<p>I got this link from a friend and I'm really having a hard time interpreting the accuracy and meaning of it:</p>
<p>Americas</a> 50 most stressful colleges and universities are smart, too - SmartPlanet</p>
<p>Are these stress levels really true? I was thinking that UChicago, which is one of my options for next year, would have a much higher ranking on stress than it appears from this thread. And I saw NYU (accepted to Stern), my other choice, on the list too, and is the stress there based on the city itself?</p>
<p>Clearly though NYU would be the less stressful or pressure place to be than UChicago right?</p>
<p>I’d take that list with a huge grain of salt. While certain factors are quantifiable in terms of “stress levels,” like the amount of grade deflation or the suicide rate of a given college, most factors aren’t. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, students are going to be most stressed out at schools where they don’t fit in well. If you love the grit of cities, you won’t be stressed at NYU or GWU but would get claustrophobic at Middlebury or Whitman. If you love big classes, you won’t get stressed at the idea of chilling in the back of a lecture at Berkeley but would get stressed at the prospect of talking every 20 minutes in a 8-person discussion-based class.</p>
<p>That list seems to be based largely off of USNWR’s rankings, but what they’re trying to quantify is totally subjective. I’d ignore it and instead talk to people you know at either school, visit if possible, or do research to figure out which program suits you better rather than overanalyzing an iffy single source.</p>
<p>surprised to see stanford at #1, should be considerably lower (Columbia should be a little lower as well). Caltech, Chicago, Cornell are all ranked way too low (even JHU to some extent). But apart from that it seems decent.</p>
<p>None of it is too suprising to me. To be honest, I would guess that the stress levels anywhere from 1-15 are relatively similar. All of those schools have very demanding academics and all of them have very driven students, so naturally there will be a certain level of stress present. I agree with jamiroquai that these rankings don’t mean much for any individual, though, as your own stress level will largely depend on how happy you are with your school.</p>