<p>Having one child at Harvard and one at Yale, I can attest that the workload is the same. My son at Yale works just as hard as my daughter at Harvard and vice-versa. It’s true that each school does has a different academic schedule – In the fall, Yale’s starts their school year about a week earlier than Harvard, so Yale’s administration can give students the week of Thanksgiving off. In the Spring semester, Yale starts back up two weeks earlier than Harvard, which allows for a two-week Spring break, rather than the one week that Harvard has – but students at both schools spend the same amount of time in the classroom and are equally stressed with a demanding schedule.</p>
<p>FWIW: Harvard requires 32 credits to graduate (4 courses per semester times 8 semesters). Yale requires 36 credits to graduate, which most students accomplish by taking 4 courses for freshman and sophomore years, and 5 courses for junior and senior years. So, the stress is a bit different at each school, but still the same intensity. </p>