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<p>If you are admitted you are certainly among exceptionally high caliber students and most get relatively high GPAs. The median GPA is around 3.2/3.3 or a B+. You will have to work very hard for an A, but again nearly 50% of all grades are As, because most student work very hard. MIT by policy does not curve classes, so theoretically every one can get an A in a class. But also, everyone could a get a C, and some classes give out a lot of Cs.</p>
<p>Is a typical math or science class at MIT harder than at most other colleges? Most definitely. Calculus may be calculus, and the textbooks may be similar, but the pace, workload and tests are not at all typical. Each issue is covered to great depths, you get problem sets that keep you up until 2 AM most nights and tests are routinely 30 pages long with not a single multiple choice question. </p>
<p>My D is a premed at MIT. Would she have been better off at a school where classes would have been easier? She certainly does not think so. She claims she has learned a completely different way of solving problems. As a sophomore, she is already doing advanced research in neuroimaging as a full team member together with grad students and postdocs. It is very unlikely she could have learned as much in as short a time at almost any other place. If you are willing to drink from a firehose, MIT is a great place to be.</p>