The so-called "width" may be relative to the college entrance examination in China. American universities give people the impression that applicants don't have to work as hard as preparing for China's college entrance examination, but they do need many comprehensive qualities, such as good grades, certain extracurricular activities, and some jobs that can show students' ability and social responsibility. Maybe applicants don't need to have a high degree of mastery in several prescribed subjects like China students, but considering their comprehensive quality, students are under great pressure.

From this perspective, "strictness" should refer to the terms with strong execution and the intensity of university courses. Compared with China University, which can sometimes handle grades or give students extra opportunities to make-up exams/retakes, American universities have relatively strict regulations and heavier penalties for cheating, so people will think that American universities are stricter.

Another angle is that American high schools may not be as intelligent as China, but when they arrive at universities, they are as short as China, and even higher than China, so the study pressure in universities will be relatively greater, giving people a feeling of "lenient entry and strict exit".