Engineering GPAs vs. ....

<p>Ok, we all know that it's harder to get a 3.5 in a engineer major, rather than say business major. It's true. We know. But what about other similar majors?</p>

<p>Basically, in which major, is it harder, or more difficult, or more valued, or more impressive to get a certain GPA?</p>

<p>I'll put some easy ones (just so I know you're serious)</p>

<p>Engineering Major vs. Humanities- Which major is a high GPA more difficult to get in. Or which major is a certain GPA more impressive. This should be easy. </p>

<p>Engineering Major vs. Business- Which major is a high GPA more difficult to get in. Or which major is a certain GPA more impressive. This should be easy.</p>

<p>Engineering Major vs. Engineering Major- Is it easier to get a high GPA in one engineering major than another? Like is there a certain group of competitive GPA majors, while some engineering majors its a little easier to get high in?</p>

<p>Engineering Major vs. Physics/Biology/Chemistry- Same question as before. Is a 3.5 Chemical Engineering more impressive than a 3.5 in Chemistry? What about Physics? Basically how do GPAs in Engineering Majors stack up with majors in the Natural Sciences. </p>

<p>Engineering Major vs. Math Major- Same as the Natural Sciences really. </p>

<p>Engineering Major vs. Computer Science Major- Will it make any difference from a GPA perspective that you got a 3.5 in Computer Engineering vs. Computer Science? </p>

<p>You get the point. You don't have to answer them all. But the question really is, how does the value and difficulty of Engineering GPAs stack up with some other majors? And I know many times it depends on school, so just speak IN GENERAL. So if you saw a 3.5 in EE vs. a 3.5 in _____. Which would you value more?</p>

<p>1) Since I had a somewhat of an “hybrid” major as an undergrad, I would have to say that the comparisons would have to be VERY GENERAL to form any time of conclusions. Let’s not forget about the majors like Analytical Chemistry, Mathematical Physics, Computational Mathematics (my major), Mathematical Economics, Engineering Physics, Operations Research and Computational Finance (Stochastic).</p>

<p>2) Difficulty of curriculum is a very subjective/objective topic</p>

<p>1) I don’t see what this has to do with anything. Well then why don’t you compare it to Mathematical Physics, Analytical Chemistry, etc. In my OP I was talking about Physics not Mathematical Physics. If you want to compare it to M. Physics, ok. But how is a problem? If you find it difficult comparing Engineering GPAs to Engineering Physics, then don’t compare them. </p>

<p>2) In General</p>

<p>See page 44. Engineers don’t have the lowest GPAs!</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ima/sites/default/files/SHB08-09Students.pdf[/url]”>http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ima/sites/default/files/SHB08-09Students.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I never claimed they had the lowest GPAs.</p>

<p>I didn’t say you did. Just making a point - I was surprised.</p>

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<p>To be fair, that is a sampling from one school and shouldn’t stand on it’s own to discredit the whole “engineers have low gpas because it’s hard” stigma. </p>

<p>I’ve also found that, atleast at my school, engineering departments have higher expectations GPA-wise than many other departments do for their students to maintain their classification of their respective major. This meaning that, for example, a 2.0 or 2.5 student can be classified as a “liberal arts” major in upper level classes, while this same student would eventually be dropped from the engineering department. This tendency, amongst others, can also lead to a skewing of the average GPA per department statistics.</p>

<p>I think the best value would be to pick something you like doing and not base the decision in the GPA. Do you want to get a job in a field you don’t like working in, just to have a better GPA? After you get a job, nobody cares what your GPA was in school.</p>

<p>I don’t really get what you are asking or why you are asking it. What does it matter which major has it easier when it comes to GPA? They aren’t competing for the same jobs, they aren’t taking the same classes and they aren’t really related. Basically, why does it matter whether or not a history major can get a 3.5 more easily than an engineer? That is the question I pose to you.</p>

<p>In general I don’t think it matters. I would be equally impressed with a high gpa in any major. Not only does this show that the person is capable of acheiving a level of excellence demanded by their school, but also that they have the conviction and interest to obtain that gpa. Once you get to like a 3.8 or so though it all tends to blur together. A low gpa, imo, doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of smarts more so than a lack of effort, care, or interest.</p>

<p>In the end, it’s not so much what you got rather what you do with what you got that matters.</p>

<p>Engineering GPAs might be among the lowest because engineering programs are designed to “weed out” a certain percentage of students. That’s right, curve grading is only used to “weed out” students.</p>

<p>I don’t think once you get to 3.8 every major begins to blur. There’s definitely a distinction between a 3.8 in Business and a 3.8 in Chemical Engineering.</p>

<p>My thoughts on OP’s curiosity, I would say majors in Biochemistry and Neuroscience are definitely no walks in the park.</p>

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<p>The only people making that distinction are people who have a superiority or inferiority complex, because those two people aren’t going to be competing for the same jobs and so there will almost never be anyone trying to objectively compare the two.</p>

<p>There really is no point to compare them. Each field stands alone in that a high GPA means that a person is very good at and/or dedicated to their field. A 4.0 in business may still flunk engineering, but who’s to say that a 4.0 in engineering wouldn’t turn right around a flunk business? It really is a pointless debate. The only reason this ever gets discussed is because Bob the 3.4 engineer wants to feel just as good as Bill the 3.6 businessman, when in reality, no one really cares except for Bob.</p>

<p>If you take one person and one person only, and you required that he maintained a 3.8 GPA in pursuing a business degree, and then you took that same exact person but instead required him to maintain a 3.8 GPA in Electrical Engineering, you can bet your ass he will have to spend more time in Electrical Engineering. Whether he is strong in math and sucks at business, or he is excellent in business and sucks in math - either way, he will have to spend more time working for his 3.8 in engineering. </p>

<p>Now, you CAN argue, however, that in the pursuance of his engineering degree, depending on his personality/individual qualities, the engineering degree might possibly actually be easier, but this is besides the case. More effort will be required to complete the engineering degree.</p>

<p>This is by no means a superiority complex. You can trust I’d be the last person to think my major is superior than any others’ (you don’t even know what I’m majoring in). As another stated on CC, I respect anyone who is a scholar in his studies, whether that’s a liberal arts degree or one in Nuclear Weaponry.</p>

<p>The only people making that distinction are people who have a superiority or inferiority complex</p>

<p>For you to think you can judge people to the extent that you do (having superiority complex) based on a simple distinction made, makes me feel you yourself have a self-purported/elevated sense of nature, one that thinks you are better than others in your field because you don’t deem your major as “superior” and so you live with enlightened eyes that others have not been fortunate enough to experience (and in saying this, I mean in no ways that I do deem engineering majors as “superior” - get over it).</p>

<p>“The only people making that distinction are people who have a superiority or inferiority complex, because those two people aren’t going to be competing for the same jobs and so there will almost never be anyone trying to objectively compare the two.”</p>

<p>A lot of people where I go want to go into banking or consulting, where they’ll sometimes be competing with business majors.</p>

<p>The comparison is idiotic because outside of academia, a very insignificant amount of jobs, professions, and careers will have some form of meaningful grading system. You either get the job done and get to keep your position or you do not get the job done and you are let go.</p>

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<p>On the contrary, I do not feel I am superior. I cared about such things at one point in my life like many of the people on here; then I grew out of it. I realized it doesn’t matter. Not one bit. I could care less about what people study as long as they are passionate about it and don’t act like they are better than someone else because of their studies (something I am sure we are all guilty of now and then). It really just annoys me that so many threads pop up like this.</p>

<p>QwertyKey, you bring up a good example; it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if nearly all investment bankers were engineering instead of finance simply because of the quantitative skill set they possess. Still that is a valid counterexample.</p>

<p>"For you to think you can judge people to the extent that you do (having superiority complex) based on a simple distinction made, makes me feel you yourself have a self-purported/elevated sense of nature, one that thinks you are better than others in your field because you don’t deem your major as “superior” and so you live with enlightened eyes that others have not been fortunate enough to experience (and in saying this, I mean in no ways that I do deem engineering majors as “superior” - get over it). "</p>

<p>Ah, but perhaps it is you who exhibit superiority for asserting that boneh3ad’s alleged superiority derives from his elevated sense of nature over those who feel superior to “less fortunate majors,” evincing that it is you who purportedly sees with these enlightened eyes. This is a real terrific argument. Keep going.</p>

<p>^ ? Dude, just stop. Please.</p>

<p>And to boneh3ad, I wasn’t trying to start an argument. What’s said is said. It’s just that you’re too willing to draw assumptions, and not just any assumptions - ones that come off as rude. Such as this one:</p>

<p>I could care less about what people study as long as they … don’t act like they are better than somebody else … something I’m sure all of us are guilty of now and then</p>

<p>Surely there are some of us in that pool, but just as surely, not all of us are in that pool. And just as surely, there are onlookers right now reading that who find it offensive. </p>

<p>And as for my aiming the superiority at you, it wasn’t in seriousness - it was for you to rethink your ways/proposal. (Btw kkwa, your counter is so fallible and stupid - perhaps it is you who exhibits this superiority complex for asserting that I exhibit it for asserting that boneh3ad exhibits it. In fact, perhaps it IS true that you exhibit this superiority given the very first word you chose to write: “Ah” - certainly that is one of superiority)</p>

<p>someone who can get a 3.8 in ChemE could easily get a 3.8 in Business, but the reverse isn’t true. If you examine the amount of effort required to succeed in each area, engineers usually have it tougher.</p>