<p>In my mind a service academy education is a totally different animal than a civilian college.</p>
<p>I’m just thinking about the level of math and physics required at Caltech for first year students. No real idea about the rest of the requirements. 
Drinking from the fire hose is the usual description of the experience.</p>
<p>Eastcost- “Like” your post</p>
<p>Cornell, “Easiest Ivy to get into, Hardest to graduate”</p>
<p>That said: Cornell has to be easier if humanities or similar major, as compared to Engineering at any school!!</p>
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<p>However, other than the military aspects, the curriculum there does include what many would idealize as a “well rounded liberal arts education” much more so than most other schools. Only a few other schools like MIT have extensive and rigorous general education requirements.</p>
<p>But, in terms of the original question about “hardest”, perhaps it may depend on the major as well. For example, MIT and Caltech may be among the “hardest” schools for many humanities majors, since humanities majors at MIT and Caltech have to take extensive math and science courses alongside students majoring in those subjects, as opposed to “physics for poets” type courses common offered at other schools. Perhaps one can look at which schools have the hardest out-of-major required courses that students have to take.</p>
<p>Doesn’t “hardest” depend on one’s abilities? I mean, I’d find it “harder” to be a theater major than an engineering major, since I can’t act for all the tea in China.</p>
<p>I would love to hear more about Cornell engineering which is supposed to be one of the hardest majors versus engineering at other schools to really compare apples with apples. Does anyone know of or were you an engineering major at Cornell then left or came from somewhere else?</p>
<p>I don’t think Cornell students claim it’s the hardest, it’s all the wanna bees who claim it’s the hardest. Every time a prospective comes on the forum to claim it is a hard school, all current students jump in to claim it is rubbish. </p>
<p>Pugkmadkate - don’t know what the heck you are talking about.</p>
<p>How would anyone know one school is harder than another, unless someone has simultaneously gone to few different schools at the same time. D1 worked really hard for her not so perfect GPA, while her roommate had close to 4.0, but when two of them took a course together, D1 usually got better grade than the roommate. So I don’t know how one would account for that.</p>
<p>What does “hardest” even mean? The heaviest work load, the most difficult material, the toughest grading, the least comprehensible professors and T.A.s, the worst weather and social life, the most cumbersome and unfeeling administration? Is hardest a good or bad thing? The O.P. was surely trolling to see who would leap to the defense of Cornell or be offended by the assertion. Besides, everyone knows that Whitman is the hardest, so what is the point of this debate. :)</p>
<p>well there is this 
[Grade</a> Inflation: Colleges With the Easiest and Hardest Grades - CBS News](<a href=“http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37243170/grade-inflation-colleges-with-the-easiest-and-hardest-grades/?tag=contentMain;contentBody]Grade”>http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-37243170/grade-inflation-colleges-with-the-easiest-and-hardest-grades/?tag=contentMain;contentBody)</p>
<p>Cornell is unique among the Ivys in that it has a public component to it. This will skew the population of students, especially in some of the majors it offers that most schools do not. Reminds me of public flagships that have the elite student population taking the honors courses and the rest of the students that are above average college students but not comparable to those of the elite smaller colleges/U’s. Is Cornell Engineering harder than elsewhere because they accept students that wouldn’t be accepted at some other U’s who then struggle with the workload that is the norm for the most elite engineering programs? Is it a poorer methods of teaching? So many reasons a school can be harder than most and not all of them because of higher caliber. Cornell is likely a top, but not the top, in caliber and difficulty. Difficulty, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.</p>
<p>Cornell has a public component? Cornell Engineering accepts students who wouldn’t otherwise be accepted at othe U’s? This is getting better and better.</p>
<p>The land-grant college part of Cornell, oldfort. Schools of Agriculture, Human Ecology, Industrial and Labor Relations. Part of the State University system rather than private.</p>
<p>They are not public.</p>
<p>If I am misusing the term “public,” my apologies. (I have no dog in the Cornell fight. :)) For the benefit of non NY’ers, I wanted to make a distinction between the private undergrad colleges at Cornell, and the land grant colleges. [Colleges</a> Established by New York State](<a href=“http://landgrant.cornell.edu/cu/cms/landgrant/colleges.cfm]Colleges”>http://landgrant.cornell.edu/cu/cms/landgrant/colleges.cfm)</p>
<p>According to Cornell’s own website, they are both public and private. Admission is to a specific school, although students may take a limited number of courses in schools outside their “home” division. Looking at the requirements for admission, it appears that the academic standard is relatively equivalent across the board, but that different schools are looking for different things in an applicant - the hotel school wants students passionate about the hospitality industry, which is a factor not so strongly emphasized in engineering. </p>
<p>That said, I don’t see how Cornell - or any school - can be ranked as “the most difficult.”</p>
<p>Cornell Grad here --20+ years ago- extremely difficult back then & I was in one of the “easy” majors. I studied like it was a full time job, 8 to 10 hours a day regularly and had a tough time passing exams. </p>
<p>Due to finances I attended community college and (obtained B+ to A s) prior to Cornell. Scoff at CC education but I thought I learned more under the CC system of smaller classes with engaged professors vs. classes of 300 with a aloof, yet brilliant professors whose exams were regualry “find the needle in a haystack” questions - & grades are curved-- it’s a brutal system, aka “cut throat”</p>
<p>That being said the rest of the experience at Cornell was off the chart great.</p>
<p>Due to my expereince I am aware of several schools- operate that way I hear kids are miserable at J Hopkins, Davidson, BU to name a few (see the above posted link re: Grade Inflation/deflation).</p>
<p>I discouraged my own kids from applying to schools with those reputations- I didn’t think it would be the right style for them to succeed.</p>
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<p>Hmm, so which is it?</p>
<p>3 of the 7 colleges are NY state supported, known as Land Grant; CALS, ILR & Hum Ec (& Vet School which is Grad school). Tuition for NY state residents attending one of these 3 colleges is abt 35% less ($26k v $42K) than the other colleges–Engineering, Hotel, Arts & Science, Archit.</p>
<p>It is a tremendous value to be a NY resident & attend any of the 3 schools. I believe there is preference given to NY applicants for these 3 schools which assists in creating a both economically & culturaly diverse student body. Jewish, latino, black, as well as WASP, Catholic, poor & rich alike!</p>
<p>Amongst the students there does not seem to be a right school or wrong school to be in, although stereo types persist usually accepted with humor-- Enginerds, Hotelies are the party people, ILR- aspiring NY lawyers, CALS =hockey, football & lax players. </p>
<p>And Cornell grads love The Office’s Andy Bernard-- we all knew someone like him ( & have channelled a his geekiness at some tiime or another)</p>
<p>Getting back to the OP’s question, this has come up from time to time on CC. The consensus always seems to be that the real difference is between engineering and the hard sciences compared with everything else. So wherever you major in engineering, it’s going to be tough.</p>
<p>I’d say Juilliard is one of the hardest schools to get into in the United States of America :)</p>