What do you think is the time consuming or hardest major in college.
What do you think is the time consuming or hardest major in college
- Thread starter Sherif
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It seems like everyone I know in engineering is one of those super smart, naturally gifted types who thus don't work AS hard as you'd expect for being an engineering major....Like, whereas if you looked at premed types compared to engineers, I think within the premed sample you'd find a lot more hard working types as opposed to naturally gifted ones who do minimal work. Maybe the engineers i know are all overly smart though 🙂 Just seems to me the engineering field draws people; or at least ends up after weeding out the exceptions, who are naturally gifted in math/computers/chemistry/physics/etc.
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"Hardest" major?
wait for it....
wait for it.....
how 'bout GEOLOGY
I'd like to thank all the geology majors out there for having faith in me to make a quality joke about rocks.
wait for it....
wait for it.....
how 'bout GEOLOGY
I'd like to thank all the geology majors out there for having faith in me to make a quality joke about rocks.
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I disagree with the assertion that engineering is somehow harder than other college subjects. Most engineers I know have been fairly intelligent but not to any great degree. Is engineering a lot of work? Sure it is but it isnt so much intellectualy hard as it is a ****load of work. Look at the math classes engineers have to take, at my school they take through diffeq and linear algebra, this is hardly upper level math, in fact it is mostly plug and chug. I guarantee that most engineers if forced to take a proofs class would crash and burn. Further, engineers really just have to pass their classes and they will be fine. Employers look to see if they graduated but beyond that an engineer is an engineer. That takes a hell of a lot of pressure off them.
My picks for hardest majors (intellectually) go to Math and physics. Come on guys, until you take a proof writing class you really dont know what hard is.
My picks for hardest majors (intellectually) go to Math and physics. Come on guys, until you take a proof writing class you really dont know what hard is.
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my school has only 3 physics majors, and because of that, they always get A's. the small number of them makes the profs feel bad for them, and so they just give them A's. they don't do too much work, and if you're in a class with around 5 people, it's kinda hard to find an average.
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Well there are always exceptions. However, at a university the size of mine (30k) I dont think you will really find this. When i took abstract mathematics there were 15 people in the class, the professor failed 75% of them.
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it also depends on the person, my classics-classmates (wierd word...
) struggle with "chemistry of foods," a course designed for people who know absolutely nothing of chemistry. i, on the other hand, found o-chem and biochem a breeze and find the greek more difficult.
in all fairness, attic and doric greek from late 5th century greece is pretty difficult, as El Macho said homeric greek can be a pain, but thucydides takes the cake...
) struggle with "chemistry of foods," a course designed for people who know absolutely nothing of chemistry. i, on the other hand, found o-chem and biochem a breeze and find the greek more difficult.in all fairness, attic and doric greek from late 5th century greece is pretty difficult, as El Macho said homeric greek can be a pain, but thucydides takes the cake...
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Beer Drinking -- It takes the whole day and usually all the night long for many students I know.
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Computer Science/Engineering -- probably the most time consuming.
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I am going to have to go with music on this one. Classical performance (resulting in a BMus) that is, not your general music degree (which leads to a BA).
This is triply so at the elite conservatories (Curtis, Juilliard, Eastman, etc.).
As hard as engineers work to get their A's, at least they know that their efforts would usually be rewarded. The hardcore performer types often practice till physical exhaustion, hoping that they'll improve, but dreading that they've gone as far as their musical talents would take them. Talk about pressure and anxiety!!
This is triply so at the elite conservatories (Curtis, Juilliard, Eastman, etc.).
As hard as engineers work to get their A's, at least they know that their efforts would usually be rewarded. The hardcore performer types often practice till physical exhaustion, hoping that they'll improve, but dreading that they've gone as far as their musical talents would take them. Talk about pressure and anxiety!!
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Music in any capacity is a rough major for those who are serious. Just don't make the mistake of telling this to an aerospace engineering major, like I did.
I still think music would be rougher.
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🙄 🙄Originally posted by BklynWill
Must have been extremely abstract mathematics if your professor was able to fail 11.25 people.
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Heh....hey.....heh....
You know what the most "time consuming" major has GOT to be?
.....hehe....
...Womens' Studies.
You know what the most "time consuming" major has GOT to be?
.....hehe....
...Womens' Studies.
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I'd have to go with History because you have to read a full textbook every week.
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from what i've seen, chem engineering is the roughest... they pretty consistently get de-STROYED with work. the physical sciences like physics and chem aren't too far behind 
That depends on where you go. Some places do a terrible job teaching undergraduate math/physics. As pure subjects, math is definitely more abstract but for some people abstract ideas are very easy to understand. I still think a degree which requires a lot of hard work is more difficult. No matter how much "natural intelligence" you have, if you don't do any work there's nothing to show for it. In other words you can't pull it out of your ... .
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Electrical Engineering is the hardest. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
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molecular and cellular biology is the hardest and most time consuming. Think about what we have to work with, things that we can barely see with our own eyes (in some cases). Think about all the latest molecular techniques we have to keep up with. Engineering is tough but the things they have to deal with almost never change and once you know how to do a type of problem you basically know how to do all the other problems of the same type.
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I'm gonna have to go with Chemical Engineering or EECS-Electrical Engineering Computer Science. All of the engineering students I know here are brilliant AND very hard working. And their grades still aren't that high simply due to the difficulty of the courses they take.
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Chemical Engineering, without a doubt! I'm not majoring in engineering but from what i have seen, they work the hardest. Their coursework has tons of math, science, problem solving, etc.. In general I'd say engineering is the hardest, but within engineering, it has to be chemical engineering. I think molecular ane cellular biology, bio people have it easier than engineers.
this is probably why engineers do really well in med school too
this is probably why engineers do really well in med school too
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i'm going with whatever is not your forte. for me, that would be history. i've always struggled with it, i absolutely despise it, and it would be EXTREMELY difficult for me to do well in it. for someone else who isn't good in science, they might say chemistry or biochem. for me, it isn't too bad, a lot of work, yes, but because i enjoy it 30 times more, it isn't too bad.
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I love history, I really wish i'd majored in it🙁
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I was one of about 5 physics majors in my class. Yeah, a lot of us got A's, but we worked our a***s off for those A's. We had to live, breathe and eat physics. Just because there are only a few of them doesn't necessarily mean it's an easy A. Every physics class I took was far and beyond the hardest class I took.
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I know it's definitely not the hardest, but I think the most TIME CONSUMING major has got to be music performance. There are a lot of classes that are worth little credit and there is homework for everyone of those. Not to mention the amount of practice required, ensembles, rehearsals, recitals that are necessary. It keeps piling up. Adding THAT with a pre-med curriculum is really hard, i think.
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simply wrong! that is what engineering is... new technology, designing things in the newest, most efficient way. doing one type of problem never means you know how to do the other types of problems. there is always something new to learn that is incredibly confusing. and they always try to make you apply what you know to situations you've never seen before.
engineering is by far the hardest major... i would pick ChE as well as most other people on here (no, i am not a ChE, but i have taken some of their classes, and they are SUPER HARD!). ChE classes are WAY harder and WAY more time consuming than any other classes i've ever had.
in engineering there is a ton of computer programming, deriving of equations, theory, doing problems, and understanding difficult concepts. nothing is harder... no way!
at my school getting accepted to the college of engineering is much harder than the college of literature, science, and arts (what everyone else is in). people that don't get accepted to engineering will sometimes apply to LS & A and then try to transfer later, because they will get accepted to LS & A more easily. that obviously says something right there.
and engineering is super frustrating! you can study for hours and not learn a damn thing. with biology or any other memorization types of classes, if you put the time in you are guaranteed to learn what you need to learn. but with engineering you can look at the same equations over and over and still not understand how you're supposed to use them.
engineering is also very time consuming. writing up lab reports takes forever. getting one credit for a lab you spend 4 hours in and then have to go home and write a report for hours in really sucks. there is always group work that takes forever, too. every class has at least one homework assignment a week. my non-engineering classes never have homework, and they are much easier.
alright, i probably pissed someone off already, so sorry. this is just my opinion. but i've taken a lot of different classes... engineering, philosophy, biology., etc. the one thing i haven't taken is anything artsy, though, so maybe that could have engineering beat. but i doubt it. i think engineering is the hardest, and that is all there is to it!
B
Blade28
I was a bioengineering major in college. Let me tell you, those classes kicked my ass. Bio/chem/biochem classes were a nice breath of fresh air compared to the engineering/physics classes. As for those "super smart, naturally gifted types who thus don't work as hard" in engineering...wish I had been one of them! 🙂
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I'd go with that. I finished a degree in Biology before experimenting with computer science. I never once had to study for more than a couple hours at a time in Biology and I graduated with a 3.85. I lost track of how many all-nighters, trying to iron out the bugs in a program, that I pulled in CS. Ofcourse then I realized since it was only a hobby I didn't need a degree, stopped studying CS and started finishing my med school app.
Anyway I have great respect for anyone who finished up an engeneering degree.
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That's total BS. I'm applying for work as a ChE right now, and most of the good companies require at least a 3.0, with some requiring a 3.3 or 3.4 to be considered for employment. In addition, you're still expected to work on the side and during your summers to be considered a serious candidate at all.
It always come down to that at which you're good, and what comes easiest. If you have trouble reading loads of material, then history is going to suck. If you can't write, stay away from English. If math escapes you, stay away from math and physical sciences.
I think that the people who bring up music make a good point. I knew a dude who graduated from Art Center with a BFA in graphic design, and he worked harder than any undergrduate I've ever known. And with design, you have to develop a portfolio, so the work you do is likely to follow you for a really long time.
I'm double majoring in molecular and cell biology and chemical engineering, and they both have their difficult points. IMO, the MCB material is much easier and more straight-forward than the ChE work. But for me, I have a lack of discipline and I hate studying, so I do worse in MCB because it's harder to motivate myself to study. In ChE, I have to do the homework (MCB has yet to give me even one graded HW assignment) and the HW itself is a great deal of studying the test material. In the ChE labs, I have the threat of letting my group down, so I work harder. Worse yet, three of the labs in ChE have involved sitting before the professor and getting grilled. No part of my undergrad experience is more upsetting and frustrating than getting grilled about something you don't fully understand, and being held hostage until he finally beats it out of you. Cerb can talk about proofs, but I can tell you that I'm expected to understand where the eqns I use come from, how they were developed, which parts describe which physical characteristics, what would happen if some value were changed to zero or infinity, etc. I still have to do mathematical derivations and proofs, and I still have to take some very mathematically heavy coursework like P-chem and such. As a stress worker, I do better with the pressure that ChE provides.
MCB requires a lot of discipline and you have to be good with memorization, but I don't think the material is quite as hard as ChE--it's a lot more straight-forward. But I think something that should be addressed is curricular flexibility. At my school, MCB has a high degree of flexibility in the curriculum. There can be two MCB majors that haven't taken a single class the same in their upper division curriculum. BioE is even more flexible--if I take two more classes, I would meet all the criteria for BioE BS between my MCB and ChE work. With ChemE, there are students repeating the same class for the third time because there's no way around that class as a requirement. I have 32 semester units worth of upper division ChE for which there is absolutely no substitute, plus another twelve units of non-ChE work required for all ChEs (o-chem, biochem, and electrical engineering). But above all, the engineering is the biggest time-suck of all majors, because it requires more overall units than any non-engineering majors, there's always a great deal of lab coursework.
In short, if you have one thing you're really good at, you can find a major to suit you: Math if you're good at math, biology if you're good at memorization, history if you can read at great length with great speed, anthropolgy if you're a strong writer, and music or art for the specialized artists out there. Any of these majors will be brutal if you lack the requisite skill. Engineering requires less depth of any skill, but more breadth in that you need at least a minimum of many skills. I picked ChE specifically because it was the one major that would give me a solid foundation in math, physics, chemistry, and biology; but I can recognize that it won't teach you as much math as a math major knows, or as much bio as a bio major knows.
Funny you mention this one cause I used to be a music performance major! I couldn't get A's in music theory but I could in chemistry. Go figure. Actually I think my problem was that I didn't study hard enough for music theory. I didn't spend enough time memorizing chord progressions.
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Nutmeg, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you. The HARDEST major in college (by far)...requiring the MOST amount of hours in terms of studying, completing homework, reading assignments, etc...has to be Ethnic Studies. I'm sorry...I know your MCB and ChemE double major sucks up a lot of time...but do you know how long it takes to comprehend a passage from one of Toni Morrison's books?
I bet it takes longer to read and comprehend a passage from one of Morrisons's books than all of your ChemE and MCB labs put together. The VAST majority of ethnic studies courses could put classes like O-chem, P-chem, molecular biology, etc to SHAME in terms of difficulty. Yeah..O-chem requires you to memorize some mechanisms and apply them....but does O-chem require you to analyze a Spike Lee movie for its clear ethnic undertones? Has P-chem ever required you to analyze the work of Cornel West regarding how the white man has oppressed blacks? I'm positive that one of the 10 page papers that are routinely assigned in Ethnic Studies would take up MANY more hours than ChemE labs.
It's quite clear that Ethnic Studies is the most difficult major in college. In terms of the breadth of coursework as well as the rigor of the curriculum, I'm not quite sure how those Ethnic Studies majors survive. Just goes to show ya that some people are just workaholics.
Insincerely,
BP
P.S.: In case anyone hasn't figured out by now...this post is complete satire.
I bet it takes longer to read and comprehend a passage from one of Morrisons's books than all of your ChemE and MCB labs put together. The VAST majority of ethnic studies courses could put classes like O-chem, P-chem, molecular biology, etc to SHAME in terms of difficulty. Yeah..O-chem requires you to memorize some mechanisms and apply them....but does O-chem require you to analyze a Spike Lee movie for its clear ethnic undertones? Has P-chem ever required you to analyze the work of Cornel West regarding how the white man has oppressed blacks? I'm positive that one of the 10 page papers that are routinely assigned in Ethnic Studies would take up MANY more hours than ChemE labs.
It's quite clear that Ethnic Studies is the most difficult major in college. In terms of the breadth of coursework as well as the rigor of the curriculum, I'm not quite sure how those Ethnic Studies majors survive. Just goes to show ya that some people are just workaholics.
Insincerely,
BP
P.S.: In case anyone hasn't figured out by now...this post is complete satire.
Since everyone here thinks they had it rough, and put down their own majors and complain about it, Ill do the same.
Material Science Engineering, specialization in Biomaterials.
You have to learn all of the engineering in materials science as well as several orgo/mcb courses. And yes it is an actual engineering degree rather than some bioengineering Liberal Arts degree. (BME is in liberal arts at my school)
Honestly speaking, I think the hardest major in college is Electrical engineers or computer engineers.
my thoughts......
Material Science Engineering, specialization in Biomaterials.
You have to learn all of the engineering in materials science as well as several orgo/mcb courses. And yes it is an actual engineering degree rather than some bioengineering Liberal Arts degree. (BME is in liberal arts at my school)
Honestly speaking, I think the hardest major in college is Electrical engineers or computer engineers.
my thoughts......
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I still think MCB is the hardest (although I love it and I am good at it). I have to take cell mechanics and cell biophysics classes. Those are as tough as any engineering classes.
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Ok, Ok, I'LL do it.
"Haha, wow, what a funny joke, Northerner! ROFLMAO, LOL, etc."
(tough crowd)
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You guys are all wrong. Ethnic Studies is clearly the hardest.
I think the most time-consuming majors are art and music majors. I took a studio art course and it was 6 hours a week (8:30-11:30 am twice a week) plus required at least a few hours outside of class each week to do projects. Classes are only half a semester, but are only 1.5 credits. Keeping in mind that art majors still need to take 12-18 credits in order to be considered full time students, an art student would need to take at least 8 studio art courses each semester (meaning at least 4 at one time) so that would be a full day of class on 4 days of the week (8:30am-11:30am, a short break, then 12:30-3:30pm) which is more class time than any other major I know. Then there's also a great deal of work ouside of class. I don't know much about music majors, but I would imagine that their schedules are similar.
However, I don't think art/music are the hardest majors to get through mainly because those who are art/music majors have talent (they need to in order to get into the school) and have a huge passion for what they're doing. They have to spend a ton of time on their classes but since their classes are what they love, it's gotta be great. Art/music would likely be the hardest majors to attain financial success in, but those who decide to major in art/music trade the financial stability for the opportunity to do something they truly love for their life.
I think engin is the toughest major to get through mainly because so many people are in it who don't truly want to be in it though maybe that's something that's more specific to my school. I go to Mich and engin seems to be where people can get the biggest financial payoff for their tuition money. However, a lot of my friends (including many senior engineers who are almost done) don't actually enjoy the subject matter and have things that they would have rather pursued but didn't due to the unpractical nature of those things (ie kindergarten teacher, history major). Among my friends, I think it's prob 75% who are in it solely for the practicality of it and 25% who actually have an interest in the material. Aside from the very few true enginerds, most of us consider engin an endurance test, to see who can last through the grueling 4+ years and come out with an engineering degree. Consider my engin 100 class (intro, so it has to be relatively easy, right?), my team routinely spent 10+ hours working on projects outside of class including one week when everyone had calculus exams and we'd meet afterwards and work from 8 til 1am or later...4 days that week...more than 20 hours that week. Everyone was really hard-working and intelligent, only 4 people out of 96 got A's.
It's when there's a lot of work and a lot of stress over something that you don't even really want to do that you start to hate what you're doing and that's why I know people who do engin and then switch...they just can't take it anymore. I even know people who switched after 3 years to biophysics, biopsych, or, english.
However, I don't think art/music are the hardest majors to get through mainly because those who are art/music majors have talent (they need to in order to get into the school) and have a huge passion for what they're doing. They have to spend a ton of time on their classes but since their classes are what they love, it's gotta be great. Art/music would likely be the hardest majors to attain financial success in, but those who decide to major in art/music trade the financial stability for the opportunity to do something they truly love for their life.
I think engin is the toughest major to get through mainly because so many people are in it who don't truly want to be in it though maybe that's something that's more specific to my school. I go to Mich and engin seems to be where people can get the biggest financial payoff for their tuition money. However, a lot of my friends (including many senior engineers who are almost done) don't actually enjoy the subject matter and have things that they would have rather pursued but didn't due to the unpractical nature of those things (ie kindergarten teacher, history major). Among my friends, I think it's prob 75% who are in it solely for the practicality of it and 25% who actually have an interest in the material. Aside from the very few true enginerds, most of us consider engin an endurance test, to see who can last through the grueling 4+ years and come out with an engineering degree. Consider my engin 100 class (intro, so it has to be relatively easy, right?), my team routinely spent 10+ hours working on projects outside of class including one week when everyone had calculus exams and we'd meet afterwards and work from 8 til 1am or later...4 days that week...more than 20 hours that week. Everyone was really hard-working and intelligent, only 4 people out of 96 got A's.
It's when there's a lot of work and a lot of stress over something that you don't even really want to do that you start to hate what you're doing and that's why I know people who do engin and then switch...they just can't take it anymore. I even know people who switched after 3 years to biophysics, biopsych, or, english.
Without a doubt, engineering majors are the most difficult and time consuming of all. The engineering department at my school brutalizes engineering majors--earning a C in a class is respectable. But they land great jobs after graduation, so I guess the hard work and suffering pay off in the end.
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I just skimmed through this thread, but I haven't seen Architecture mentioned yet. As far as time consumption alone goes, I noticed that everyone I knew who studied Architecture consistently ran on 3-4 hours of sleep.
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i dont know if you know this for a fact or not, but i am very highly doubtful that any prof will be giving A's cause they feel sorry for them, especially for this reason. i have to disagree with you.
