Which schools are the hardest academically?

[Anonymous]

I am not referring to the cut throat schools, but the most rigorous. I am aware that some schools are hard to get into, but once you're there, the expectations are manageable. Other schools are just hard for the sake of being hard. And others are hard because they are trying to elevate their reputation.

I have heard that Hopkins, Duke, and Columbia are grueling.

[Anonymous]

U Chicago?

[Anonymous]

You are a high school student, yes? Academic difficulty will depend more on major/field than which college, so you should be looking specifically at what general field you are interested in.

Don't forget Caltech and MIT.

[Anonymous]

And Harvey Mudd

[Anonymous]

Lots of other colleges will be grueling in some particularly tough majors, colleges you might not suspect at first glance.

OP, what major are you interested in?

[Anonymous]

I really question Duke’s academics being characterized as grueling and I wonder if JHU feels that way if you’re not in a STEM field (or maybe specifically premed). Great school for an academically-inclined undergrad in humanities/social sciences, imo.

Princeton has the potential for rigor (if that’s what you’re looking for) — mandatory junior paper and senior thesis can be challenging. But Princeton, like Harvard, has lots of faculty who typically grade on a truncated scale so you have to do something pretty egregious to get a C (in a non-STEM field).

[Anonymous]

I went to Cornell, NYU and Duke, and in my experience, NYU was the most rigorous, by a wide margin. Had a great experience at each school, though.

[Anonymous]

Carleton is very challenging

[Anonymous]

MIT

[Anonymous]

Why are you even asking this question. It seems pointless. And like someone already said - it is very major dependent. You can be an English major at MIT and it probably isn’t especially grueling compared to some other schools

[Anonymous]

Hopkins

[Anonymous]

It is more dependent on major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really question Duke’s academics being characterized as grueling and I wonder if JHU feels that way if you’re not in a STEM field (or maybe specifically premed). Great school for an academically-inclined undergrad in humanities/social sciences, imo.

Princeton has the potential for rigor (if that’s what you’re looking for) — mandatory junior paper and senior thesis can be challenging. But Princeton, like Harvard, has lots of faculty who typically grade on a truncated scale so you have to do something pretty egregious to get a C (in a non-STEM field).

I want to Hopkins a long time ago (‘93) in social sciences and it was certainly a place it required a lot of work but I can’t imagine that much more so than other peer schools. Engineering/BME/premed kids had to work like crazy though and had to constantly deal with “the curve” which contributed to the grueling atmosphere of the place.

[Anonymous]

This is tracked pretty well at gradeinflation.com

[Anonymous]

MIT