<p>To borrow a line from Cornelius Vanderbilt, if you have to hope that the classes are not as hard as it is to get in, then it’s probably not advisable for you to go there. This applies doubly to MIT or Caltech, but also to the other top universities. I believe that there are a few manageable tracks through most, for anyone who’s admitted, but that doesn’t mean that every major is manageable for anyone who’s admitted. In any event, I don’t think that the course work at any of the top schools is as easily managed as you might surmise from George Bush’s GPA.</p>