<p>after reading CC regularly for over a year now, it seems to me that Cornell is the hardest school in the country</p>
<p>What makes you think that, smile? Isn’t that also dependent on which classes you take? Your professors? Your TA?</p>
<p>nothing specific…just an opinion. I know that Engineering is strong there and I think Engineering is the hardest major. I have noticed many post discussing how difficult the school is. Also, I have noticed many who advise against a Engineering degree if GPA is paramount. I guess the overall # of post discussing how difficult it is to maintain a good GPA at Cornell would be my primary reason for making the statement.</p>
<p>You’re trying to generalize something that can’t be generalized.</p>
<p>Since you’re talking about engineering difficulty have you compared Cornell to Harvey Mudd? To CalTech?</p>
<p>no, i have not compared anything. I am only going by by what I have read on CC. it is only my opinion which doesn’t mean much at all.</p>
<p>Well some one finally declared it.
There always got to a number one. It’s, Cornell. Hardest university in the USA.</p>
<p>Glad that DS was declined.</p>
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<p>Cornellians enjoy this reputation, but it really isn’t justified. </p>
<p>Except for Engineering (which is indeed challenging, but that’s true of all the top engineering programs), Cornell isn’t notably harder than its peer schools. One of my kids graduated from Cornell – in a non-engineering major – last May, so I have some fairly up-to-date knowledge of the subject.</p>
<p>I suspect that the concept of Cornell being unusually difficult may have something to do with its varied student population. A substantial proportion of the kids at Cornell are in specialty programs, such as industrial and labor relations, hotel administration, or some of the majors in the College of Human Ecology and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, for which the criteria for admission emphasize things other than strictly academic qualifications. These students often have lower GPAs and SAT scores than the students in Arts and Sciences or Engineering because their talent, experience, and interest in the field of their proposed major were more important factors in their admission than their statistics. </p>
<p>But when they get to Cornell, these students find themselves in the same general education classes as the Arts and Sciences and Engineering students, who do have top-level academic qualifications. The experience can be daunting.</p>
<p>I think that defining “hardest” is difficult on its own. Something can be “hard” to do, but completely useless. And something can be “easy” but useful. So, I would much rather find the school that has the most prepared and successful students who are well adjusted and ready for the world.</p>
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<p>And one of the schools near the top of your list would be Cornell.</p>
<p>As I mentioned, I have a kid who graduated from Cornell last May. I know what’s been happening with quite a few of her former classmates. Most of them have full-time, career-track jobs (and the majority had those jobs lined up before graduation). The rest are in graduate or professional schools or are completing some sort of internship or fellowship before enrolling in graduate or professional school. Not a single one is drifting. </p>
<p>Cornellians, for the most part, don’t drift. Most of them have somewhat focused career plans when they enroll. (Uniquely among the Ivy League schools, Cornell has the majority of its students in non-liberal arts, career-oriented majors.) Even the kids in Arts and Sciences tend to have a certain aura of pre-professionalism. These are kids who have a reasonably good idea of where they would like to go in life and a plan for how to get there. And if the sample I know about is even close to representative, they’re succeeding. Even in this economy, they’re succeeding.</p>
<p>Cornell harder than Caltech?!</p>
<p>I remember seeing reports listing median grades for all classes on Cornell webiste. It doesn’t look bad at all. In particular, AEM school at Cornell gives out As like candies; AEM seems like a pretty easy school.</p>
<p>Marian, I live in an area which sends hundreds of kids to Cornell each year and every one’s kids I know who graduated last year has a job and had it before graduation, including the kids who were in the College of Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>Fascinating. Engineering is a tough major everywhere it is offered.</p>
<p>Andy Bernard would certainly agree.</p>
<p>This concept of who they let in and who they let graduate is also fascinating. See if they let just anybody in and then weed out…</p>
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<p>Or MIT or Harvey Mudd!?</p>
<p>Re: Caltech- I did note with a link in another thread that given the undergrad origins of all those who achieved a Ph.d- Caltech leads the pack( % grad wise) in all disciplines combined.</p>
<p>[PHD PRODUCTIVITY](<a href=“Doctoral Degree Productivity - Institutional Research - Reed College”>http://www.reed.edu/ir/phd.html</a>)</p>
<p>MIT & Harvey Mudd are in the top ten as well</p>
<p>Caltech has the highest average entering SAT score of any college in the country. It also has the highest average GRE scores of any college in the country. </p>
<p>The difference between the average senior Caltech GRE score and the US average GRE is even higher then the difference between the average freshman SAT score entering Caltech and the US average SAT. </p>
<p>Does that mean Caltech is “harder” or that it takes very bright students and brings the best out of them?</p>
<p>How about the academies where everyone has to take 30 hours of hard science, math and engineering, regardless of their major? Where everyone, including all the engineers, has to take philosophy, english and a foreign language? And you have mandatory athletics and military formations, including Saturdays?</p>
<p>Many Cornell alum I’ve met would certainly agree with the OP but I do not.</p>
<p>As a total outsider with no dog in the hunt of Ivy League schools, Cornell alums sometimes strike me as a bit defensive. I attribute that to Cornell being the lowest ranked Ivy and I think the “hardest working” is a bid to put them at the top of a list. </p>
<p>Personally, I think the average student at the USNA, or other service academy, is dealing with a harder workload than the average Ivy League student, including Cornell. I’d say the same of MIT, Caltech and a few other colleges as well.</p>