# How tough was college in the 1700's and 1800's vs today?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tough-was-college-in-the-1700s-and-1800s-vs-today/754656>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 13, 2016, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tough-was-college-in-the-1700s-and-1800s-vs-today/754656 "2016-05-13T04:50:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![MrLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@MrLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrLee)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tough-was-college-in-the-1700s-and-1800s-vs-today/754656/22 "2020-04-11T18:32:31Z")

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Viktor Frankenstein had a lot more autonomy and access to resources, and a lot less supervision and bureaucratic red-tape, than contemporary STEM Ph.Ds.

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tough-was-college-in-the-1700s-and-1800s-vs-today/754656/23 "2020-04-11T19:03:55Z")

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I have my great grandfather’s transcripts from Alfred University in New York state. What it took for him to graduate and become a lawyer in 1860 was shockingly little.

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**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tough-was-college-in-the-1700s-and-1800s-vs-today/754656/24 "2020-04-11T21:09:52Z")

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> [@MrLee](#):
>
> Viktor Frankenstein had a lot more autonomy and access to resources, and a lot less supervision and bureaucratic red-tape, than contemporary STEM Ph.Ds.

“They said I was mad, MAD! Those [del] uneducated ignorant rich boys who mistake an ability to conjugate Latin for a real education[/del] fools!”

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**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tough-was-college-in-the-1700s-and-1800s-vs-today/754656/25 "2020-04-12T01:47:09Z")

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> [@MrLee](#):
>
> Viktor Frankenstein had a lot more autonomy and access to resources, and a lot less supervision and bureaucratic red-tape, than contemporary STEM Ph.Ds.

Note: Viktor Frankenstein abandoned medical science for magic. Like Dr Oz.

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