<p>Some people act like getting a 3.8 or whatever is such a feat, and rub their grades in your nose, but you can't really compare a psychology major's gpa of a 3.8 with a chem major's gpa of a 3.5, and act like you did so much better.</p>
<p>talk about "fluff" or easy majors, and how your friends brag about getting all As in communications while you are killing yourself with orgo.</p>
<p>my friend is an electrical engineer major with a 3.9gpa. i think that's just nuts especially because all he does is drink and get high when he's not doing work for classes.</p>
<p>let him know that he's my idol ok?</p>
<p>Hey gemstar, I used to love guys (I assume "guy") like you who somehow wandered into an upper division political philosophy course. If they didn't drop or change to pass/not pass before the first paper was due, they would frequently crater spectacularly by turning in a 3-page "term paper" hand-printed on graph paper in pencil. Liberal arts may be different, but they are not necessarily easier. I can absolutely guarantee you from working with various techies for years that hardly any tech graduate can write a coherent paragraph. (Some, of course, write very well. Picture a venn diagram with "good writers" in one bubble and "tech grads" in another -- there is an intersection. Just like some of us liberal arts majors took science classes and earned "A"s. In fact my GPA in physical and biological science classes was higher than in my major.)</p>
<p>If you have any doubts about the comparative difficulty of the liberal arts done well, after you get your degree in chemistry spend four years at a school like Reed College and then let us know how easy it was.</p>
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my friend is an electrical engineer major with a 3.9gpa. i think that's just nuts especially because all he does is drink and get high when he's not doing work for classes.
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<p>Don't worry. Life is not a competition.</p>
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If you have any doubts about the comparative difficulty of the liberal arts done well, after you get your degree in chemistry spend four years at a school like Reed College and then let us know how easy it was.
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<p>What was your major at Reed? I almost went there.</p>
<p>Well I never said it was a competition.</p>
<p>I don't like your perceived condescension of people's choice of study. Are you one of those people who pursue something purely for its prestige not because of your own geniue interest? </p>
<p>GPA, to some degree, is an indication of one's expertise in his field of study. The point is to measure how good people are in their field, not what kind of field they are in.</p>
<p>I hope you will one day come to a realization that people should be admired their excellence in their line of work, regardless of what kind it is.</p>
<p>There's a guy here on CC who goes to Caltech who has a overall 4.1 GPA (math/econ).</p>
<p>Hey it's your choice to major chem or biomedical engineering or whatever. Nobody told you to major that stuff....so if you can't get a 3.9 in your biomedical engineering major then that's nobody's fault but your own. If you wanted a high GPA without working to death then you shouldn't have taken on such a hard major in the first place.</p>
<p>Besides, are you belittling liberal arts/business majors? Because most of the time they have better oral and written communication skills than engineering majors.</p>
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a school like Reed College
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<p>Or Swarthmore College or the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>You do know that Engineers have to write quite well, as they do it alot, our communication skill has to also be top notch.</p>
<p>Liberal arts classes are easier.</p>
<p>Vinny, engineers should write well -- they just don't. I've been working with engineers (note that "engineers" is not capitalized) for more than 20 years. Trust me on this.</p>
<p>Um, a 3.9 in engineering is a killer GPA. Don't even act like it's the same as earning a 3.9 in Elementary Education. </p>
<p>Different majors do have different standards of impressive GPAs. There's no point in denying it.</p>
<p>I ton'd know about you, but a 3.9 REGARDLESS of major is impressive and deserves some kind of recognition.</p>
<p>I hate that kind of attitude gemstar. That is a really pretentious mindset to have and I hope you change it. Just do the best you can in your classes and don't worry about how everyone else is doing. Nuff said.</p>
<p>You know it's threads like this that make me wish I went into a science major...a 3.9 is an impressive gpa. I don't know very many people in ANY major who have that. I agree with the poster who said that gpa IS an indication of expertise in your field. That's why there are gpa requirements for certain majors (at my school anyone in health sciences has to keep a 3.0 to stay). I still think it's ridiculous that pharmacy students only have to keep a 2.0 to stay in the program. </p>
<p>Liberal arts classes are different, but they can be just as challenging. It's not our fault that the pharmacy kids are the ones going out every night and waiting the night before an exam to start studying. Obviously if you do that you're probably not going to end up with a good gpa.</p>
<p>I do not understand gemstar's comments at all. </p>
<p>Is psychology a "fluff" major to you? Is Theology or Literature a "fluff" major to you? Is anything which is not math or science based "fluff"...</p>
<p>I do not think so.</p>
<p>Everyone should just plainly work hard and try their best. Who cares what the major is. </p>
<p>Golly, my major is Theology and I also do a lot of Literature, neither major requires any high math or science at all. You have not lived until you have had to self study New Testament Greek! Alright. But, I would never bother compairing some of the higher maths or sciences to New Testament Greek.</p>
<p>Oh, and my GPA is almost 3.9 as of right now. I cannot say it is all too fluffy, but whatever.</p>
<p>The way I see it, you should have gone to your strengths. For example, if you have a strong physics background, you SHOULD do well in engineering classes. If you have a strong English background, well you should also do well in English classes as well. I can understand your frustration though, at perceived 'cake-walk' majors having higher GPAs. I can imagine a biochem major struggling in a History class because of the massive amounts of reading involved, or the analytical skills needed for a Philosophy class. If you're in Engineering and doing ****ty, maybe you should have picked another field.</p>
<p>There are certain facts that should be considered... the average GPA in a college of engineering is normally significantly lower than the average in the arts/science/general college. The students in the college of engineering aren't less intelligent but rather the material is harder. I think that fact is quite clear. A 3.9 in any major is difficult but a 3.9 in a science/engineering/math is just harder. Also, why are test score/gpa admissions averages higher in engineering colleges versus the university as a whole? Just something to think about. We could always go into how these tests don't really judge intelligence, but obviously society thinks they do a fine job because they dominate the application process. </p>
<p>To those who tell the engineers to take a walk in their shoes and take a 400 level liberal arts course, etc... I have. They're easier. I'm a history minor and possibly history double major and the classes are easier. It's not the same type of higher level thinking... you aren't solving problems. You read, comprehend, analyze, and you regurgitate the information/analysis/etc. It's a different type of hard. To some, sitting down and analyzing a piece of text/painting/artwork is more difficult than chugging out a math problem. To me it is not. History is easy. Engineering is not. </p>
<p>... to get a 3.9 in any major you have to be good at what you do. You have to study, you have to make the effort. There is no disputing that one.</p>
<p>Hey, people are different, and their minds just work differently. I found engineering relatively easy; all you have to do it "get it" and I got it. Physics was different; I didn't get it and I struggled. Humanities was even harder; I found it really difficult to put together a good paper. I also have a relatively poor memory, so subjects requiring memorization were harder for me. So celebrate our differences, and may students land in a field they're good at and enjoy!</p>