Kids are overworked and living with a lot of anxiety; they are not learning for the sake of knowledge, discovery and innovation, but to get good grades and stay afloat.

I always wonder if these kids graduate to become leaders and bosses, or if they simply transition to become work horses in the work place.

Basically the college version of TJ, Stuyvesant, etc.

TJ and Stuy produced way more successful “leaders and bosses” than any TT private schools.