Difficulty Level In College: Academics vs Admissions

I've been browsing around and I'm slightly confused about what 'hard colleges' signifies. Everyone seems to have a different opinion. Does 'hard' reflect the difficulty level of admissions (like acceptance rate, GPA, and test scores of admitted students) or the difficulty level of maintaining a good GPA once you're in? Would a low acceptance rate automatically translate into an intense academic rigor within the college?

When you hear someone referring to a "hard college," it typically could mean one of two things. The first interpretation is in terms of admissions—colleges that are difficult to get into. These schools typically have low acceptance rates and high average SAT/ACT scores and GPAs for incoming students. Colleges that fall under this category are schools like Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and other top-tier institutions.

The second interpretation is in terms of academics—colleges where the curriculum is rigorous and maintaining a high GPA is challenging. Notably, these two interpretations can and often do overlap, but not always. For example, while Harvard may be difficult to get into (a "hard college" in terms of admissions), once admitted, many students have noted that while the curriculum is rigorous, grade inflation is prevalent, making it less difficult to maintain a high GPA.

In contrast, some colleges like UC Berkeley and Purdue University are known to have rigorous grading policies, making them "hard colleges" in the academic sense. In other words, even though their admission rates are higher than an Ivy League school, once you're in, maintaining a high GPA may be more challenging.

A low acceptance rate doesn't automatically translate to intense academic rigor. These are two different aspects of a college experience, and while there is often a correlation between selectivity (in terms of admissions) and academic intensity, it's not a hard rule. It’s important to research the specific institutions you're interested in and get a better idea of their academic expectations and rigor to make a more informed decision.