<p>I notice that engineers have the most classes to take for UG but they have the least to take for Graduate school. What is the reason for this. </p>
<p>Forexample for UG an Engineering major needs more classes average than a BioChem Major or a Math major, but for Ph.D a Biochemistry or Mathematics Ph.D takes significantly longer than a Engineering one.</p>
<p>No, a PhD in biochemistry or math takes longer because of the nature of the projects people work on. Anything biological usually adds at least a year or two to the normal (science) PhD completion time of 4-5 years. For most PhD programs, people do a year or so of full-time coursework and then another year of half-time coursework. The course load is heaviest in theoretical fields (theoretical physics, math, etc) but is still quite a bit heavier for most engineers than it is for biologists. </p>
<p>The most significant portion of any PhD program is going to be the research thesis, which can take more than 2x as long as the courses.</p>
<p>Well it is not just theoretical fields. I am looking to in Statistics Ph.D Programs and atleast for all of the UCs they have to take a whole lot more classes than Engineers do. Expecially those doing BioStatisitcs. At my school forexample Biostatistics Ph.D canditates have around twice the number of courses at EE do.</p>
<p>If not more theoretical than engineering, statistics is more of an analytical and less of a "doing" field than engineering is. Which would lead to a greater course load.</p>
<p>Just wondering what about history, english, ect type majors. How is there courseload and what about their Disseration/Research. How are they compared to the math, science and Engineering Ph.D programs.</p>
<p>You can do "course-based" masters for engineering or you can do a research-based masters. The course-based ones are the most like any other masters - you take classes and get a degree. That is what math majors or English majors would do.</p>
<p>The "real" engineering masters is different: you do a ton of research and write a thesis on your findings. You'll take a few classes (maybe two per semester), but the research is the nuts and bolts of the degree. As a result, you're taking fewer classes, but still doing as much or more work than the people who just take classes.</p>