Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:14     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Low Brow:

Home Economics Education
Recreation and Leisure Services
Psychology
Interior Design




I would disagree with Psychology. Low-brow doesn't simply mean "easy major" but more one that is a "newer major" that is not regarded as academic in nature. While Psychology is not difficult, it is definitely viewed as an academic discipline, and has been around as a major for a long time and is offered at the most prestigious universities.


Psych is higher-brow than the others in that list but social sciences are generally not highbrow. Cognitive Science and Biology are both higher-brow than Psychology.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:11     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Highbrow: literature, philosophy, art history.
Lowbrow: communications, education, criminology.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:10     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Anonymous wrote:Low Brow:

Home Economics Education
Recreation and Leisure Services
Psychology
Interior Design




I would disagree with Psychology. Low-brow doesn't simply mean "easy major" but more one that is a "newer major" that is not regarded as academic in nature. While Psychology is not difficult, it is definitely viewed as an academic discipline, and has been around as a major for a long time and is offered at the most prestigious universities.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:09     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Electrical and chemical engineering are higher-brow than mechanical engineering. Civil engineering is the lowest-brow engineering. Humanities are usually higher-brow than social sciences but hard sciences are mixed.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:07     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Undergrad nursing degree is lowbrow.

Basically the more immediately useful the coursework/the more it specifically prepares you for things you will literally be doing in your job (assuming your job is not academia), the lower-brow it is. Computer Science degree where you do a ton of theory and math: highbrow. CS degree where you get really good at coding: lowbrow.

Then we get into countersignaling, which is a whole ‘bother ball of wax.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:06     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Anonymous wrote:Business and engineering- high brow
Social services and education- low brow
Anything science or math- high brow




Interesting because I have seen on DCUM where people claim that getting an undergrad in business is low-brow, which being from a low-brow background, I did not know previously. Apparently, high-brow kids who are interested in business get a B.A in Economics and then go on to get their MBAs.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:06     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Low Brow:

Home Economics Education
Recreation and Leisure Services
Psychology
Interior Design
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:03     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
I would love to know how most people view a nursing degree in the whole high-brow low-brow continuim.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 12:01     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Anonymous wrote:high brow - economics...because that's what I studied

low brow - all other courses of study. But especially sociology and political science. We always assumed those grad students couldn't hack it in the econ math.



These are definitely easier majors. But I wouldn't put them into the low-brow category because they are traditional academic subjects that are offered at the top schools and have traditionally been seen as a pre-cursor to law school . I tend to think of "low-brow" as something like Hotel/Restaurant Management.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 11:53     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Business and engineering- high brow
Social services and education- low brow
Anything science or math- high brow
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 11:46     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Anonymous wrote:high brow - economics...because that's what I studied

low brow - all other courses of study. But especially sociology and political science. We always assumed those grad students couldn't hack it in the econ math.


Business Econ, low. Math Econ, high.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 11:33     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Business and Communications are low brow.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 11:30     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
Low brow: education majors. Unfortunately the teaching profession just doesn’t have respect (which I think it should.)

High Brow: STEM/pre-med
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 11:28     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
high brow - economics...because that's what I studied

low brow - all other courses of study. But especially sociology and political science. We always assumed those grad students couldn't hack it in the econ math.
Anonymous
Post 10/22/2019 11:26     Subject: Just for fun - which majors are high-brow vs. low-brow?
This is inspired by another thread where claims were made by some that an English degree was considered more high brow than a Communications degree. Interested to see what other people's definitions of high-brow vs. low-brow degrees are. And as an FYI, I actually don't place much stock into the whole high-brow/low-brow thing myself - but what can I say, I'm bored, and it should make for an entertaining thread.