What is toughest undergraduate major?

[SacrosanctFiend]

Originally posted by: simms
I'd say EE. I'm a Chem Eng, 2nd year and it's alright, I know some EE's went nuts in first year.

Bio isn't that tough. The Chem courses I'm taking incorporate Organics as well as protein structuring etc.
If you're talking about ADP NADP and kingdom phylum class family genus species.. that's all memorizing. Not that hard, and not really applicable in real life when you can easily read it from a book.

APPLYING that knowledge (eg: engineering) is where you must LEARN different environments and design for them..

Dude, that's general biology, like freshman stuff. Get into stuff like programmed cell death, human genetics, cell and tissue structure and function, cell transformations, etc. That's where it gets hard, especially in lab practicals.

EDIT: Here's a question we had on our second day of class:

- Extension and retraction of filopodia in a growth cone is thought to be determined by assembly and disassembly of underlying actin cytoskeleton. Devise experiments (logical and doable) in which you may determine where new subunits are added to growing actin filaments and how the filaments flow during extension and retraction of filopodia.

 

[maziwanka]

gay and lesbian studies

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: Siva

Originally posted by: simms
I'd say EE. I'm a Chem Eng, 2nd year and it's alright, I know some EE's went nuts in first year.

Bio isn't that tough. The Chem courses I'm taking incorporate Organics as well as protein structuring etc.
If you're talking about ADP NADP and kingdom phylum class family genus species.. that's all memorizing. Not that hard, and not really applicable in real life when you can easily read it from a book.

APPLYING that knowledge (eg: engineering) is where you must LEARN different environments and design for them..

Are you kidding? Do you wanna try reading just 1 Cell/Molecular biology paper? There's more than just memorization to performing the crazy experiments these people do. Figuring out how a biological system works is incredibly complex.

Yeah, I have to second this. I'd still say ChemE is probably the hardest (I'm an EE though, and I know I suck at Chemistry, so that's probably why ), but the mid-to-high level Bio courses have driven many out of their wits around here. Like I said, I put them as a close second to engineering.

 

[Schrodinger]

Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

 

[dionx]

Originally posted by: Siva

Originally posted by: simms
I'd say EE. I'm a Chem Eng, 2nd year and it's alright, I know some EE's went nuts in first year.

Bio isn't that tough. The Chem courses I'm taking incorporate Organics as well as protein structuring etc.
If you're talking about ADP NADP and kingdom phylum class family genus species.. that's all memorizing. Not that hard, and not really applicable in real life when you can easily read it from a book.

APPLYING that knowledge (eg: engineering) is where you must LEARN different environments and design for them..

Are you kidding? Do you wanna try reading just 1 Cell/Molecular biology paper? There's more than just memorization to performing the crazy experiments these people do. Figuring out how a biological system works is incredibly complex.

being a bio major as a student and practicing biology as a scientist are different things. in school, the labs are pretty much predefined unless you do research therefore biology majors do no real thinking. and when it comes to lab work, bio majors tend to hate the lab and would rather read bio textbooks hours on end whereas chem majors prefer the lab and hands on experience. reading books isnt too necessary because you'll figure it out while in lab and every once in awhile read something relavent that you need to know

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

Rocket Scientry

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: dionx
i wouldnt say biology or biochemistry is hard compared to most of the others. you just have to memorize facts whereas other majors like chem or engineering or math or physics require you to think

<= chem major graduate (transferred out of bio major)

QFT

And he's a Chem Grad.. not even eng? and he's from Bio.

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Originally posted by: dionx
being a bio major as a student and practicing biology as a scientist are different things. in school, the labs are pretty much predefined unless you do research therefore biology majors do no real thinking. and when it comes to lab work, bio majors tend to hate the lab and would rather read bio textbooks hours on end whereas chem majors prefer the lab and hands on experience. reading books isnt too necessary because you'll figure it out while in lab and every once in awhile read something relavent that you need to know

:roll: We have so many labs where we have to create the lab and produce results.

 

[elanarchist]

Definetly CS, dropped it freshman year, having so much more fun doing Econ and Info Sci.

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

Content-wise, probably not. I think it has more to do with the skills expected out of an engineer.

 

[Siva]

Originally posted by: dionx

Originally posted by: Siva

Originally posted by: simms
I'd say EE. I'm a Chem Eng, 2nd year and it's alright, I know some EE's went nuts in first year.

Bio isn't that tough. The Chem courses I'm taking incorporate Organics as well as protein structuring etc.
If you're talking about ADP NADP and kingdom phylum class family genus species.. that's all memorizing. Not that hard, and not really applicable in real life when you can easily read it from a book.

APPLYING that knowledge (eg: engineering) is where you must LEARN different environments and design for them..

Are you kidding? Do you wanna try reading just 1 Cell/Molecular biology paper? There's more than just memorization to performing the crazy experiments these people do. Figuring out how a biological system works is incredibly complex.

being a bio major as a student and practicing biology as a scientist are different things. in school, the labs are pretty much predefined unless you do research therefore biology majors do no real thinking. and when it comes to lab work, bio majors tend to hate the lab and would rather read bio textbooks hours on end whereas chem majors prefer the lab and hands on experience. reading books isnt too necessary because you'll figure it out while in lab and every once in awhile read something relavent that you need to know

Well perhaps your school is a little different than mine. I just know that tomorrow I have to present on a lab experiment that I had to design myself for Bio. Unfortunately it didn't work out too well, but I blame the supply room.

Anyway, I have always found labs to be fairly interesting and worth doing. We did field work like surveying the swamp and the forest around campus and proposed ideas for removing a foreign animal from the ecosystem in the stupid intro labs and even that was tough. Now that I'm in cell/molec its even harder, but I still enjoy it.

And I wasn't talking about being a biologist, I was talking about studying and understanding these papers as a biology student. Its not easy, there's a whole new language to learn and you have to begin to think on microscales.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Originally posted by: Siva
I spent 8 hours a week in labs which I get no credit for in addition to a full course load.

...

<---- Chemistry major btw.

Only 8?

 

[Siva]

Originally posted by: sciencewhiz

Originally posted by: Siva
I spent 8 hours a week in labs which I get no credit for in addition to a full course load.

...

<---- Chemistry major btw.

Only 8?

I only have two right now, I refuse to take physics till next year.

 

[Schrodinger]

Originally posted by: TheLonelyPhoenix

Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

Content-wise, probably not. I think it has more to do with the skills expected out of an engineer.

Howso? (I'm not experienced with engineers)

 

[Ferocious]

Interesting results so far. I wonder if the content of these programs has changed somewhat, because when I went to school in the late 1980's......ChEng was widely considered more difficult than EE.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

yes, physics does not get really hard till grad school, undergrad isn not bad EE is a pain in the ass from day 1

undergrad physics is just math anyway

 

[Horus]

HISTORY. When you EE majors write 30K+ words in 2 months for essays, come back and talk to me.

 

[EmperorIQ]

Originally posted by: Siva
Every major is different, what kind of moron thinks there's a "hardest" major.

I spent 8 hours a week in labs which I get no credit for in addition to a full course load. Meanwhile most theatre majors at my school would faint at the idea of more than just 6 hours of classes a week. But if you asked me to act, I couldn't, no amount of classes or learning could make it easy for me. Meanwhile if you put any of them in a lab they'd probably freak out.

College is about finding what you like, what you want to study, and what you want to do with your life. That's what makes a major easy. If you're major is so difficult to you maybe you oughta switch.

<---- Chemistry major btw.

sorry siva but i have to disagree with you. Theatre majors, english majors, sociology majors, etc. have it a lot easier than engineers. I take their upper division classes for fun, barely study for it and pull out with B+ half of the time and A's the other half. All in all, i stll don't feel like I learned much in those classes (except psych) When I'm taking my engineer classes I bust my butt, trying my best to learn ever concept. I get by with my B's. Most people tell me maybe its because i don't enjoy engineering, but that's not the truth. I love it! I enjoy logic, hearing about theories, knowing that there are multiple ways to solve one problem, learning all of those "ways". I also know of a lot of people who are those theatre, music, sociology majors who really do not care about a degree and are just in college because it was expected of them to go. Most of them don't seem to challenge themselves enough, always trying hard to find the easiest professors (which is pretty easy to come by for them)

 

[Schrodinger]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

yes, physics does not get really hard till grad school, undergrad isn not bad EE is a pain in the ass from day 1

undergrad physics is just math anyway

If it isn't the math, then what is it about EE that most people find "a pain in the ass" ?

 

[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

Not harder, just more work intensive. In physics you solve for ideal cases and theoretical constructs mostly while your labs mostly focus on demonstrating that the theory does have a basis on physical reality.

In EE, you have to design things with practical applications in mind. Things get messy in the real world, there are all sorts of imperfections that come in and throw a monkey wrench in an elegant design. Case in point, I had a lab where we got very simple chip fabbed and built a rudimentary operational amplifier. It's a huge pain in the ass just to get the thing working like the simulation does, without taking into account the fact that there is up to 20% variation in every element manufactured.

Anyhow, I'm rambling now... Does anyone want to proof-read my lab report, I'm almost done and it's due in tomorrow

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Schrodinger

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

yes, physics does not get really hard till grad school, undergrad isn not bad EE is a pain in the ass from day 1

undergrad physics is just math anyway

If it isn't the math, then what is it about EE that most people find "a pain in the ass" ?

theres about 10 times the amout of math
in physics you just do things and just kinda not worry about what it means , IE quantum mechanics
in EE you have to actually do something

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: Schrodinger

Originally posted by: TheLonelyPhoenix

Originally posted by: Schrodinger
Wow...EE is that much more difficult than a physics major?

Content-wise, probably not. I think it has more to do with the skills expected out of an engineer.

Howso? (I'm not experienced with engineers)

Physics == Elaborate game of "plug and chug". Once you learn a concept, you figure out which formulas apply to the situation, plug in the numbers, and cut loose on your calculator.

Engineers need all that knowledge, but also be able to design new solutions in addition to analyzing what's already there. Its a pretty drastic difference. Also, engineers are expected to be able to write, work in teams, etc. moreso than your typical natural science major.

 

[SacrosanctFiend]

Originally posted by: Horus
HISTORY. When you EE majors write 30K+ words in 2 months for essays, come back and talk to me.

I do that easy for lab reports and case studies. Writing can never make a major difficult. Tons of majors have lots of writing.

 

[TheLonelyPhoenix]

Originally posted by: Horus
HISTORY. When you EE majors write 30K+ words in 2 months for essays, come back and talk to me.

When you historians do something useful, come back and talk to me.

 

[Schrodinger]

What would you guys say is the "pecking order" in terms of difficulty &amp; comprehension self-congratulatory jerkfest (NOT based on workload)?

I always heard it was like this:
math
physics
other sciences
engineering
CS

though it seems like things may have changed.