"my degree is better than yours"

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TheoPetro

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Nov 30, 2004
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The general consensus seems to be that if you dont have a similar degree to mine then yours was WAY easier or less practical or useless in the real world. I went from Physics (took everything except 8 senior level classes, so basically a jr.) to Computer science/Math (roughly sophomore level in comp sci, jr level in math) to Finance (im finishing my degree in December so I have 4 more classes to take).

I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what each discipline entails and I can say from experience that not one of them is "way easier" than another.

Physics - very technical/logical, a lot of equations, studying was a moderate amount of concepts and memorizing equations.

Comp sci / Math - again very technical/logical, very time consuming (programming), studying was more memorizing than understanding concepts.

Finance - somewhat technical more conceptual, had to account for "non ideal" situations properly, studying was heavy into understanding concepts with moderate memorizing (vocab words, equations)

From what I have seen the top people in each discipline were very smart and not anyone could just jump in and get their grades. Each discipline had its share of morons as well. The one difference was that classes in business were much larger. The distribution of smart students seemed to remain similar.

For someone to say "o your degree is worthless" because it isnt something highly technical or it doesnt take 23 hours of studying a day is nuts. (damn my lack of spelling abilities)

The average starting salaries didnt seem much different amongst the three with physics being the highest (I think I cant remember exactly). The only difference I noticed was that while Physics and Comp sci seemed to be limited the Finance degree (while having a lower starting salary ~47k) seemed to have the ability to increase earnings drastically if you put the work in and were intelligent.

I guess the point of this post is to point out that regardless of what you think most majors do require a lot of work/studying and they require that even from very intelligent people. Try to not be very quick to generalize others based on their field of study. If you meet a moron in Finance you probably have the same chances of meeting that moron in a Comp sci or Physics program as well.

Discuss
 
Zim Hosein

Zim Hosein

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Nov 27, 1999
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Originally posted by: TheoPetro
The general consensus seems to be that if you dont have a similar degree to mine then yours was WAY easier or less practical or useless in the real world. I went from Physics (took everything except 8 senior level classes, so basically a jr.) to Computer science/Math (roughly sophomore level in comp sci, jr level in math) to Finance (im finishing my degree in December so I have 4 more classes to take).

I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what each discipline entails and I can say from experience that not one of them is "way easier" than another.

Physics - very technical/logical, a lot of equations, studying was a moderate amount of concepts and memorizing equations.

Comp sci / Math - again very technical/logical, very time consuming (programming), studying was more memorizing than understanding concepts.

Finance - somewhat technical more conceptual, had to account for "non ideal" situations properly, studying was heavy into understanding concepts with moderate memorizing (vocab words, equations)

From what I have seen the top people in each discipline were very smart and not anyone could just jump in and get their grades. Each discipline had its share of morons as well. The one difference was that classes in business were much larger. The distribution of smart students seemed to remain similar.

For someone to say "o your degree is worthless" because it isnt something highly technical or it doesnt take 23 hours of studying a day is ridicules.

The average starting salaries didnt seem much different amongst the three with physics being the highest (I think I cant remember exactly). The only difference I noticed was that while Physics and Comp sci seemed to be limited the Finance degree (while having a lower starting salary ~47k) seemed to have the ability to increase earnings drastically if you put the work in and were intelligent.

I guess the point of this post is to point out that regardless of what you think most majors do require a lot of work/studying and they require that even from very intelligent people. Try to not be very quick to generalize others based on their field of study. If you meed a moron in Finance you probably have the same chances of meeting that moron in a Comp sci or Physics program as well.

Discuss
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I don't meed anyone! :p
 
daniel1113

daniel1113

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Jun 6, 2003
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Originally posted by: TheoPetro
Originally posted by: daniel1113
Let me guess... you're an English major?
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:( im beginning to think you didnt even read the post
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I did... but I'm calling your bluff. You must be a closet English major :)
 
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simms

Diamond Member
Sep 21, 2001
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pssh. you didn't do engineering? my degree is better than yours. :p
 
rocadelpunk

rocadelpunk

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Jul 23, 2001
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i like my mathematics degree. I just wish I were bright enough to do graduate level math.
 
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TheoPetro

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Nov 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: loki8481
I dual-majored.

clearly my two majors are better than any of your single majors. :p
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o but I will be getting my math major once my finance one is done and then ill be on par with you. Should have a law degree or MBA done in the next 6 years too so ill eventually trump you
 
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TheoPetro

Banned
Nov 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Bullshit, why do you think all the athletes major in Sociology?
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I thought I was fairly clear with the "most majors do require a lot of work/studying..."

reading comprehension wha?
 
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QED

Diamond Member
Dec 16, 2005
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If you are a math major and you find you are studying more for memorization than to understand concepts then either you must have a really bad math department, or math just isn't for you. IMO, of course.

I pursued math because it was the ONE topic where good memorization wasn't necessarily required. When I taught math in college, I gave strong emphasis on understanding the "hows" and "whys" and not on strict memorization of formulas or theorems. All of my tests and exams were open-book. Why? All of the good math professors I ever had when I was in college were the same.
 
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nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
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Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Bullshit, why do you think all the athletes major in Sociology?
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I thought that was mass comm.


sociology is on the more difficult end of the liberal arts spectrum, imo. lots of advanced statistics, learning how to conduct research (obtaining an accurate sample, gearing questionnaires correctly, etc), and whatnot.
 
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Saint Michael

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Aug 4, 2007
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Originally posted by: Imdmn04
Bullshit, why do you think all the athletes major in Sociology?
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Well, lots of them are black, and sociology probably has a particularly personal resonance for many black people. Assuming you didn't just pull that out of your ass.
 
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TheoPetro

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Nov 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: QED
If you are a math major and you find you are studying more for memorization than to understand concepts then either you must have a really bad math department, or math just isn't for you. IMO, of course.

I pursued math because it was the ONE topic where good memorization wasn't necessarily required. When I taught math in college, I gave strong emphasis on understanding the "hows" and "whys" and not on strict memorization of formulas or theorems. All of my tests and exams were open-book. Why? All of the good math professors I ever had when I was in college were the same.
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the memorization was more for the comp sci than the math. The program at my school focused on the "what" in the basic classes (calc1-3) and focused on the "why" in the upper classes (the DE classes)
 
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Eeezee

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2005
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First of all, define "better." Usually I see people on ATOT making the claim that certain majors are useless from a career standpoint, and that is undeniable. Majoring in English might be hard (and rewarding) for some people, but it's still a "worthless" major because it won't get you anywhere except academia. Philosophy has similar problems. Also, psychology suffers from being a relatively new science, and as such it gets looked down on from all of the older sciences and engineering professions.

Back to the topic.

You took three majors, that doesn't mean all majors are of equal difficulty or value or whatever it is you're using to define how "great" a major is. I'd expect you to have at least SOME idea as to why three out of hundreds is rarely an adequate sample size considering your background.

It is undeniable that there are many majors that are just easy. I'm a physics graduate. I'll be the first to admit that I can't dance well and would never cut it as a dance major. I wouldn't do well as an art history major either (I've never been a fan of art history specifically). However, I could spank the shit out of Communications or Family Studies. Anyone can succeed in those majors, although there was a rumor at my university that our Communications dept was #1 in the nation, U of Arizona; I don't know if it's true. Finance might prove challenging, although algebra and arithmetic are really my area of expertise. I could spank Business Administration/Management. I could probably spank Psychology, but we went over why that's an iffy topic.

Amongst the majors you've experienced, the salary averages should have been Finance > Physics > Comp Sci > Math., or maybe I'm confusing accounting with finance. In any case, there IS a difference in average salary and the more highly technical majors ARE required for a more highly technical job. If you major in English you're never going to be a systems engineer. If you major in Chemistry you have a good chance of becoming whatever you want (if you take some standardized tests and go to a grad school in the field you're interested in, such as Law, Medicine, Chemistry, other sciences, etc.)
 
Mo0o

Mo0o

Lifer
Jul 31, 2001
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Uh... you just listed 3 really competitive majors with good prospects after college. Maybe if you switched from Comp Sci to Anthropology or Women's Studies, your post might be mildly interesting.
 
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tfinch2

Lifer
Feb 3, 2004
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I've found Comp Sci to be more of an application of my knowledge rather than memorization.
 
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TheoPetro

Banned
Nov 30, 2004
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I only listed those three because 1) they're the ones I have had direct experience with and 2) there seems to be a lot of tension between business and science majors here.

Im not sure what schools rank highly for women's studies or communication or any other "dumb" major but I am pretty sure that if you went to a highly ranked program for any of those you would find that there is a lot more to them than what the stereotypes suggest. I agree that some majors are easier than others but I think the difficulty spread is WAY out of proportion. There is no way you could cost through just about any major without a lot of work.
 
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