List of colleges by academic rigor or manageable workload?

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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:

  1. Caltech (math/science/engineering classes)
  2. MIT (math/science/engineering classes)
  3. Harvey Mudd (math/science/engineering classes)
  4. University of Chicago (everything)
  5. Swarthmore (everything)
  6. 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>