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It certainly does depend on the program, and lots of comm programs aren't up to par.
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<p>I think that’s the main thing to remember.</p>
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I actually think that the material one covers in comm is preferable for something like law over a strict history program because I think the skills one acquires are much, much more applicable than what one might get in history.
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<p>The material might generally be more preferable than your average history major (due to the various different things they may emphasize things generally unrelated to American law or the development America). However, many a history major concentrates in or takes many classes on American history and /or general legal systems/law, meaning the actual knowledge covered is very relevant. I’m not intimately familiar with many comm programs, but from what I can tell skills are generally more developed in a history program because there is often more researching, more reading than other majors (I think as much as English majors in many cases, and often more), and writing held to higher standards. Perhaps the writing isn’t held to hire standards, but I think that the other points hold. Anyway, history is interdisciplinary in nature, and students study many sorts of things through it.</p>
<p>I think blue147 sums it up best:</p>
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If you're an engineer major, wow, good for you. If you you're an english major, wow, good for you.
<p>I think that since America is becoming more of an information based economy, the skills that should be taught in the Humanities departments will become more valued. </p>
<p>I say "should" because most Universities' English departments have devolved into havens for soft-headed, postmodernist idiots. We need more people like Allan Bloom and Camille Paglia.</p>
<p>Like I've said before, saying that math and sciences are harder than humanities is not the same thing as saying that a math major would automatically be an expert in humanities off the top of their head. You could be the president and know absolutely nothing about being a plumber, but that doesn't make being a plumber equally challenging as being the president. Majors like communications can be challenging in their own way, just not on an intellectual level, because communications isn't really an academically oriented major like math or science. An advanced degree is not an absolute requirement to succeed in areas like business because business depends more on character, but you can't be a top scientist without a formal education. As for people choosing their major because it's what they enjoy or it's what they're best at, that's not neccessarily true, otherwise you wouldn't have so many people dropping out of certain majors.</p>
<p>It's also harder to drive a car with your p.enis instead of your hands, but I fail to see the point of doing the former, more masochistic method. Ditto for math/science.</p>
<p>I've been reading this forum intermittently since I started looking into colleges, but this particular thread caught my attention.</p>
<p>First of all, why so hostile? Even if you do believe your chemistry major is superior in terms of the amount of work/cognitive ability required, why put that opinion forth in such a manner? </p>
<p>Second, to say that majors other than science/math are fluff is clearly misguided. True, there are majors which are known at a particular university to be "athlete majors." At my school it's economics. However, where one school might have an easy economics department, another may have an extremely tough one. For example, here at UNC Chapel Hill we've got a pretty strenuous (spelling?) chemistry program. I know firsthand that the curriculum is simply harder than the program at nearby Elon, because I've got friends in the chem program there. </p>
<p>Another problem with that statement is that people have relative strengths and weaknesses. I can say that I am way better at mathematics than I am at philosophy. I am terrible at philosophy, and don't really like the subject very much. If I majored in philosophy, I would get a lower GPA than if I majored in math. That doesn't necessarily mean the math major is easy and the philosophy major is hard. It's subjective.</p>
<p>I will acknowledge that <em>generally</em> speaking, programs such as engineering or bachelor science can be more intense than a normal liberal arts degree. I think part of this is due to the fact that BS and engineering degrees usually <em>require</em> you to take certain classes, while BA's in the humanities allow you to avoid certain classes that you may not enjoy. For instance, the econ major here at UNC only requires you to take 3 classes, the rest are econ electives. The BS in chemistry requires you to take around 18 specific classes in addition to chem electives. Some of these are upper level mathematics and physics, things that chem majors are not necessarily interested in.</p>
<p>To make such a broad statement as you did is at best inaccurate and, to many people, offense.</p>