<p>My major: Physics/Mechanical Engineering with a possible math minor (yeah, I’ll be in school forever!)</p>
<p>Impressed by: Engineering students who don’t whine and moan about how ‘haaaaard’ their major is, chemistry majors who are not premed (and thus take the full grad-school bound curriculum rather than a watered down version), and full math majors.</p>
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Chem majors don’t take a “watered down” version if they’re preMed; the requirements for a degree in Chemistry don’t change depending on whether you’re headed to Grad school, Med school or the real world. They take the exact same classes as other Chem students, since their major covers all the preMed requirements. </p>
<p>People often think preMeds complain because they find the material in their classes difficult - this isn’t true. Intro-level Bio, Chem, Orgo and Physics are not hard. But when you’re in a class of 500 students, only the top 10% can get A’s, and the other 90% are also smart, understand the material and work really hard, it becomes very competitive.
Let’s say there’s 2 Gen Chem classes - one for Chem majors and one for preMeds. Both classes learn the same Intro material, the difference is the Chem majors will be in a smaller class where they focus on learning, the premeds have to understand the material and also beat out all the other smart kids who understand it. In my college they don’t separate preMeds from non preMeds in Intro courses, so this is just what i’ve observed.</p>
<p>^ At my university, there is an ‘Science and Letters’ (for future lawyers and doctors) option, and a ‘Specialized’ option (for graduate-bound students) so, no, they don’t take the same classes. Less math, less of the very specialized advanced classes and more required courses like an extra writing and so on. I’m not saying I don’t respect premeds, but their course requirements, should they take the Science and Letters option, is a lot less rigorous so I don’t put them on the same level as the other chemistry students.</p>
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<p>One little point I’d like to add is that a major’s required classes are one thing, and what many of those who actually do that major accomplish is quite another. Many premeds I’ve noticed don’t take overambitious chemistry and biology schedules, noting that their foremost priority is to maintain their GPAs. It’s a perfectly great career aspiration to want to become a doctor, but I won’t deny that someone aiming for biology or chemistry graduate school probably will take a more interesting schedule, and thus will catch my attention more easily. My observation from having both premed and standard chemistry (and chemical engineering) friends. </p>
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<p>I am one of those who understands their situation, cringes, and moves on. I could not imagine being a premed.</p>
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<p>Most definitely very cool people :)</p>
<p>I don’t know any pre-med majors who actually REALLY want to be doctors. :(</p>
<p>My major: Comp Sci</p>
<p>Impressed by: Math. They learn some incredibly abstract and tough material, and do so out of passion, because the job offerings related to one’s major in Math are so limited.</p>
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You’re an Arts major so you probably don’t have many preMeds in your classes. Believe me, these folks REALLY want to be doctors. My classes are chock full of them and they’re annoyingly competitive and obsessed - who would put in that much energy for something they don’t care about? preMed isn’t a major…most are doing Bio and Chem, until they switch to Psych because it’s easier lol. :0
I agree with this. My major is divided into Med-bound students and Grad-bound students, and the Grad School bound ones take the harder classes for electives. I guess it’s since we don’t have to worry about our GPA’s as much, so we can take more interesting advanced stuff they’re worried about.</p>
<p>If I was a Math/Engineering major, my head would be inflated from reading this thread. 
i go to a very artsy school where people just ignore the sciences and think they’re useless, so this seems weird to me.</p>
<p>“You’re an Arts major so you probably don’t have many preMeds in your classes. Believe me, these folks REALLY want to be doctors. My classes are chock full of them and they’re annoyingly competitive and obsessed. Actually, some of them already think they’re doctors. And preMed isn’t a major…most are doing Bio and Chem, until they switch to Psych because it’s easier. :0”</p>
<p>Uh. All of my friends except one are doing science/pre-med. One of my best friends is doing nursing and I definitely have more respect for them than I do for pre-med kids. I have to take science classes to graduate even though I am an ‘Arts’ major and I know a lot of pre-meds through that.</p>
<p>And I know it’s not a major, thanks.</p>
<p>To Alix – I think graduate school in a lot of the lab sciences and engineering is largely about showing promise at research. Unfortunately, in my own major, one cannot really do research until much later (sure, there are mini research opportunities, but the scope is often limited to a huge degree for lacking advanced machinery), and even in graduate school the transition is considerable, as some great professors have said. So in my major, an important thing is developing a very mature perspective on mathematics, and showing promise at being able to handle the complexity of the “real stuff,” which exceeds that of any course by a huge margin. This means that classes (particularly advanced ones) do matter more than they would in a less theoretical field. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, our courses are not GPA rat-races, they’re about handling complex stuff well. Might be very similar with theoretical physics. </p>
<p>But luckily I don’t hear of many physicists or math majors whine! Surprisingly, pure engineers do it a lot more.</p>
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<p>Yeah, you’d think so. I feel like hot shiz some days myself but then you go back to your room and see a ten page problem set staring back at you evilly. It’s difficult to be too proud when you’re constantly being humbled by your homework.</p>
<p>@Mathboy - Yep exactly, if you’re headed to Grad school it’s less of a GPA rat-race and more about handling advanced topics, which looks more impressive to grad schools than A’s in easier courses. In Math everything’s even more theoretical so advanced complex classes matter even more. And I also don’t hear many physics/math folks whining! Notice how these types of threads always turn into Arts vs Engineering vs Business, and math/sci gets ignored - a lot less whining and condescension there. Although Engineeers have it really hard so I understand them complaining about stuff and feeling like they have it worse than everyone else…because they kind of do. I picked Aero Engineering in my OP and it’s not only because it sounds impressive, engineering is pretty damn hard an a lot of work. </p>
<p>@ Comiclover - please don’t get offended, I’m just trying to make sense of what you said - that preMeds don’t want to become doctors. Now, it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through if you don’t want to be a doctor. That would be like if I said “I don’t know any nursing students that REALLY want to be nurses.”</p>
<p>LOL. I am not offended.</p>
<p>I didn’t say all. I said the ones I knew. It’s kinda like law school. One of my friends wants to apply to law school but doesn’t really want to be a lawyer but it’s considered a good, stable job. I don’t know a lot of pre-laws so I can’t say ‘everyone’.</p>
<p>That’s fine. I’m sure there are people doing nursing that don’t really want to. One of my other friends was in nursing because it’s a family thing (her cousin was doing it as well). I feel like in the sciences its easier to find people who are not in it just because they love it. I think someone said it earlier but some people don’t care about learning stuff and just want to go through college to get a job and the sciences are one of the best ways to do that.</p>
<p>yeah, i’m sure that in any pre-professional track like business, premed, prelaw, engineering, there’s people who don’t love it. My boyfriend’s in finance and I know he hates it (but I understand why he’s doing it anyway).
If by the sciences you mean preMed and Engineering, then sure. But for everything else, then no…because having a Bachelor’s in Biochem isn’t anymore lucrative than a Bachelor’s in Psych, for both fields you need an advanced degree. Biochem is pretty rigorous, so why would anyone put themselves through all that if they didn’t love it? Our society doesn’t encourage students to study Math/Sci, there’s not much incentive to study those topics - American society encourages studying liberal arts/business more, which is why most students pick those. Unfortunately, the liberal arts majors have a lot of students who simply need a BA and aren’t passionate about the subject, but want easy grades. (Not saying most arts majors are like this, just that if you want to slack off, it’s easier to do in History than Physics). Because they realize most jobs require a Bachelor’s but dont’ care what it’s in, so you might as well pick the easier topic. Which is why I admire Math majors - they could’ve easily done Business but chose something harder and it’s not lucrative.</p>
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<p>To be slightly picky of course, some math majors have no intention of making a career in math. They major in math because they’re smart and enjoy it. Many of them can get quick further 1-2 year degrees in either computer science or financial engineering, and then go make very good money, even more than many engineering majors (the latter could go into investment banking). Some of them go to law school because their heads are naturally wired so they can ace the LSAT, and don’t mind that stuff. </p>
<p>But without a question, the math majors generally picked a harder road to these careers than other counterparts. Only in a very few tracks is huge mathematical sophistication going to actually come into play in one’s job. </p>
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<p>Exactly how I feel.</p>
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<p>So again, seldom does one need an advanced math or physics credential to do good jobs. Math majors can get good jobs if they’re open to different things just because they’re considered intelligent, but to use large degrees of advanced math in one’s work, as I posted above, isn’t exactly a common thing. Not to mention, doing real-scale research mathematics isn’t a career most have a chance to make it in. </p>
<p>In short: someone with the intelligence to do a math or physics major certainly could’ve taken it easy and done something that’d get them to an equally lucrative career. Some of them, however, choose the hard path because they enjoy the material, and many even don’t pursue very lucrative career paths.</p>
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Quoted for truth, especially in finance -a friend was trained as an Algebraic Geometer- but you should have mentioned Biotech!</p>
<p>Liberal Arts</p>
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<p>I’m actually rather into algebraic geometry myself – did this friend perchance find a way to realize a career such that it was in tune with his mathematical interests? That is, did they actually need him to be a trained algebraic geometer in his profession? </p>
<p>I know very little about careers for mathematicians outside of academia, which would necessarily deal with the flavor of mathematics I am into. I’d appreciate any info out there.</p>
<p>My Major: Political Philosophy, French minor (I am also pre-med)</p>
<p>Respect: Engineering, Pure Math, Music, & Art</p>
<p>I’m glad that some people respect philosophy majors. Music and Art majors should not be underestimated. I’ve played the piano for quite a few years and have played some pretty difficult pieces (i.e. Liszt etudes);being a music major is no easy feat. In addition to the regular classroom academic music classes, there are ensemble and juries that they must participate in. They also must try to get into some of the most competitive conservatories in the world (i.e. Juilliard, Yale SOM, Peabody, Curtis, etc.) to maybe make a career.</p>
<p>@mathboy98, I doubt it. PM.</p>