Anonymous
11/25/2025 10:19
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Here are your "grind" Schools. Pick any at the Top. End of discussion.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?myCollege=engineering-doctorate&_sort=myCollege&_sortDirection=asc
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?myCollege=engineering-doctorate&_sort=myCollege&_sortDirection=asc
Anonymous
11/25/2025 10:12
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Caltech
MIT
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Cal
UChicago
Hopkins
Williams
Replace Williams with CMU and add Cornell
lol with CMU. The only that makes it a grind is it is depressing. It's also not in the Top 5 -6 for Engineering.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 10:01
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Anonymous wrote:Caltech
MIT
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Cal
UChicago
Hopkins
Williams
Replace Williams with CMU and add Cornell
Anonymous
11/25/2025 09:42
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote: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.
This is what I have in mind when I refer to a "grind school".
Obviously, all schools have a mix of kids. No school is all one thing or another.
And yes, the percentage of grindy kids often differs by major within the same school.
That said, I do feel some schools with really smart, hardworking kids don't feel like as much of a grind overall.
Two factors that I've noticed about the less grindy schools:
(1) They seem to attract and/or select enough kids who proactively balance their academics with some social ECs (not just additional resume-building clubs and activities); and
(2) They offer kids big, communal experiences outside the classroom that add dimension and balance to their lives. This could be anything from sports to social clubs (could be Greek life but not necessarily) to regular campus events or festivals or concerts that regularly attract a ton of students, to an off-campus setting that affects the school culture and inspires kids to balance their academics with something else (a vibrant city, an accessible and interesting college town, gorgeous and accessible nature/outdoor activities.)
Which colleges do the best job at what PP is describing?
Bama et al
Non dcum approved schools
Anonymous
11/25/2025 08:58
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
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.
I think it's important to not only avoid schools that have this culture, but to find a job in an organization that excludes these types of people with no a******s rules. They can be weeded out in the recruitment process.
The problem is nobody has the same definition of A**hole. Too many companies will give this line...only to find out they are A**holes, but of course don't think they are.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 07:25
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
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.
I think it's important to not only avoid schools that have this culture, but to find a job in an organization that excludes these types of people with no a******s rules. They can be weeded out in the recruitment process.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 07:15
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
It’s truly major based. Anything Engineering is going to be challenging and competitive at most top schools in that field.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 06:13
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Depending on your major ...all of them
Anonymous
11/24/2025 23:28
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Caltech
MIT
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Cal
UChicago
Hopkins
Williams
MIT
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Cal
UChicago
Hopkins
Williams
Anonymous
11/24/2025 23:14
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Cornell, CMU, Berkley and MIT are all grind schools.
MIT is known as "TJ 2.0 The College Years".
+1
Add JHU to that list.
JHU is not a grind anymore.
Is this true?
JHU ha a median graduating GPA of 3.75. Higher than UVA(3.68) and W%M(3.65) and yet lower than the most inflated Brown and Harvard(medians 3.9)
Though 3.75 is low compared to ivies other than Princeton and Cornell? Yale and Penn are higher than that.
3.75 is ridiculously inflated
Grade inflation is rampant throughout higher education, particularly at the more selective schools.
Anonymous
11/24/2025 22:48
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Cornell, CMU, Berkley and MIT are all grind schools.
MIT is known as "TJ 2.0 The College Years".
+1
Add JHU to that list.
JHU is not a grind anymore.
Is this true?
JHU ha a median graduating GPA of 3.75. Higher than UVA(3.68) and W%M(3.65) and yet lower than the most inflated Brown and Harvard(medians 3.9)
Though 3.75 is low compared to ivies other than Princeton and Cornell? Yale and Penn are higher than that.
3.75 is ridiculously inflated
https://www.ivycoach.com/the-ivy-coach-blog/ivy-league/ivy-league-grade-inflation/
Would be higher than dartmouth, princeton, cornell, yale even. JHU used to be known for grade deflation but academic grading has gotten lax. Maybe too lax.
The link provides 2020 data for ivy league schools. The gpa must inflated much higher over the past five years.
Second, where did you get the 3.75 median for JHU? Is there a link?
it was 3.80 in 2021. Likely higher now.
https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/leed/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2022/04/Spring-2021-CAP-Report.pdf
Thanks!
Anonymous
11/24/2025 22:35
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Cornell, CMU, Berkley and MIT are all grind schools.
MIT is known as "TJ 2.0 The College Years".
+1
Add JHU to that list.
JHU is not a grind anymore.
Is this true?
JHU ha a median graduating GPA of 3.75. Higher than UVA(3.68) and W%M(3.65) and yet lower than the most inflated Brown and Harvard(medians 3.9)
Though 3.75 is low compared to ivies other than Princeton and Cornell? Yale and Penn are higher than that.
3.75 is ridiculously inflated
https://www.ivycoach.com/the-ivy-coach-blog/ivy-league/ivy-league-grade-inflation/
Would be higher than dartmouth, princeton, cornell, yale even. JHU used to be known for grade deflation but academic grading has gotten lax. Maybe too lax.
The link provides 2020 data for ivy league schools. The gpa must inflated much higher over the past five years.
Second, where did you get the 3.75 median for JHU? Is there a link?
it was 3.80 in 2021. Likely higher now.
https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/leed/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2022/04/Spring-2021-CAP-Report.pdf
Anonymous
11/24/2025 22:30
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Cornell, CMU, Berkley and MIT are all grind schools.
MIT is known as "TJ 2.0 The College Years".
+1
Add JHU to that list.
JHU is not a grind anymore.
Is this true?
JHU ha a median graduating GPA of 3.75. Higher than UVA(3.68) and W%M(3.65) and yet lower than the most inflated Brown and Harvard(medians 3.9)
Though 3.75 is low compared to ivies other than Princeton and Cornell? Yale and Penn are higher than that.
3.75 is ridiculously inflated
https://www.ivycoach.com/the-ivy-coach-blog/ivy-league/ivy-league-grade-inflation/
Would be higher than dartmouth, princeton, cornell, yale even. JHU used to be known for grade deflation but academic grading has gotten lax. Maybe too lax.
The link provides 2020 data for ivy league schools. The gpa must inflated much higher over the past five years.
Second, where did you get the 3.75 median for JHU? Is there a link?
Anonymous
11/24/2025 22:25
Subject: What exactly is a “grind school” (undergraduate)?
3.75 for engineering is instead ridiculously inflated. I teach engineering at a t100 nothing-special state school and the average GPA of our 2nd and 3rd year engineering courses is merely 3.0–3.3 depending on instructors and semesters. Of course, students also have to take quite a few gen ed courses which may help them raise their overall GPAs, but there are not enough of these gen ed courses to bump it up to a 3.75.