<p>@Simple Life: What is your son’s planned major? That definitely makes a difference in workload. Engineers and CS majors have lots of required classes, so there’s not much chance to choose “easy” classes. Other majors have significantly more free electives, so they have a bit more control over workload. Also, if he’s an engineer, he should expect to work hard if he goes to any good engineering school, whether public or private.</p>
<p>I should also mention that the new core eliminates quantum optics (half of 1st semester) and replaces the old mandatory E&M lab with a choice lab (3rd semester). This makes the core less physics heavy. </p>
<p>Your son should visit and see how he like people on campus. I’m sure that if he finds “his people” then he’s guaranteed to have fun. He sounds like he’d fit in just fine in Case or Atwood. </p>
<p>I know I’ve definitely had more fun at Mudd than I did in high school. It’s just a question of working efficiently to have time for random distractions, from IM sports to board games to Rock Band to trips to Jay’s Place.</p>
<p>That being said, the workload is an adjustment for some people. Some of my suitemates got away with just an hour or so of homework a night in high school, so working more than that on a consistent basis took a little getting used to. Overall though, they felt like they had a fun year too.</p>