We can also detach this from MIT and Caltech, who have stiff general education requirements, a term of the calculus beyond the AP Calculus BC sequence, and cal

We can also detach this from MIT and Caltech, who have stiff general education requirements, a term of the calculus beyond the AP Calculus BC sequence, and calculus based mechanics and E&M. Last time I checked, in the 80s I think, Harvard required you to prove you could do algebra (that said, at the other end they have the hardest undergraduate math course in the US if not world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_55 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_55 (they've been very strong in math for a long while), it's the sort of place where if you're willing to work hard, you can get a world class education). I'm pretty sure MIT will give extra weight to an alum's child, but that's only after he or she passes the "can they do the work" cut (as of some years ago but in this century, 13,000 applied, 3,000 made that cut for a class of 1100). They might not be up for a physics degree, but there's plenty of other tasty STEM majors. The one example I knew who followed that pattern and become a materialist (Materials Science and Engineering); she struggled a bit, but it wasn't that hard. Similarly, every black I met or worked with was entirely qualified to be there.