Humanities vs. Science/math majors

College Search & Selection
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<p>I’ve always gotten the impression that science, math majors are way more difficult than humanities majors like history or languages. I’ve visited medschool forums and many people talk about being screwed over by a major in chem or bio, and advise premeds to take on a nonscience major for the sake of a higher gpa (minus all that diversity crap that medschool adcoms look for). I can see how English, philosophy, history, and foreign language are generally easier to digest than chemistry, physics, or calculus level10, but I’ve been thinking lately, that this may not necessarily be true. </p>

<li>history or english requires tons of reading. It is more common for those majors to get 1000 pages of reading per week, whereas science/math majors will have much less reading (less facts more concepts). Humanities majors will probably have to write more research papers (think history), literary analysis; more writing overall, which is going to be very time consuming. On the other hand science/math majors will probably be spared from the 20 page research papers/essays and instead will have to do lab reports and problem sets. As long as they understand the concepts, those will be much less time consuming. </li>
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<p>Here’s how a major in the sciences/math might trump one in humanities.</p>

<li>For science and math courses, tests are more predictable and “easier” to study for. By that I mean the material is less debatable. Either you know the concept/formulas and how to solve the problems, or you don’t. For science and math, you will have to study and memorize things, but not to the extent of humanities courses. If you’ve been following along the class material, doing your hw/problem sets, even cramming will be more effective. For english and history classes however, cramming usually consists of trying to memorize hundreds of pages of details that you won’t even know will be tested or not. In calc, if you get the right answer you get full points. For a history essay, points will easily be deducted for weak analysis, wrong facts, etc etc. </li>
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<p>Some other points:
Another pro of humanities over science is that it is much easier to BS. But at the same time a con is that either you know the facts or you don’t. It’s much easier to bs a literary analysis than a lab report.</p>

<p>There are so many ads/disads about the two types of majors. Of course, I’m leaving out business, engineering, art, music. But for the most part we will have to choose between qualitative and quantitative studies. I’m going to be a freshman in college next year. I’ve been switching back and forth between a major in east asian studies/chinese studies and biology. Maybe I will major in one and minor in both I don’t know. I’m sure many of you are making the same decisions, so please leave your thoughts. </p>

<p>Thanks for reading the whole thing!</p>

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<p>
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I'm going to be a freshman in college next year.

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<p>This explains why you think science courses are just "learn the concept get an A." Often I get assigned loads of reading (little of which is done, as is true with most liberal arts classes), have massive problem sets which take 10+ hours each, even once I've already understood the topic, and lab reports that can were generally longer than the research papers I had to write for my humanities classes.</p>

<p>There's a reason why engineering/science majors tend to get high grades in all of their liberal arts classes. The relative amount of work required is significantly less. For my final semester project in this one ridiculous class I took on the "History of Urban America in the United States" I threw together a presentation in about three hours after doing research for an afternoon. I was ashamed of the quality of my presentation, thought my research was flimsy, and my arguments poorly founded. I knew in most of my science classes I would have gotten blasted for submitting an assignment like that. Well, I wound up with the highest grade in the class, and I was the only non-history major in there!</p>

<p>PS: Currently working on my take-home final for this class in thermodynamics I'm taking. We're given unlimited time, and I'm in hour 25 or so of the test and I know I'm gong a bit faster than the rest of my friends. I'd much rather walk into a classroom, plop down an essay or three, and then leave than take another one like this next semester (which I know I'm going to have to do :().</p>

<p>Oh, and despite all my complaining above, I love being an engineer. Nothing beats the thrill of finally figuring out the problem that's been stumping you for the past six hours.</p>

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<p>
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On the other hand science/math majors will probably be spared from the 20 page research papers/essays and instead will have to do lab reports and problem sets. As long as they understand the concepts, those will be much less time consuming.

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<p>HAHAHAHAHAHA</p>

<p>Anyway...it depends on the person. Really. For most people, math/science/eng classes seem to be harder. But I certainly knew people in college who got As in their science/eng classes and Bs or Cs in their humanities classes. Everyone is different.</p>

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<p>My first bachelor's degree was in history. I took tons of English and foreign language classes also. It was easy stuff for me. I found I had a pretty good knack for b.s. It seemed to me that if you could write well, you could sell your ideas, even if they were pretty much without merit. That is not to say I didn't know my facts, but in the end I found it frustrating that there was no right--vs. wrong--answer.</p>

<p>I went back to school and got a bachelor's in biochemistry. No baloney allowed. The lab classes are extremely time consuming, the concepts often difficult to really get a handle on. Overall, there is more work involved in a natural science field, and more of it must be done in class. I loved the field, though, and went on the get a PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry.</p>

<p>What do I read in my spare time? History. What would I do if I had it to do all over again? I would stick with my original plan to get a PhD in history. On the other hand, I would have been yet another historian who didn't understand what it means to take a scientific approach to social/political/historical analysis, so what good would that do anyone?</p>

<p>Questions, questions...</p>

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<p>I think it depends on the person, school, and major. I know some science majors who have had a very different experiance than RacinReaver: although their science classes are mad hard and time consuming, they find the humanties they've taken even harder. And it depends on the humanitites major, too. For example, at my school we have a special interdisiplanary major called college of social science, AKA colloege of suicidal sophmores, because they have SO MUCH WORK, esp. in sophmore year. Def. as hard as any science major.</p>

<p>In the end, I think the main differeance is that in science, the major is pretty much going to be hard if it's a rigerous school. You can make it harder depending on what upper level classes you take, but either way, it tends to be a ton of lab work, a ton of studying. Humanities and social science majors, OTOH, tend to have more flexiblity. A humanities major can, IMO, be just as hard as a science major if one challenges oneself, but it's not that difficult to pick a scedual with only easy graders or BS classes. And I say this as a humanitites and social science major.</p>

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<p>It of course depends on the person. However, in general, yes, humanities courses are much easier than science courses. I was a bio major at Cornell but took a lot of nonscience courses (Spanish, anthropology, psychology, English, history, Asian American Studies, sociology, etc.). While nonscience courses generally involve a lot of reading/writing, if you are a halfway decent writer, you will do excellent. In some of my courses, I skipped entire books and was still able to get an A. Non-science courses are generally uncurved so half the class or more get A's.</p>

<p>Science courses involve a lot of critical thinking and/or memorization. There is just a tremondous amount of facts to learn. Many science majors are premeds gunning for that elusive A and since most science courses are curved, that leads to lower grades. </p>

<p>Despite the fact I only put 1/4 the amount of time/effort towards humanities courses, I graduated Cornell with a 4.0+ non-science GPA (approx. 40 credits worth; not even an A-, only A's and A+'s) and a science GPA that was 0.2 lower.</p>

<p>I do have to say that I didn't take any philosophy or econ courses (which are rumored to be tougher than typical non-science courses).</p>

<p>edit:

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It seemed to me that if you could write well, you could sell your ideas, even if they were pretty much without merit.

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<p>Agree with this 100%.</p>

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<p>Another thing for both humanities and science folks to remember - unless you are minoring or something similar in the "other side", you are probably taking intro-level classes in that "side". Intro-level classes are not going to have the same difficulty or workload as upper-level classes.</p>

<p>We had to do a "concentration" - a humanities, arts, or social sciences mini-minor (to make sure that the techies knew something of the non-technical world in depth! :D). Mine was in international politics/security studies. I took an intro class and three upper-level classes in the political science department. The intro class was actually quite good - brilliant lecturer - but it was nowhere near the difficulty or workload of the upper-level classes. Someone who only took that intro class might have gotten the mistaken impression that that's what all of the poli sci classes were like.</p>

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Non-science courses are generally uncurved so half the class or more get A's.

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<p>lol. maybe you should take some humanities courses at a different school.</p>

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<p>I'd actually say the low-level humanities classes were more difficult than the handful of upper level courses I took because there was so much competition among the non-H&SS majors.</p>

<p>I also remember taking some econ class and getting admonished by the TA for using calculus to solve a problem instead of doing it graphically. :(</p>