<p>There will always be an endless debate about which schools are more prestigious for this major or have a better program for that major. I am not interested in that right now.</p>
<p>From what I have heard, at some schools the ChemE classes are so tough kids drop out like flies. On the other hand, at some Ivies it is fairly difficult to fail that same course.</p>
<p>I want to know where I will be crying from the workload and where I might be able to maintain a social life. (specifially ChemE, BioMedE, MechE, and ElecE)</p>
<p>at UMCP, some classes have not curve, some classes need a curve, but no one gets it. some nice profs make it avg = C+/B-. no matter what the avg is... well for my class is was around 55.</p>
<p>i think all colleges are hard. I mean MIT is the hardest, but idiots don't go there, unless through affirmative action. a third tier school might be easier in comparison, but then again, the likelihood of a genius going there is rarer.</p>
<p>the weed-out tough classes are the lower-level (200's) / math / physics / chem. if you can make it to the 300 level, your chances of dropping out is less, unlesss you are the one who passed with C-'s to get into junior year.</p>
<p>Ivy grades are as inflated as they come. it is relatively easy to get a B. getting an A is difficult, but the Columbia and Princeton students I have encountered are pretty much party animals and maintain a 2.9-3.2</p>
<p>Many of the top private schools (Ivies and such) have lenient grading policies in that it's very easy to get a B, hard to get an A, and practically impossible to fail. Difficult eng schools that come to mind are the usual suspects (MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, etc) as well as large publics where it's not unheard of to have half the students in a particular class fail.</p>
<p>UIUC probably doesn't have the hardest engineering curricula, nor does the school require you to be a genious, but you won't do well without effort.</p>