[funkboy]

First of all, let me put my biases right up front: I am a computer engineering (almost like electrical engineering) major at a school that's consistently rated very highly for its elec. and comp. eng. program. I think the quality of some of our professors is great, and we learn a lot... and with that learning comes a whole heckuva lotta work.

What do you consider the most difficult major at college? Is it the major you took, or does some other major seem just crazily difficult/work intensive?

When I say difficult, I guess I'd like to quantify it as taking up excessive amounts of time for homework, difficult to complete homework, and difficult tests.

[superfula]

None of the above...or "other" as it may be. Architecture...specifically landscape architecture, is the hardest major in most universities that have a decent arch program. It's the only major at my university that takes a minimum of 5 years to complete. The rest can easily be donein 4.

[MacGorilla]

I guess the hardest would be Thermonuclear Weaponry. Its a real degree. Only fourty people have one.

[Cipher13]

The poll is way too broad. I mean, you lumped all "science" together... wtf? "biology/chemistry/physics"...? I know that may be a fault of the forum software limiting the number of poll options, but still...

I don't think it's really fair to say "<insert major here> is more difficult than <insert major here>". I mean, any major (well, many) can be taken to such a high level that they become extraordinarily intense.

I'm in genetics, and to me, something like physics would be incredibly difficult.

To a physics major, however, genetics would be incredibly difficult.

I just don't think it's a valid question.

[funkboy]

Originally posted by superfula:
... Architecture...

Agh, I was going to have that as a choice and completely spaced it out. Could a moderator add that to the list? Maybe lump education in with English, since it's kind of sort of a humanity... kind of.

Architecture here does take 5 years I believe, yes. But for most people an engineering degree (elec/comp, anyway) also takes 5... the vast minority get out in 4 years, I think something like < 5%, while the majority take 4.5 or 5 years, according to my dept's dean.

[d4nth3m4n]

Originally posted by superfula:
None of the above...or "other" as it may be. Architecture...specifically landscape architecture, is the hardest major in most universities that have a decent arch program. It's the only major at my university that takes a minimum of 5 years to complete. The rest can easily be donein 4.

yup, thats where i was going. my poor little sister sweated through 2 of the 5 years at cooper union before she went nuts and slept through an entire semester. now shes at cornell.

as far as arch compares to math and engineering, i think arch wins out, simply because a lot of the work for arch needs to be done on site, in the studio over long hours, whereas largely you can take work home with you if math and engineering is your cup of tea.

i, on the other hand, get off pretty easily, i am technically a general studies major. realistically, this means that i take whatever i want as long as i can justify it my advisor. there is a bit of a focus in natural resources, but its still pretty damn tailor made and i like my clothes to be loose and relaxed thank you.

[superfula]

Originally posted by d4nth3m4n:
yup, thats where i was going. my poor little sister sweated through 2 of the 5 years at cooper union before she went nuts and slept through an entire semester. now shes at cornell.

as far as arch compares to math and engineering, i think arch wins out, simply because a lot of the work for arch needs to be done on site, in the studio over long hours, whereas largely you can take work home with you if math and engineering is your cup of tea.

i, on the other hand, get off pretty easily, i am technically a general studies major. realistically, this means that i take whatever i want as long as i can justify it my advisor. there is a bit of a focus in natural resources, but its still pretty damn tailor made and i like my clothes to be loose and relaxed thank you.

Exactly. The hours in studio are rediculous. I have quite a few friends with a variety of majors, and all the arch students easily get the least amount of sleep and have the most "stuff" to do.

[gorickey]

Financial Management.

[funkboy]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
I'm in genetics, and to me, something like physics would be incredibly difficult.

To a physics major, however, genetics would be incredibly difficult.

I just don't think it's a valid question.

Well, don't keep yourself limited to the poll choices - discussion, as in any good college course, is encouraged.

I guess I was just looking for opinions, not an end-all be-all answer to the question. It's mostly just for fun, though mainly I'd like to see what major area is perceived to be the most difficult.

I imagine someone else could figure out a way to find out which one actually *is* the most intensive.

Which makes me wonder... why is landscape architecture so intensive? Why not make it, say, a 6-year master's degree program? I agree, though, that many of my architecture friends are very busy. Of course, I know one of them is always strung out like that... so, go figure.

All I'll say is it's pretty disturbing when an architecture major starts breaking down in your room at midnight, realizing that he needs to make huge changes to something, and you cannot see what the big deal is.

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by funkboy:
Well, don't keep yourself limited to the poll choices - discussion, as in any good college course, is encouraged.

I guess I was just looking for opinions, not an end-all be-all answer to the question. It's mostly just for fun, though mainly I'd like to see what major area is perceived to be the most difficult.

I imagine someone else could figure out a way to find out which one actually *is* the most intensive.

Which makes me wonder... why is landscape architecture so intensive? Why not make it, say, a 6-year master's degree program? I agree, though, that many of my architecture friends are very busy. Of course, I know one of them is always strung out like that... so, go figure.

All I'll say is it's pretty disturbing when an architecture major starts breaking down in your room at midnight, realizing that he needs to make huge changes to something, and you cannot see what the big deal is.

I would argue that it isn't necessarily the course that strings these people up, but that these people are naturally inclined to take such courses, BECAUSE of their nature...

I know law people that are very strung up, but they were like that *before* they started their degree.

They're the same people that stressed during the final high school exams, while I was the person that attended said exams drunk (not because of any stress, but because I honestly didn't care... exams or not, I'd have gone out the night before).

You get what I mean.

I haven't said it well... but I'm dripping wet and cold right now, so I'm not thinking well.

[djohnson]

I decided not to vote as the only experience I have is getting my CS degree. It was not hard, the other "required" classes were hard. Programming comes easy to me I guess. I think I will vote for something now. Thanks!

Update: I said Medical because I know someone that is getting a med degree and she is taking a lot of hours + hard courses + many more years to go.

[Chemmy]

Originally posted by superfula:
Exactly. The hours in studio are rediculous. I have quite a few friends with a variety of majors, and all the arch students easily get the least amount of sleep and have the most "stuff" to do.

The next time I'm in the CAD Design lab for my mechanical engineering major, I'll remember that the work for engineering is something I can take home, and that I don't have a lot of it.

ps. I work fast, and I'm there for 10+ hours a week. It's a two credit class. I'm taking fifteen credits this semester.

[ghost_flash]

Underwater basket weaving. You gotta hold your breath a looooooong time for that class. If you drown and die, then you get an F. The good news is once you flunk it, you never have to retake it...

[maxintosh]

I'm an arch major. It only takes 4 years here, but obviously to practice you have to spend plenty of time beyond that. Five years if you want to double concentrate in ME. I might also do a concentration in computer science (strangely, Columbia considers CS a liberal arts major, not an engineering one. Hmm...)

[shmerek]

Music, if you have no talent you won't past your exams let alone get accepted.

[Mithras]

It really depends:
...hardest not to fail? Engineering or architecture. Something that requires hours and hours of work, sleepless nights, just so you don't embarrass yourself.

...hardest to do very well? Humanities, or possibly math. Something where you can learn tons and tons, and you still don't have a real contribution to make. Truly standing out in the humanities or mathematics requires boundless reading, real creative genius, and endless refinement.
Hmm, maybe music qualifies in that respect too.


And of course in postgraduate education, nothing comes close to medicine. Horrible hours, mean people humiliating you without purpose, an endless sea of facts to know, and the sensation that if you don't do it right, people get hurt.

Maxintosh, does your library pop up for me in iTunes? I'm a Columbia grad student, though I don't wander over to Avery much.

[Truepop]

I have a friend who went to MIT for a degree in aeronautics... That must has been hard or at least the school because afterwards he became a real prick.

[awaspaas]

Psychology and sociology aren't on the list!!

[Chemmy]

Originally posted by maxintosh:
I'm an arch major. It only takes 4 years here, but obviously to practice you have to spend plenty of time beyond that. Five years if you want to double concentrate in ME. I might also do a concentration in computer science (strangely, Columbia considers CS a liberal arts major, not an engineering one. Hmm...)

CS is a liberal arts major, Computer Engineering is a seperate entity.

[skipjack]

Originally posted by Chemmy:
CS is a liberal arts major, Computer Engineering is a seperate entity.

I'm sure it depends on the school. At San Francisco State University, the Computer Science department is under the School of Engineering, and Computer Science is offered as a BA or a BS.

[alphasubzero949]

Biological Sciences.

I guess it could fall under "Medical" if you're a pre-med.

[superfula]

Originally posted by Chemmy:
The next time I'm in the CAD Design lab for my mechanical engineering major, I'll remember that the work for engineering is something I can take home, and that I don't have a lot of it.

ps. I work fast, and I'm there for 10+ hours a week. It's a two credit class. I'm taking fifteen credits this semester.

Most major colleges offer cad at a cutrate price. Here, the only people in the labs are the comp sci students who don't have their own computers. CAD you can take home...your studio projects can't be taken anywhere.

[memento]

So my vote is this:

architecture is the most labor intensive.
Engineering physics is the most difficult.

My degree in Nuclear engineering is not far behind.

[Turias]

Originally posted by Cipher13:
I don't think it's really fair to say "<insert major here> is more difficult than <insert major here>". I mean, any major (well, many) can be taken to such a high level that they become extraordinarily intense.

I'm in genetics, and to me, something like physics would be incredibly difficult.

To a physics major, however, genetics would be incredibly difficult.

I just don't think it's a valid question.

It's a bad question for just these reasons. There is no "most difficult college major". Each person excells in different areas and while one person may find math incredibly easy and english incredibly hard, another person might be the complete opposite. Also, one college might have a very difficult religion program while another might have a sit-on-your-ass-easy religion program.

A better poll might have been, "Which college-level subject is most difficult for you?"

[brapper]

Econ/Finance with no prior advanced math training..................................damn!

[engaged]

Originally posted by MacGorilla:
I guess the hardest would be Thermonuclear Weaponry. Its a real degree. Only fourty people have one.

Seriously..? Where from?

[MacGorilla]

Its a special degree program you apply for at the University of New Mexico. You need to be approved by the government before you can start since you a lot of your education will be at Los Alamos.

[acm]

I have to agree that it's not really a fair question, being that there are so many variables for every major, it's hard to quantify. But I will say that my uni offered a musical engineering major.

But I would imagine having to combine the entire engineering program with a full music program (which by itselt is stressful and time-consuming with numerous 1 and 2 credit classes that you HAVE to attend) would count as one of the more difficult majors out there.

[beb]

Hell! The mathematics to thermonuclear weaponry alone would fill up blackboards ten times over. One down side is that you and your family are a likely kidnap target from unfriendly governments seeking to develop their capability. On the other hand, do you really want to get back at that co-worker that accused you of harrassment?

[Link]

I don't think there's a specific "most difficult" major, it's just the one that you have absolutely no interest in that will be the most difficult to get.

[wolfen]

Depends on your aPtitude. I remember repeatedly walking into science classes in HS and acing tests I didn't even remember I was going to have. And I can write page long iambic pentameter in no time. HOWEVER, put me in front of anything mechanical and I just drool stupid juice. Haven't a frickin' clue. If I touch my car, something breaks. It once cost me $180 to change my $7 fuel filter. I mutilated everything around it and broke off a bolt in the engine. Had to have it towed because gasoline was just seeping out.

If computers had lots of moving parts to mess with I'd be homeless by now.



wolfen

[funkboy]

Originally posted by Turias:
It's a bad question for just these reasons. There is no "most difficult college major". Each person excells in different areas ...
A better poll might have been, "Which college-level subject is most difficult for you?"

I was more interested in knowing what the overall perception of majors was. Not what someone considers the most difficult for their self, but rather what majors they see at their own school and say, "wow, that looks like students really have to go through hell."

I find it extremely interesting that computer and electrical engineering is ahead right now in the poll... I wonder if this is a function of this forum being a technology forum, with a possible disproportionate number of those majors on the boards.

Or, am I really in a major that people feel is incredibly difficult?

Or did they read my first post and say, "oh, poor guy, I'll vote for his major so he feels better."

who knows...

[wdlove]

Medicine is a real long grueling major, 8 years total. It has an effect on everyones life.

[Chemmy]

Originally posted by wdlove:
Medicine is a real long grueling major, 8 years total. It has an effect on everyones life.

It's the same as any graduate level doctorate program.

[maxintosh]

Originally posted by Mithras:
Maxintosh, does your library pop up for me in iTunes? I'm a Columbia grad student, though I don't wander over to Avery much.

The studios are actually in Barnard I think every building has its own switch, so unless you're a GA in John Jay, I wouldn't see your music.