What are the most difficult majors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CS degree...dropped out of EE - too tough. And I didn't like it. Thought Electrical beat Physics & Chemical for difficulty. Now...Econ, History, English Lit? Easy As!

A professor at a state school once told me that the wash out rate for CS majors was around 60 percent, meaning that almost 2/3s ended up switching majors or dropping out. That’s mainly due to people having trouble getting their programming projects complete and working. It’s not like other majors where you can just turn in a half assed paper and squeak by with a D+. In CS you have to actually build things that work. It can be brutal if you get stuck and can’t figure out why something isn’t working.

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard that Philosophy is difficult. It has the disctinction of being both hard and not particularly useful.

Really, any subject can be made difficult.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Whatever you are not good at is the hardest major for you. If you’re not good at math, STEM majors would likely be the most difficult for you. If you’re not good at reading, analysis, and writing, majors like English and history might be the most difficult for you.

If your major is *that* difficult, you are likely not in the best major for you.

This isn't true. Not all engineering majors couldn't hack it at English or History.

I vote electrical engineering as one of the hardest. Chemical and petroleum engineering are up there too.

But you're presuming that all English and history majors couldn't hack it as engineers?

Yup, pretty much.

Engineers can do reading, analysis, and writing. English and history majors can't do math.

Not in my experience. Some can. Though I would say a field based on judgment and analysis is far easier to do okay in than a technical field because the flaws aren't as clear-cut.

Engineering requires considerable judgment and analysis. Try again.

I have an engineering degree. The judgment and analysis are in a narrow, technical range. And you know it if you are also in engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Physics is extremely hard. Some people switch to engineering because it’s easier.

I switched to math, physics was a lot a work and I realized I only liked it for the math. Math is the major for the profoundly lazy.

Not at Princeton!

[Anonymous]

Such a weird question OP. People are good at different things. So, for some people engineering is a breeze and for others they might think writing white papers is a breeze. Not everyone wants to be STEM<STEM, STEM. It's strange for people to presume those are necessarily difficult majors....different strokes for different folks.

[Anonymous]

Art History

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Such a weird question OP. People are good at different things. So, for some people engineering is a breeze and for others they might think writing white papers is a breeze. Not everyone wants to be STEM<STEM, STEM. It's strange for people to presume those are necessarily difficult majors....different strokes for different folks.

I don’t know anyone who thought engineering was a breeze. In fact, usually engineering schools have lower cutoffs to make top 10% of the class because the average grades are lower.

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing the percent of engineering majors who could succeeed as psych or English or poli sci or history majors is exponentially higher than the opposite way around

[Anonymous]

Nursing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Physics is extremely hard. Some people switch to engineering because it’s easier.

I switched to math, physics was a lot a work and I realized I only liked it for the math. Math is the major for the profoundly lazy.

Not at Princeton!

Then it's not your bag, tiger!

[Anonymous]

The belief that math, engineering, and the "hard sciences" (i.e., not biology?) are the most difficult is directly related to the fact that those are highly male-dominated fields. I was a female math major and I can tell you, math is not that hard. It is just regarded as such because of sexism.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Whatever you are not good at is the hardest major for you. If you’re not good at math, STEM majors would likely be the most difficult for you. If you’re not good at reading, analysis, and writing, majors like English and history might be the most difficult for you.

If your major is *that* difficult, you are likely not in the best major for you.

This isn't true. Not all engineering majors couldn't hack it at English or History.

I vote electrical engineering as one of the hardest. Chemical and petroleum engineering are up there too.

But you're presuming that all English and history majors couldn't hack it as engineers?

Yup, pretty much.

Engineers can do reading, analysis, and writing. English and history majors can't do math.

Not in my experience. Some can. Though I would say a field based on judgment and analysis is far easier to do okay in than a technical field because the flaws aren't as clear-cut.

Nor mine. Many in the tech side can write. They just can't write well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard that Philosophy is difficult. It has the disctinction of being both hard and not particularly useful.

Really, any subject can be made difficult.

That was my major. Yes, it is hard - at least at a good school. The reading volume is immense and you can't read much more than 10 pages of that an hour. If you want to go to grad school, you probably need to speak at least a few European languages, and one must be German.

It is a hard major to excel in, but a relatively easy one to be mediocre in.... what the world definitely doesn't need are mediocre philosophy students.

Being mediocre in physics is probably way harder.

Excellence is always a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nursing

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nursing

Nursing is one of the most difficult majors as an undergrad. Microbiology, Organic Chemistry, Pathophysiology, H&P, Pharmaceuticals, Med-Surg, OBGYN, Psych, etc. Clinicals at hospitals for hours.