@Dustyfeathers : I just call it “code” because students at various elite schools don’t really like to admit that their STEM courses may on average be just flat out easier than those at another school (especially if it is of similar caliber or prestige). Some student bodies are notorious for complaining about the intensity of academics…you don’t call certain schools’ STEM curriculum “easier” than a counterpart, just more “pre-med friendly”. I’m alluding to the fact that students may attempt to define “pre-med friendly” as something else because they aren’t willing to concede that academics in certain majors are easier than at peer institutions either a) known to be abnormally strong in STEM in general or b) have a couple of unusually rigorous depts that pre-healths must pass through.
I’m just trying to be CC PC. Calling an elite school’s dept easier than the same at a peer institution, especially STEM, steps on lots of toes. Notice how you often have people jumping up and down claiming that “X STEM class is actually much easier at Harvard, so people are told to take it there during summer”…with people making and sometimes believing such exclamations, it is no surprise no one likes their curriculum being described as easier than anywhere else’s. Much like an egotistical person may have lots of trouble saying sorry.
STEM majors, especially pre-healths at elites seem to generally want to subscribe to the “its greener on the other side” philosophy whether it be some state school or another place that they want to believe so hard that it is grade inflated or easier. The idea that going elsewhere would have gotten them a higher GPA is entertained perhaps too often.