<p>Since I've heard that Swarthmore is very intense in terms of academics, what are the easiest majors there? For example, I'm most interested in econ or physcology - anyone know anything about the workload for those two programs? Or any other less rigorous majors?</p>
<p>What is physcology?</p>
<p>Once you get outside of the sciences and engineering, I think the degree of difficulty will vary quite a bit for each person. In other words, a course that comes "easy" for one student, might be a bear for another. Then, the same two students would reverse roles for the next course.</p>
<p>Econ could be described as an "easy" major and a "hard" major and both descriptions could be accurate -- depending on the courses you take. There are some heavy math quantitative nooks and crannies of economics that are seriously hard core. Other areas that are little breezier.</p>
<p>It really depends on the person as far as what's a "hard" major and what's not. Most people will generally agree, though, that the natural sciences at Swat are very challenging. As a humanities major who had some difficulty in Bio 1, I agree wholeheartedly. That being said, most natural sciences/engineering people are incredibly dedicated to their respective majors and truly love the sciences. In terms of econ or pysch, I've heard from friends that pysch does carry less of a workload, my roommate is a possible econ major and spends a lot of time on it.</p>
<p>The bottom line is this: it really depends on what you like. If you don't like a subject, doing the work for it is going to be dreadful no matter what. I love doing hw for classes for my major because I'm incredibly interested in it, even when the work becomes difficult. So, find what you're really interested in and go with it!</p>
<p>If you want a less rigorous program of study, perhaps you should look into a transfer? </p>
<p>Just kidding. But seriously, there are no "slacker majors" at Swat. Everything's a lot of work, and it does depend on the student. Being a fast reader, a skilled writer, and interested in whatever major it is will probably matter more than the major itself.</p>
<p>there are no "slacker majors" but there are definetly easier majors. Engineering requires 20 credits, many of which are lab classes (which are time intensive). Majors like psych and soan (sociology/anthropology) require only 8 credits, and are much more flexible credits, like you can take almost any classes in the department to fufill the major. Not so in engineering. The sciences are more difficult in general, but if you can't/hate to write a paper, then you won't survive in the humanities/social sciences of course!</p>
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Majors like psych and soan (sociology/anthropology) require only 8 credits, and are much more flexible credits, like you can take almost any classes in the department to fufill the major.
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<p>Which is good if you want to take a lot of courses in several departments.</p>
<p>I agree about nothing being an "easy" major.</p>
<p>Anyone know anything about the public policy major? Is it a strong department? Is the workload intense?</p>
<p>I don't think there's a public policy major. It is an interdisciplinary concentration that is taken in connection with another major or, more typically, as an honors minor.</p>
<p>It draws course offerings from Poli Sci, Econ, Engineering, Sociology/Anthropology, and other departments. Looks like it has a strong quantitative analysis component. The concentration also requires a senior thesis in public policy and a summer internship (often pre-arranged by the school in Washington).</p>
<p>Regardless of which department(s) you attack it from, public policy has been a traditional strength at Swarthmore. It could probably be argued that it is Swarthmore's number one specialty. Swarthmore produces more PhDs per 100 graduates than any other college or university in the country in Political Science and in Economics, and in Social Sciences overall and a lot of Swarthmore grads have gone into public policy careers.</p>