How much harder is the coursework at target schools when compared to non-target schools?
Has anyone transferred from like an Alabama to an Ivy? How much harder was it?
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Feb 25, 2023Feb 25, 2023
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Comments (20)
I go to a school known for grade deflation. My math classes felt about the same difficulty, but my econ classes were harder. Think our CS classes are much harder too.
Can only talk about my experience studying engineering at a top 40 but we were pulling IB sweatshop hours for midterm season and then again for finals season. Except instead of moving logos around half asleep you're trying to learn Calculus 4 and Geotechnical mechanics. 5-6 courses every semester, very rare to graduate in 4 years unless you're an absolute tank (kids do 4.5 typically). I checked the curriculum of some Ivy schools and their eng program looked easier just based on the amount of credits, option to take more electives outside faculty, and more intro classes. On my transcript the class average is always next to the grade, so employers will know if you're actually a top student versus these Ivy's where you flex the 4.0 but the average was A-.
MUCH more difficult. I'm at an Ivy with awful grade deflation - it's non stop work. Econ dept builds the curve to make avg gpa on graduation 3.2. Terrible mental health on campus - 5 suicides on campus since last May.
Cornell?
3.2 is the average? That doesn't sound too bad at all
Transferred from non-target b-school to target b-school. difference is night and day. All grades are relative to peers, so you really need to hustle to get a decent GPA. I average about 7 hours of actual focused work per day, but have touched 12-14 hour days at end of semesters. Maybe im just inefficient, but it feels like a lot sometimes lol.
I transferred from a notorious party school to an Ivy and it is way, way harder to get good grades…. at the party school. Grade inflation is rampant (so you know not Cornell), professors give you so much fucking leeway for extensions and stuff, and if you go and bitch and moan enough you'll get the grades you want. My public party school was filled with the most inflexible pricks of all time who would ding you for the dumbest shit and half the grade was tedious HW you constantly had to turn in. My target school classes were like four papers and then a take home exam and of course I was getting extensions on all of them. Also the girls were infinitely hotter at Party U which makes focusing in class harder when there's a thick New Jersey ass in leggings staring you down.
agree in that my public HS was harder than ivy but god damn, nobody is giving me any extensions and haven't had that experience with grading at all-it's all curved so I wanna be where you're at
Lmao
Went to BYU studying Econ after being in Ivy League Econ for 2 years. BYU Econ was the same difficulty, if anything just a little bit harder from an Econometrics point of view. Pretty much all BYU Econ professors are Ivy League PhDs (and the ones that aren't have very famous works that "make up for it" if you will). They know what they are talking about. Due to the CVs and PhDs of these professors and the quality of the program, BYU Econ places extremely well into top programs (PhD, MBA, etc.) and jobs (Consulting, IB, PE, Gov Strategy)
The Ivy League Econ was graded drastically different, I remember being amazed at the generosity some professors had when it came to curving the class. BYU did curve the classes but not nearly as much. BYU profs also failed students frequently (students that were also smart too, it's not just these students were stupid and failed. These people were comparable to the bottom bucket Ivy League students I interacted with) where at the Ivy League university everyone (or almost everyone) somehow ended up with least got a C or better. I once heard the Average GPA for BYU Econ graduates is around 2.4.
I will say however, certain majors at BYU are absolute cakewalks (Finance, English, History, Elementary Ed, etc.) where at Ivy leagues/other top schools these majors are much more difficult.
Funny side note, I had 3 professors who I met with one on one. One did his PhD at Princeton, the other Harvard, and the other MIT. When asking them about there PhD program they said that they knew more than the Ivy League undergrad students in there cohorts.
Another funny story is while at BYU I took a class from one professor who is extremely smart. Triple major, quadruple minor, valedictorian in 2 majors simultaneously (first person to do that at BYU) (It did take him 8 years to complete his undergrad so there is that). He didn't teach for very long at BYU but he said after we took the first test in his class, "That was the exact same test I took in my PhD program for the advanced section of this class" and he went to a top 3 program. That test was crazy difficult and killed a lot of students but I remember thinking to myself just how much of a hidden gem BYUs Econ program is. Just getting a test like that and knowing how to answer the questions (or some of the questions I should say) felt very rewarding.
Why did you transfer from Ivy to BYU?
BYU is the best place to study Mormon Salvation and Degrees of Glory. If you want to get into the best Kingdom, you have to be prepared.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory
"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
Ivy League was expensive and it was destroying my parents (even though it was heavily subsidized my parents live in HCOL city). BYU offered me a full-ride and I knew a lot of people there because I am a member of the Church. I did like the Ivy school from a diversity perspective though. That was really awful at BYU. I don't know, I am a religious man and I prayed and felt that BYU was better for my specific circumstances.
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