<p>I went to a state school. Decided to minor in business in my junior year. Took entry level Accounting, MIS, Finance. OMG…as I later found out…these were weeder classes for the freshman students applying to the business school in sophomore year. More than half of the HUGE lecture class was gone after 6 weeks. I got Cs for the first time in my life and I worked my BUTT off.<br>
In general, I think you can say that classes at an IVY are likely to be harder than a state school. But what state school? What subject? Lower level or upper level classes?
If you’re talking upper level classes at UMICH compared to Cornell, I can’t believe there would be much difference.
Also, there’s been discussion of honors programs. The quality of these programs DO vary and it pays to really check them out. All I can say is that the honors classes my son has taken at our state flagship have been very challenging - with much higher workloads than his regular classes. No, it’s not all of his classes each semester (usually 2 or 3) but it does make a big difference. The other observation is that his upper level courses are quite a bit harder than his entry level classes were.
Bottom line, I think it’s REALLY hard to make blanket statements here. As for a class difficulty goes, yeah MIT > Cleveland State but is Cornell > UNC? Narrow the schools down to what you like and them check them out…carefully. Sit in on classes. Talk to students. Talk to professors. If a school has an honors program, dig into it…it may be just window dressing or it may make a big difference. Every school is different.</p>