<p>According to Newsweek (The Daily Beast). Pretty good, I think.</p>
<p>College</a> Rankings 2011: Most Rigorous - The Daily Beast</p>
<p>Haven’t read the article, therefore don’t know what criteria they used. That said, it is sheer nonsense to rank Swarthmore behind Furman, Wake Forest or, frankly any of the other schools in the top 15 on this particular list. Swat is hands-down the most rigorous college in the country or at least undeniably in the top 3 (MIT and CalTech are also hard-core, but are technical niche institutions). Give credit where credit is due…</p>
<p>Last spring during finals the Daily Beast listed Swat as the most grueling college in America - #1. So… pick your poison. Is it grueling or is it rigorous? Actually, for some unknown reason, that little gem from the Beasties made my Swat daughter feel better about her pending microbiology and biochemistry finals! As a Senior comparing notes about academic experiences with friends at other schools, she now realizes that she is bringing so much more to grad and professional school applications as a result of the gruel and/or rigor.</p>
<p>How in the world do you rank something like this? I’d like to see how they came up with their conclusion.</p>
<p>I think that’s crap! Swarthmore is famously gruelling–15th?? Come on!</p>
<p>you may well be right that swat is the most rigorous, but until youve attended every college in the country you might at least want to acknowledge that the point is in question. i know its perceived as one of the toughest–and rightfully so, i’d assume–but ive heard the same of uchicago and we cant really be sure that, say, the dartmouth college philosophy department doesnt assign more papers/have tougher grading standards than swat’s until we’ve heard from a hoard of people who’ve attended both. a chart plotting incoming sat scores against college gpa would help, but we’d also need to know how much work is assigned to be sure that the lower grades reflect quantity of work in addition to tougher grading policies. famously grueling, sure, but we cant really confidently assert any of this.</p>
<p>FWIW, I know BMC/HC students who have taken Swat classes and do say that Swat is (on average, and perhaps department-specific) the most rigorous. That and transfers are the closest you’ll get to meaningful anecdotal data.</p>
<p>Huffington Post listed it as America’s Number 1 Most Grueling College - go figure.</p>