<p>Makes more sense that the honors sections are the ones doing that, that’s the way it is at my alma mater Cornell. But the point would be this level is available at Swarthmore at least for those who want it. You would have to check if Wesleyan offered this level, they don’t all do it, I don’t think D1s LAC did, for one.(or at least the same level texts weren’t in the bookstore there). The physics texts at Brown were identical to the ones I used at Cornell. I would assume they too have honors sections of these classes.</p>
<p>The theme was does it offer “top notch academics”, and in these fields that’s about as high-level as it gets, at intro level. As for whether that’s “better” or not is another matter, as you said people die in some of these classes.</p>
<p>And that’s not to say they are equally top notch in the advanced years, one would have to look into the breadth and depth of advanced level courses they offer in each field, the frequency those courses are offered, and the number of sections available, to minimize conflicts so that you have the best chance of actually being able to take the advanced level courses when offered. It’s hard to call a program that offers comparatively few courses, comparatively few times, “top notch”, truly, even if the (comparatively few) courses they do offer are challenging and the students are good. A “top notch” program in a particular should have a “top notch” likelihood of meeting your intellectual needs and interests as they develop, which requires them to offer many upper level courses. IMO.</p>