what is the most difficult undergraduate major?

What is the most difficult major out of only these?

  • Computer Engineering

    Votes: 6 4.4%

  • Math

    Votes: 37 27.0%

  • Physics

    Votes: 65 47.4%

  • Computer Science

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • On planet X our magic berries tell us all we need to know

    Votes: 29 21.2%
  • Total voters
    137

latent aaaack

Muse
latent aaaack
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...using the criteria of amount of time committment, the % of undergraduates who finish and don't switch majors, and the GPA of an average student in the major. I'm interested in peoples' opinions because I'm switching majors and feel too clueless about differences in difficulty among these.
 
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I chose Physics as being the most difficult.

Next most difficult is Mathematics.

Computer Engineering and Computer Science come in third.

The difficulty that will be encountered depends very much on the person, the background of that person, the school and department, and whether this is expected to be a terminal degree.

I have a B.A. in English Lit, a B.S in Information Sciences, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science.

I had several majors during my first undergrad stint, including two years as a physics major.
 
I don´t have the exact figures, and I don´t know how it is around the world.

I voted physics, being myself a physics major drop-out. Physics undergrad here has one of the highest drop-out rates. In my college, for instance, admittance was 190 a year. We had an average 20 graduating each year.

I place mathematics very close by. Honestly, math and physics are very similar. An advanced undergrad course in topology or analysis isn´t going to be much different from statistical mechanics in the senior year, difficulty-wise.

Both are the most difficult ones among all undergrad courses, not only the sciences.
Computer Science is a piece of cake. :)
 
[anecdote:]
During my undergraduate degree, we had several folks drop out of electrical engineering to become math majors because of the difficulty of the math.
[/anecdote]

I would also probably put physics at the top, but from my perspective in some ways engineering was much more difficult than math.

Organic chemistry was a nightmare. I guess some of the difficulty regarding ANY subject would have be how a student's thought processes are aligned to the subject.

With the limited options in the poll, it has to be physics.
 
I don't know what Computer Engineering is, as I did not attend a university that offered that degree and have never met anyone with that degree.

If it is a classical engineering degree, in which one must be licensed by a board, endorse a code of ethics, and must take exams and be licensed by a board to practice engineering, and can receive Professional Engineer license, and you take classical engineering classes such as thermodynamics, material sciences, physics, statics, fluid mechanics, calculus and differential equations, then I would say that it would be the most difficult.

For reference, I started out as a chemistry major and switched to chemical engineering, and have a BS and have a PE after my name.
 
Geek Goddess: Computer engineering is not the same as mechanical, electrical, or chemical engineering. They don't have the math.

ETA: I guess I should bow. I'm only a lowly EE. :)
 
I'd echo parts of Caius' and slyjoe's post. Computer science is piece of cake. I switched out of a straight EE program in to the Computer Science option, blew through it and then switched back to the math/physics intensive EE program. Didn't seem to be much in the Computer Science curriculum that couldn't be picked up later with a proper EE/Math background.
 
I earned a computer engineering degree. In my opinion, the difficulty of a degree is very individual. I entered the engineering program as a mature student and quickly found that my math preparation was inadequate. I struggled through the first year while I caught up. I found the remaining three years to be easy.

I took my engineering degree in Canada from 1991 to 1995. Things may have changed. The first year of my engineering program was common for all engineering disciplines. The second and most of the third year was common for electrical and computer engineering students. Parts of the third year and most of the fourth year were specific to computer engineering. I took the same math courses as electrical engineering students until fourth year, where I took specialized applied math courses on such topics as microelectronics and parallel computing. Canadian computer engineers are eligible to take additional training to earn the PE designation. We are also entitled to attend a ceremony and wear the "Iron Ring" that is unique to Canadian engineers.

For me, the hardest degree was my master's in education. I've had many people tell me this is an easy program, but it was a challenge to find a "process" to get the answer to a question where all you have are words and ideas. I kept at it and in the end, it was a rewarding and illuminating experience.
 
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if "difficulty" is measured in % of the population who could achieve such a degree, I'd have to vote for maths and physics....

I mean, anyone who can string a few sentences together can get a BA :) :duck:
 
I think he's going for 'of these options'

Depending on where you are social sciences can be an incredible amount of work if you're doing it right. Setting up good studies and interpreting data correctly isn't easy.
 
rjh01 said:
Can I throw in some non random words here
Law
Medicine.

They all require many years of study. I cannot see them on your list.
Click to expand...


The question was about undergraduate majors.

These don't fit the bill.
 
Complexity said:
I chose Physics as being the most difficult.

Next most difficult is Mathematics.
Click to expand...

Ha! ... I always told my physics students the reason you chose this course was because you felt you weren't getting enough math in your math class.

Anyway ... Chemistry can be quite the strain as well.

As for law (another's mention) ... all I can say is that I know 2 people (one friend, one family) with law degrees and have had arguments with them. Both have at times used fallacious logic in arriving at conclusions, so what gives?
 
I never wanted to be a physics major, but if I had gone that route, the class that would have gotten in the way was E&M. I wish I could have a better understanding of Maxwell equations. That stuff is hard.

Advanced Mechanics would be challenging, but would be very cool so I could do it.
 
Hardest in most cases also correlates with $$$$... At least Accounting is fifth...

Chemical Engineering: $55,900
Electrical Engineering: $52,899
Mechanical Engineering: $50,672
Computer Science: $50,046
Accounting: $45,723
Economics/Finance: $45,191
Civil Engineering: $44,999
Business Administration: $39,850
Marketing: $36,260
Liberal Arts: $30,828

Top Degrees by $$$
 
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