<p>This may sound strange, but I'm looking for a college that will challenge me in my classes; I don't want somewhere that will give out easy As. I'm planning on majoring in computer science and I don't feel math/science classes have ever really been a challenge for me in high school, and am looking forward to a bit of difficulty. My question is basically, how challenging are the courses at RPI? Is there any theoretical or math-intense aspects of the curriculum, or will I mostly be learning practical, applicable skills? </p>
<p>I'm hoping to get into Cornell ED (I've heard its very difficult to get good grades there), but RPI is probably my second choice because I am a medalist and have good enough stats to be pretty sure about getting in. Anyone current or former students have any information on this?</p>
<p>The courtry was split into four divisions, east, west, south and north. The article was published in 2010 and titled the Sweet Sixteen of Tough Graders. RPI was top seed in the east.</p>
<p>Ok thanks for the replies, that’s all I wanted to know. I just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be bored by easy classes at college, and from those links it seems RPI would certainly be a challenge. Once again, thanks :)</p>
<p>I’m a pre med biomedical engineering major so right now im in intro level classes for Bio, Physics and chemistry and also taking differential equations.</p>
<p>Overall, my classes range from very easy to average and are very straightforward in terms of assignments and grading. The intro level classes are pretty easy and I was initially in Calculus II but became very bored (I took AP Calc BC in high school) and switched to Differential equations which is more challenging but will probably still get an A in that course. Can’t comment too much because I’m in intro level courses now.</p>
<p>But anyway, the course are as challenging as you make them. A lot of people here have trouble in certain courses that others find very easy. It comes down to how naturally talented you are in the subject and how much work and studying you are willing to put in. </p>
<p>I know some smart computer science majors who skipped the lower math to take the higher level courses and are having a fine but definitely not easy time. </p>
<p>From what I’ve seen at RPI and Princeton’s CS and Math departments, I think it’s fair to say that RPI’s classes are generally a bit easier material-wise in the freshman/sophomore and grad level, and about the same difficulty (or slightly harder) at the junior/senior level.</p>
<p>However, especially in the advanced undergraduate level, graders in Princeton are much, much more anal about things that really don’t actually matter (about akin to losing major points on an assignment for not showing your work multiplying, say, 14 by 22), so at least officially good grades are more difficult to attain at Princeton. However, as much as I’m against grade inflation, I’m much more against taking off points arbitrarily, so I’d say that RPI wins among classes at that level.</p>