Colleges with the most rigorous courseload.

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Can someone give me a list of colleges(like 10) with the most rigorous courseload?</p>

<p>Thank you very much.</p>

2

<p>That doesn’t make any sense, since each individual decides how difficult his/her courseload will be.</p>

3

<p>This is usually heavily dependent on major–astrophysics is almost always going to be more challenging than Peace and Conflict Studies, no matter what schools you look at–but Caltech, MIT, and Chicago are all notorious for being difficult schools in general.</p>

4

<p>Years ago, the LA Times published a table reportedly used by Berkeley’s law school to adjust for grade inflation at undergraduate institutions
(<a href=“http://web.archive.org/web/20000829094953/http://www.pcmagic.net/abe/gradeadj.htm[/url]”>http://web.archive.org/web/20000829094953/http://www.pcmagic.net/abe/gradeadj.htm&lt;/a&gt;)
Schools with relatively high multipliers:
Swarthmore: 89.5
Williams : 89
Duke: 88.5
Carleton: 88
Colgate: 88
Johns Hopkins: 87.5
University of Chicago: 87
Wesleyan: 87
Darthmouth: 87
Cornell: 86.5
Harvard: 86.5
Middlebury: 86
Princeton: 86
MIT: 85.5
Pomona: 85
Haverford: 85
Virginia: 85</p>

<p>Can anyone cite a more recent source?</p>

<p>This table addresses grade inflation. Work loads (reading assignments etc.) may be somewhat independent of grade inflation (and I don’t know how to compare schools for that, other than by anecdotal reports). Some schools have thesis requirements, many don’t. Reed has not only a thesis requirement but also comprehensive oral examinations.</p>

<p>Course and proficiency requirements are another related issue. Chicago and Columbia have heave “core” requirements. “Open curriculum” schools (such as Brown and Amherst) have few or no required courses (which is not to deny that many students there assemble rigorous programs).</p>