<p>Is there a link to some ranking list that takes these factors into consideration? Niche seems to have redone the way they do things and I don't seem to be able to extrapolate a ranking based on manageable workload.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Maybe on here? <a href=“Assessing Academic Rigor? - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1503504-assessing-academic-rigor.html</a></p>
<p>Hm, no, I am really looking for something that has feedback from students in terms of workload manageability. Niche used to have that, but in my google searches, I am not able to find lists of colleges (you know, maybe top 50, 100, etc.) based on academic rigor and workload level.</p>
<p>I’ll keep googling, I guess.</p>
<p>What exactly are you looking for? A college with high academic rigor and a manageable workload? </p>
<p>Academic rigor might be easy to figure out. BUT what is a manageable workload for one student might not be for another. </p>
<p>I’m not sure what you are trying to gain here.</p>
<p>You also need to remember that academic workload varies greatly by major. </p>
<p>Engineering and architecture are among the majors known for their heavy workloads.</p>
<p>Trying to get a feel for majors, colleges and the workload associated with them. And yes, I know that each student handles a workload uniquely.</p>
<p>So, using Marian’s example: Are all architecture program the same in level of rigor and manageability? Or are some schools known to be much more rigorous with a more intense workload? Is there some statistical analysis of such thing by major at various colleges?</p>
<p>Does that help?</p>
<p>As far as what I’m not looking for: schools like MIT, Caltech, Mudd, U Chicago, etc. Looking for schools that, yes, have rigor but students by and large say the workload is manageable-still interested in rigor but not at the intense level of those schools. </p>
<p>Majors I’m interested in exploring: Industrial Design, Music, Film, Engineering, Game Design, Engineering and Liberal Arts/Product Design.</p>
<p>Trying to find the right balance and would love to read about it from students at various colleges.</p>
<p>I’ll stick my neck out. Engineering and music are both rigorous in terms of work load…but for different reasons.</p>
<p>Music majors have tons of one credit courses that meet many hours a week. In addition, the student must put in sufficient practice time on their own, and preparation for things like ensemble practices.</p>
<p>Engineering is a challenging major regardless of the college. The atmosphere might be different but the actual courses are really very similar.</p>
<p>Some folks find English to have a large workload…lots to read and lots to write.</p>
<p>I think if a student really likes their chosen major, they will be better able to handle the workload…because they will want to.</p>
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<p>So you’re saying mechanical engineering at MIT would be the same level of difficulty as at San Diego State University? My understanding from having a son at MIT and same son taking upper level courses at SDSU in high school is that they are not the same rigor.</p>
<p>The competition amongst the students might differ. But the course courses will be the same.</p>
<p>MIT has three different levels for Calculus based physics. I don’t believe that is the case for SDSU. My son said one level, the one he took, was like IMO physics. I think I will have to agree to disagree with you and I will move on in my search for what I am looking for. </p>
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<p>This is a varied list of majors that do share the characteristic of tending to be majors with more high workload courses (labs, computer programming, art studio, music performance, large projects).</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. Even where the range is narrow due to ABET accreditation setting a relatively high minimum standard, there is room for variation in course organization, additional topics covered or offered, emphasis within the major, and level of rigor beyond the minimum standard. However, it would be a mistake to assume that school prestige automatically means higher rigor and the like in every course.</p>
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<p>Is this just a curiosity for you? I’ve taken classes at a few top 10 universities and also have heard about the others from people that attended.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, the group with the highest level of rigor and workload are as follows:
- Caltech (math/science/engineering classes)
- MIT (math/science/engineering classes)
- Harvey Mudd (math/science/engineering classes)
- University of Chicago (everything)
- Swarthmore (everything)
- Berkeley (math/science/engineering, not sure about humanities)</p>
<p>3-6 are pretty much interchangeable. I might also put Reed College up there.</p>
<p>Next group are very prestigious schools in which you will get an excellent foundation in whatever you are studying but won’t kill you with workload: the ivies, U. of Virginia, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Amherst, Williams, and other schools like that, I’m guessing Stanford too although their chem E major is lacking. </p>
<p>Just to give you one anecdote, one theoretical physics grad student at MIT and Amherst alumni was shocked at how much homework they gave the physics students. Also, many top schools don’t offer theoretical versions of the intro classes as MIT and Caltech do (e.g., Apostol textbook for calculus, Purcell textbook for E&M). </p>
<p>Some of the majors for the ivies are the most rigorous there is. Harvard’s Math 55 is the hardest math class in the country. I’ve also heard government, the most enrolled in class at Harvard, is a blowoff class. So it evens out. The languages at Dartmouth are unparalleled. I’ve heard Princeton’s chemistry degree is very rigorous but bio is tailored for premeds to get high gpas (may have changed with the gpa deflation.) You probably can go as far as you want in chem at Harvard, but I’ve heard anecdotal info that Harvard’s organic chem intro classes are easier than MIT’s.</p>
<p>Some of this corresponds with the expectation of what the average student will be doing with their time. At Harvard, the emphasis for many is on ECs. At Swarthmore, I get the impression that classes are the most important.</p>
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<p>Actually, you are just disagreeing, not agreeing to disagree.</p>
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<p>Such rankings are too generalized to be useful, since the rigor levels may vary across departments. Some schools may have several options for a given course (e.g. regular versus honors courses). A somewhat extreme example of the latter is Harvard’s entry-level math courses, which range from Ma-Mb (sort of like high school calculus AB with precalculus review) to 55a-55b (a famously difficult honors math course). In between are 1a-1b (normal frosh calculus), 21a-21b (normal sophomore math), 23a-23b (honors sophomore math), and 25a-25b (higher honors sophomore math).</p>
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Agreed. When I was an undergrad classics major, I was curious about how homework loads stacked up, so I consulted with some fellow classics majors at other universities about the number of lines they typically translated for homework each night. I found that Harvard, Princeton, and Duke students had the lengthiest homework assignments, trailed by Penn, Brown, Texas, Chicago, and a couple of others. The big surprise was seeing the huge range – students at one elite university were doing about half as many lines per week in advanced Greek as some of the rest of us! (Note: This was several years ago at this point, so the current picture may look very different. The exact order isn’t relevant, however.)</p>
<p>I don’t doubt that if you picked another department at random (e.g. neuroscience), the “most rigorous” schools would be totally different. </p>
<p>In fact, rigor can vary immensely even from one professor to another within the same department. I’ve TAed one class 7 times with 4 different professors, and each of them taught the class completely differently with tests and paper assignments ranging from very easy to pretty demanding. </p>
<p>One thing I’ve noticed on CC over the years is that how students react to their workloads can be heavily influenced by their colleges. Students at some colleges act collected and nonchalant about their workloads while working like mad behind the scenes to get everything done (the so-called “duck syndrome”). At other colleges, it’s considered normal to complain vocally about the amount of work one needs to do, either as one-upmanship or simply group commiseration. I’m not sure student reports about workload as necessarily always accurate, though they’re often taken at face value. Is a college with lots of student complaints about workload or grades actually incredibly rigorous – or is that simply the campus culture? It can be difficult to tell.</p>
<p>Maybe the better way to put the engineering evaluation is that the minimum level required is the same across colleges (ABET accreditation). Some students may take more advanced classes at some colleges but at the minimum engineering is rigorous regardless of where the classes are taken.</p>
<p>OP- even within a particular major at a particular college, the intensity and workload will vary tremendously based on the course selection and the student’s HS prep. And of course, not every college kid aspires to a 3.8 GPA or even cares all that much about grades. So graduating with a degree in the chosen field is the goal- and getting there can take many paths.</p>
<p>I don’t think this is a fruitful way to compare colleges once you’ve eliminated the Cal Tech’s of the world. I know kids at Southern CT State who work like demons and others who have made the honor society but seemingly major in Beer Pong and binge watching “Game of Thrones”. YMMV.</p>
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<p>What schools are you referring to? If you are referring to MIT and Stanford, MIT students are more stressed because they have more work, even in the same major.</p>
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<p>Do they need to do the reading, though, to do well in the class? In something like Greek it would be more necessary, but in other subjects you can just pick the thing you need to write the essay about.</p>
<p>Princeton Review surveys students on 379 campuses and sifts through the responses to create lists of the top 20 schools for everything from beer drinking to professor accessibility. This is the top 20 list for the colleges where students study the most:</p>
<h1>1 - Harvey Mudd College</h1>
<h1>2 - California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA</h1>
<h1>3 - Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA</h1>
<h1>4 - Reed College</h1>
<h1>5 - Middlebury College</h1>
<h1>6 - Swarthmore College</h1>
<h1>7 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology</h1>
<h1>8 - Marlboro College</h1>
<h1>9 - Carleton College</h1>
<h1>10 - Princeton University</h1>
<h1>11 - Gettysburg College</h1>
<h1>12 - The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art</h1>
<h1>13 - Grinnell College</h1>
<h1>14 - Carnegie Mellon University</h1>
<h1>15 - Harvard College</h1>
<h1>16 - University of Chicago</h1>
<h1>17 - Cornell University</h1>
<h1>18 - Haverford College</h1>
<h1>19 - Worcester Polytechnic Institute</h1>
<h1>20 - Wellesley College</h1>
<p>There is also a list for the 20 schools where students study least. </p>