I graduated from Carnegie Mellon. The workload was tough. I have heard that Chicago, CalTech, Cornell, and Cooper Union is tough as well.
That leads me to wonder - do the top D-1 colleges (HYPS, Duke, etc) have high workloads?
On one side of the argument, I was annoyed throughout college because I had I was spending weekend after weekend in the lab, while I knew people from "better schools" just dicking around, partying and pulling 3.8+ GPA's with seemingly no effort. Also there is the saying that "It's hard to get in, but once you're in, it's a cakewalk". In addition, many of these schools are D-1 schools, so you can't pile the workload too high or athletic performance will suffer.
On the other side of the argument, you could make the case that the workload is harder than "lesser colleges", including mine, but these guys are all-stars anyway, so they could handle it. Also, there are books, such as "Running of the Bulls" which indicate that these colleges actually do have high workloads.
what major were you? I take it you're CIT?
It depends on the major and the classes you take. I go to one of the D-1 colleges you mentioned above, and the workload is very difficult in my major. If you major in math or econ, it's not a cakewalk. If you major in sociology or psychology, it's not as difficult. On the other hand, getting a B isn't that difficult, but getting an A is VERY difficult.
I agree it depends on the major etc, but I have also read that the top schools generally have very high average GPAs...like princeton at around 3.4 I dont know exactly what the distribution looks like, but i 3.4 is pretty high
This doesn't necessarily speak on the workload at these universities... just hints at the possibility of grade inflation.
I see the argument...but honestly if 40% of classes are getting A's...i just need to be 61% percentile of every class im in? that doesn't seem that hard... and to Revsly...ya I had the same deal. HS was way harder...either that or I finally figured out how to beat the system
it depends on the major. majors that require lab work obviously take up more time. it's not a cake walk for anyone at HYPS if they had to be an engineer.
I did less work in college with a higher GPA than HS.
Well that also depends on your HS...my HS was a joke and had massive grade inflation. We graded on a scale of 100 points - if 90/100 is a 4.0 then I'd say over 50%-60% of my HS class would have graduated with a 4.0
Fair point, mine was pretty tough. Top of the class could be top of the class at any college. Also 94-A, 90-B+... no A-'s, was annoying. I guess it prepared me pretty well for college though.
Carnegie Mellon is predominately a science/engineering school. Schools in the same vein include Caltech, MIT, University of Illinois, Georgia Tech. If you were a science/engineering major at those schools, you probably had to bust your ass to get the grades you did.
On the other hand, there is rampant grade inflation at many of the prestigious WSO-approved targets. Princeton has a policy in place to combat grade inflation, but none of the other schools have followed suit.
It may feel unfair to you since most target students essentially get a double boost. They get the brand name of their target which comes with massive recruiting resources AND they get an easier grading curve. It is what it is. Just work extra hard.
Not true that other schools haven't followed suit. I go to one of the aforementioned targets and while the policy is not school wide, almost every major including my own has a policy for grade targets in core classes. Most of my classes were curved to between a 2.9 and a 3.3 (depending on level, 100, 200, etc.)
To answer the original question, I think that getting in being the hardest part is very true. I have about a 3.5-3.6 and manage to go out almost whenever I want to. There will be stretches of hard work but you can also go M-F without opening a book some weeks. Class is generally optional as well I have found, unless it is a smaller class or one that takes attendance.
That's a pretty lenient curve.
I went to a top 5 science/engineering school and classes in my major were curved to between 2.3 and 2.6.
Grade inflation huh?
I personally go to a complete non-target school where all of the classes taught through the business school are affected by grade deflation. Essentially the average of the class has to be between a 2.6-3.2 (that is LOW), so even if the majority of the class gets a B+ or above, they will most likely get dropped down at least a half letter grade.
Grade inflation huh?
I personally go to a complete non-target school where all of the classes taught through the business school are affected by grade deflation. Essentially the average of the class has to be between a 2.6-3.2 (that is LOW), so even if the majority of the class gets a B+ or above, they will most likely get dropped down at least a half letter grade.
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