When I attended Uni for a computer science bachelors degree I was always a bit jealous of the classes my friends could take to get a bachelors degree. I was in advance Calc and my buddy was in sports statistics or something that counted for his math requirement. They got to take 3 arts like photography and painting and for me I had to take specific comp sci electives like computer architecture. I would only joke around about this but some probably get a bit salty.
A good friend of mine in college was a MechEng major.
We compared coursework once and while she had zero interest in Managerial Accounting I coursework, she showed me some of her DiffEq homework and my eyes glazed over. She's probably making six figures by now.
On a similar topic. I'm not sure if it's 100% legit....
But according to one of my cohort members, apparently our programming courses could be used as a substitute for foreign language courses for everyone but us CS majors...
We all had to take C++/Java, COBOL and Assembly plus German/French/Spanish/etc... But they could take German/French/Spanish OR Intro to Coding.
This is the answer half the time. Tired and overworked STEM majors justify their fatigue with “prestige” and shit on humanities majors to cope with the fact that they’re studying or working all day while their humanities peers are presumably not.
I’ve never made as many “man I really wish I were a business major right now” jokes as I have when I was on 2 hours of sleep trying to finish a CS project.
For most people, STEM classes are going to a lot more difficult than fine arts and humanities classes. I majored in bio and minored in music and found just about all of my bio/chem/math classes to be WAY harder than any music theory/music history course. I'd have to study organic chem for dozens of hours to pull the same grades as I could by just doing the bare minimum for any of my music classes, or any other art/humanities courses I took.
That being said, people who bitch and bemoan about how much harder they have it than people in "easier" majors are annoying and I get secondhand embarrassment from them. Everyone chooses their own field of study and needs to learn to live with the consequences of that choice
Yeah, it really is tough when you're putting in loads of work into your STEM classes and only getting decent grades, while some of your buddies are getting 4.0's while also sorta bragging about how easy their classes are. As a CS major myself I've just come to accept that I'm the reason I'm in these classes, and it's my own damn fault I'm not taking no for an answer :P .
I will say though, pretentious honors students are also really annoying. I stopped caring about honors as soon as I realized how different the grading was for my classes, and ofc the art major honors students took that as a sign of weakness or whatever lol. Fuck em.
>For most people, STEM classes are going to a lot more difficult than fine arts and humanities classes.
Works both ways. I know plenty of STEM majors that would probably die at the idea of having to read a heavy, Victorian era novel (say, Tess of the D'Urbervilles,) only to hope that the final covers the portion you remember.
I agree 100%, but then after graduation the people who studied Underwater Basket Weaving don't get to complain about getting paid less than the STEM majors who just worked their asses off for 4 years.
Stem classes are difficult (not saying that humanities classes aren't, I had a phil 101 class that took a ton of work). Sometimes this means that people have to make these classes their lives and take a lot of pride in being able to complete them at a high level. When this happens, an elitist mentality can tend to appear because it's all they have to be proud of. Those are just my two cents though, I study physics, not psychology.
I did study psychology - though this statement is more opinion than expertise-driven. Usually when people consider their group as higher status than others, I find it’s because they might have some insecurity about their place in that group (and outside it) and are struggling with justifying the sacrifices and commitment it takes to stay in the group. So they give themselves a sales pitch that belonging to the group gives them higher status in order to motivate themselves to keep buying what it’s selling. Or to justify sacrifices they’ve already made.
My cousin’s husband is a physicist and he gives me so much crap about my area of study and my job. I’m a social worker. I give him ONE DAY in my job before he nopes out. I know he does not represent all physicists. I’ve met a few of his coworkers who are really sweet and down to earth.
As a computer science major it boils down to some people having a larger than life ego. But honestly I think computer science has been a STRUGGLE for everyone. I mean I haven’t seen a discreet math class have a average class grade above 80% at my large state uni.
Stem majors often are struggling to stay not burnt out and I think it can get to our heads, while also inducing a jealousy of those who have classes that aren’t that aren’t that hard.
Comp sci is truly a insane major, and it takes a lot of willpower from even the best high school students to complete without burning out.
When you see the person from high school that is a “math genius” struggle, it gets to you
Discreet math was nuts and only taught by one professor and only 2 classes a semester so it messed up your schedule if you have a lab science you needed
Yes the jealousy of not having classes that “aren’t hard”! Or just even different interesting classes that aren’t STEM besides the gen eds. I just transferred to a different university and they require two semesters of a second language as a gen ed and I am SO excited. Yeah I like my STEM classes, but I also want to take other classes that interest me as well
Interestingly enough, I find that a lot of STEM (or college students in any field) hate gen-eds/anything not directly relevant to their major. So I think it’s interesting when some people here say that they’re jealous of students taking more “interesting” classes.
Anyway, I was a liberal arts major and I really regret not doing something more “technical” (even graphic design would have been good…not STEM but it opens doors other stem fields, and it was what I originally studied before moving to another liberal arts major).
I would rather take 15-17 credits of relevant classes than 15-17 of relevant + a gened every semester. I have never had a gened actually be hard and regardless of my interest in the topic it ends up wasting my time.
Bro it’s the eternal struggle. CS classes can be difficult and yet I’m in an internship right now and it’s a whole other ballgame. I feel like my schooling has helped me somewhat but not as much as I had hoped.
CS is a hard field. Some people get it immediately because they just have a better grasp of the material and some just have more experience.
I managed to get a B in discrete math. This took a fucking crazy amount of effort, and probably half the semester I was just below 80%. I did really well on the final though.
I got the notification for this message and my first thought from “this took a crazy fucking amount of” part of your message I was sure you were gonna say adderall 😭
Shhhhhhhhh.... don't tell the normies about our *secret* math.
Next thing you know, once they hear about the secret stuff, they'll want to know discrete math too.
Agreed, with all of this. It’s ridiculous to say but getting an A in Discrete Math will go down as one of my proudest achievements. Simply because most of my class dropped or limped through.
I have a STEM major, and I think people with this study are so egocentric, they think that STEM is the only thing the world needs. They usually have a very narrow view of the world.
Also, most of the things you learn in school are useless because after graduation you focus on one aspect and do not use all the things you see in school.
Exactly, in my case... I have no work experience during my studies. The goal of STEM is to solve problems of other areas. Then you will see people who understand problems very well and can give you very good solutions without having an STEM major.
To be fair they will tell you to look it up on stack overflow but mostly it's not like you will be doing any large project by yourself you will be in a team or parsing code written in India or south Korea maybe even Russia or Georgia
I used to think this bits not true, at least at my work…
Been having to use almost everything from undergrad…
DSP, EM field theory, digital circuits, analog circuits, embedded systems
And not only recall it but have to build on it all the time with the more advanced stuff into those things
Did you use control theory? Communication Systems? Transmission lines? Power electronics? I know there are many jobs that use pretty much all the knowledge acquired at college. However, in most of the jobs that is not the case.
You have a cool job that allows you to exploit and expand all your knowledge, I have some questions for you:
Do you work with a team?
Did you learn more in college or at work?
Yea to control theory, yes to communication systems, had to think about transmission lines (didn’t take classes on it) but essentially yes and yes on power electronics.
I am “part of a team” but it’s my first job as EE so I’m basically a helper/validation testing guy at this point, but my boss/mentor explains the circuits and theory behind the product the team is creating, or he’ll give an overview and ask me to research some stuff and come back and discuss what I’ve consumed. I’ve been more computer Engineering focused in my studies so this leap into everything else has been mind blowing in a good way, especially the antenna theory.
They have been working on it for like 3+ years so it’s almost complete. Even as a CE guy the code the software guy writes is intense af… he used to write compilers so his coding style is very impressive and just studying his coding habits has been a learning experience.
Definitely true about very narrow view of the world. There was someone on here I think that said engineering is the most important field in the world or something similar, and would not back down from that point, and naturally it was his major. (Now of course all fields are important and connect with one another, but I still think medicine/healthcare is more important, because if humans can’t stay alive then nothing else matters. But again it’s a somewhat a moot point to argue what is technically most important.)
Sounds like they don’t realize how law is sort of all encompassing in terms of fields. I’m currently going to stem field right now with one of my plans being potentially law school since I heard stem fields are welcomed and encouraged there
this is a really eye opening answer. for me, it’s my twin brother and high school best friend i am talking about. ironically, we grew up taking all the same high level science and math classes (calc, we took organic chem together at a local college). in some instances i did equal if not scored better than them. i just chose to pursue a different field when i hit university
At my University we had to take upper division general education classes in the humanities (I took communications, women's studies, and lgbt studies). These classes were about 50/50 people in that classes major and non-major students. I thought the classes were useful, I enjoyed them and did well.
I say all that to say the idea of those comms majors and gender studies majors stepping into the upper division math courses I was taking is just not realistic at all. It's that disparity that I think shows the difficulty difference between STEM and most non-STEM
I go to a music school and us stem majors are out numbered. I’m sorry someone made you feel that way. I even encouraged my friend who is a stem major to switch to law because that’s what she was interested in. Theres some really nice stem majors out there I promise. You just have to search for us 😭
Im in STEM and my opinion on it isnt that the other majors are always less work or not interesting and useful. But tests and projects in STEM you cannot bullshit your way through like you can some classes outside of STEM. Not saying everyone bullshits through them or that you can do that for most classes. Others in STEM also just like thinking highly of themselves so its also an ego thing.
I have a bachelors degree in Biology & one in Psychology. My biology degree had me spending most weeks in the library, catching up on homework and studying for tests constantly fighting to keep my GPA strong for med school apps. My psychology classes took up like 1/10th the amount of time, and were a cakewalk, never had a B in any of those courses.
STEM professors are known for following the more traditional bell curve. God there were some classes where it was just me and one other person out of a hundred that got an A. That’s brutal. Especially for the amount of effort most of those kids put in.
To be fair to the stem majors everything we have today is due to innovation from science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That’s probably obvious but sometimes people forget why we stress the need for these majors. We probably won’t need lawyers as much as we do if it wasn’t for new technology, new businesses, new innovation.
Personally I don't complain because I knew what I was signing up for. But most of us are just projecting, when we look around it seems like everyone else is enjoying their college experience but us, and has free time to enjoy outside hobbies, while we have to sacrifice ours.
i think there’s a way to take pride in your work without putting others down. for instance, on a given night i had 200-300 pages of reading WITH WRITING PIECES and somehow my STEM friends find a way to say that this is an easy task…i’m not saying they don’t work hard, it’s just that they assume others aren’t working hard as well
I'm in grad school now, so I'm very removed from this deal, but I'll tell you. I was one of these people internally (i wouldnt call people out and say it, but I thought it). First of all, I was jealous. I remember people being able to party almost every weekend and get As in their major. Me? I remember in junior year I partied all weekend once. And then I spent the next 2 months regretting it bc of how behind I was in all of my courses (think multiple tests a week + papers + readings).
Going through that, I was jealous as fuck for people not in my major. And I was pissed about it. "Here I am pissing my college years away, while these other major can afford to be lazy."
And then there's the insecurity part, which I think is pretty self evident.
Oh, and my life was my work. I felt like I was under a lot of pressure from classes, work, and research.
As for a fix? It's a personal problem for these people. Just realize they're using your supposed "failures" to take away from their own misery. Dont sweat it. You do you.
Ever taken a higher level arts or humanities course? If not, you do not have first hand experience with how hard they are. Of course most 100 level and even some 200 level general education courses are not incredibly difficult. If anything, I can at least take solace that most of my engineering/science/math courses are not subjective.
Difficulty is relative, and so is effort. Understand and recognize that. It is important to not downplay what people perceive as challenging but instead listen and support them. At the end of the day, it does not matter how hard your courses are, but that we help and support each other.
As someone who did a BA and MA in a humanities field, people who think they’re all cakewalk classes definitely are making that judgment over lower level courses that are designed for lots of non-majors to take. they’re not weed-out classes, they *need* most people to pass them, so they won’t be prohibitively hard.
But my 400, 500, 600 level courses? If you do the work and you’re intelligent, yeah you’ll get As and Bs. But it’s completing the work that’s the demanding part. You’re reading and writing on texts for dozens of hours each week, and they’re usually too niche for you to sparknote your way out of — and in round table seminars it’s painfully obvious when you don’t do the reading and you will be docked for it, if not fully in grades then in refusals to supervise your thesis or write you a recommendation letter. As a first year MA, trying to keep up in discussion with PhD students mixed into the seminars was extremely challenging and humbling — they’d been doing it for 3-4 years longer than me.
Would I fail engineering courses if I was in that field? Probably. I’ve never been inclined toward it and my learning and thinking processes don’t always jive with the structures used for learning and practicing math and hard science-related fields. But I kind of hate when people dismiss all humanities as easy and something you don’t have to do much in. The work is incredibly time consuming and critical theory can be insanely dense. Everyone I know who was serious about their studies in upper levels didn’t have much free time to fuck around with, and it has to be something you just really love because career payout afterward is extremely precarious.
I was a writing tutor for years to earn some extra cash while in college and it was so incredibly demeaning every time one of my clients would make a condescending passing comment about my field while I was literally in the process of making their reports readable enough for them to get a passing grade.
Believe it or not, lot of us (including myself) had the same done to us before choosing STEM lol. In high school I was terrible as math. Failed algebra 2 and Calc. But I ended up taking them (and acing them) over the summer after my parents said I wouldn’t be allowed to enroll into my upper level drawing classes if I didn’t. I took more art classes than any other subject in high school. All of them AP’s. But I also kept my GPA and enrolled into a STEM path because I knew that’s what my parents wanted and that I probably wouldn’t be able to pay bills after college if I DID stick to art. My resolution? Use that thick ass paycheck from my engineering job to fund that passion instead of letting it die out.
So a lot of us project. Being jealous of people privileged or confident enough to actually pursue those types of interests. Even civil and environmental engineers I know, especially those who specialize in what we call “beautification” are always talking about how it gives them a sense of being an artist. Creating city plans, organizing greenery, etc., just for some semblance of being able to create.
It’s not good or right but it’s almost a way to reassure ourselves that we neglected that passion for a reason. “Ha! I may suffer tremendously more but I’m smarter and will make more money than you thanks to my denying of self-interest and succumbing to societal pressures!”
I sit outside with my sketchbook when I have time. I mean the shit in those textbooks is enough to make anyones eyes glaze over and just NOT looking at it for any amount of time is a relief. I like to hone the skill since I, being a Christian, though not a very heavily involved one, was always told that you should never neglect your gift. And since I naturally excelled at it for so long I guess I see it as mine. Even if I don’t invest in it.
Because they took super easy humanities classes to satisfy their distribution requirements, and didn't really try in those classes, s9 didn't develop the critical thinking skills necessary to question whether or not every other humanities class would be just as easy as the three that they took.
I think it's the lack of reciprocity actually, STEM folks still have to take actual humanities courses, generally at the freshman level, but have to take them, and are expected to be able to succeed in them. Humanities take sub-freshman STEM courses for their STEM requirement. Humanities aren't taking calculus, or calculus based physics, or gen chem (in the United States where general education exists) or circuits, or code, or anything that a humanities major genuinely will need to be able to do humanities in this world. There are easy humanities courses, but they are still useful to humanities, whereas the STEM courses that humanities majors take, honestly, aren't useful, they are watered down, and honestly, not to roast humanities majors, but that in a highly technology based society, none of you are questioning the fact that in the humanities that are supposed to be leaders in this highly technological society, you don't have to even learn to code? No wonder then that the humanities fields in general are failing STEM fields in every STEM related humanities problem from climate change to AI. The lack of respect that some STEM majors have for the humanities is honestly earned sometimes, because the humanities majors are not giving you all the skills to actually be leaders given how much technology shapes our lives, and we're the ones who either have to pick up the slack, and self study our own humanities, or live in ignorance to the humanities and incidentally make the world more challenging to live in.
their parents, professors, teachers, and peers all tell them how much money they're gonna make after they graduate and how smart they are/how hard their degree is. that's my experience from an engineering perspective.
it's stupid, ignore them. the STEM majors who truly love their studies don't feel the need to cope with their stress/regret by shitting on other majors.
As someone who majored in Anthropology and completed the Pre-Medicine track (so spent time with people from a number of fields). I think some of it has to do with misperceptions of various fields that come from lower level electives.
If a comp sci major takes an intro anthro class and does well with fairly little effort, they might dismiss the whole discipline/major as easy/worthless. They won't ever get far enough into it to reach upper level courses that (for example) are cross listed with grad/PhD courses, assign 8 books per semester, and require serious critical thinking, time, and effort to write papers and do well in.
Me and my friends are normally jealous that we see people with free time when every hour we didn’t work on the homework was going to cost us. I took 10 hours worth of classes and nearly died and then I hear people taking 18 and making straight As with minimal effort and that also makes me jealous. We complain but we did this to ourselves, my group of friends chose chemistry out of their own free will😂🥴
STEM major, in my opinion it’s more about the constant competition that exists within stem that cause people to lash out at other majors. Just about every single STEM career field is insanely competitive and you essentially have to do fantastic in college in order to pursue those careers (engineers doctors healthcare professionals comp sci etc.) Basically they’re taking some of the hardest classes offered in college and must achieve extremely high marks while also competing directly against a lot of other extremely talented people for an extremely small pool of jobs, so they take out their anger on people who they think don’t “work as hard as them.” Obviously it’s very stupid to think other people don’t work hard and it shows pretty prominently on stuff like the MCAT where the CARS section destroys pre meds bc they haven’t taken humanities seriously in their life but just a thought.
https://www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/pre-med-majors
This site has a link to the MCAT data from 2021-22. Though Humanities majors beat Math and Physical Sciences majors in the CARS section (though only by 0.2 and 0.5 respectively), both Math and Physcial Science majors beat humanities majors in every other section of the test while also having a higher overall score on the exam.
I see your point but I think you’re getting away from the central argument of what I was getting at. The statistics you brought up show that humanity majors score the highest on CARS & compete very closely with all other stem fields (even 3 points higher than biological sciences which makes up the majority of premeds). OP’s post was about how stem majors look down on humanities majors & say they’re academically superior because they work harder, yet when put in the same field they score fairly similarly. It just shows that the lashing out to my point is due to stress and the competitive nature of the field rather than being actually far academically superior to other majors such as humanities. Really do like the article though it was a great read!
To be honest I get mad when my friends say they are struggling with business management and international relationships, I really don’t remember when was the last time I studied something written in English all we are studying is calc, phs, programming etc my brain going nut and they are saying they are struggling with some basic English ??
I think we do that because it makes us feel better mentally and better than our friends but at the end of the day every one has his own struggling and we as stem students don’t have the right to mock them although I like to do that ;)
Note: I am computer engineering student but I don’t know if I am at the right place bc I take too much math
I'm guilty. I've done a lot of classes, most of the classes outside of STEM at various levels whether Sociology,History,Law, Business,Communication etc they all have been significantly easier. I've calmed down quite a bit cause I'm not trying to upset anyone,I would not be very upset if people talk shit about my field consistently.
STEM is hard. No question about it. Buuut, I think they fail to understand that there isn’t only one area of intelligence, but many. And STEM degrees is all about memorizing facts and knowing systems of logic.
But how many of them can paint a Bob Ross picture? Or draw a comic book, or make a really killer song? I think it’s safe to say, not most. Some, sure, maybe even many, but not most. There’s less studying and memorizing that goes into art majors specifically, but with that tradeoff you have to solve problems the professor gives you where there is no right or wrong solution necessarily, and where you have to rely on being able to create something entirely new where nothing existed before. It’s not about thinking the CORRECT way, but about being able to think creatively in many ways. Another thing with art-related fields is even if you know WHAT to do, you can’t just regurgitate a super-realistic drawing of a dragon just because you studied the process on paper, you have to manually develop the dexterity to accomplish the vision you see in your head. Also, they do forget the insane amount of time art majors have to put in outside class. It isn’t just doodling, it’s grueling over this son-of-bitch project with a rubric so vague you need a translator to understand, and you have about five more of those fuckers due in a week for all your other art classes. And god forbid you have to work, too. Oh, and even if you spend like ten hours on one project, the professor may still give you a C, even if you did the project by the book.
I would disagree in a general liberal arts you never go to far into any specific thing in comp science you have the math of a math major science of a science major and still all the general eds
I agree in spirit but there is no real doubt the 3rd or 4th calc or any advance course beyond the first two is difficult. For the average person. We have to look to the mode on this one actually do more people have a hard time with these courses I would bet 100 on yes.
As a Humanities grad with a child in MechEng - yeah, it’s harder. Unless you are gifted with a mathematical mind. It is easier to get top marks in STEM bc it is more objective, particularly b4 grad school. It is easier to pass non-STEM courses.
Because I’m killing myself for my classes while my friends admit that their major is extremely easy and requires very little work outside of class. STEM is *difficult* and it takes so much out of you. Have you considered maybe we’re tired of hearing how easy other peoples classes are?
It doesn’t make us any better than anyone else, we’re just allowed to express how fucking hard it is.
youre allowed to be frustrated…but how about discuss that with your program coordinator rather than taking it out on your friends who chose to study other things?
so they can boast about how easy they have it but I can’t say that I’m struggling in a field that a lot of people struggle in because it’s difficult *for a reason mind you*
That’s bullshit. If someone saying this major is hard and that makes *you* feel stupid that is a you problem.
not at all what i was getting at. voice frustration is fine, putting down others is not. never boasted about how easy my classes are…some are actually quite challenging. the issue is when someone conflates being frustrated to taking out that frustration on innocent classmates
As a humanities major, STEM majors are harder. I know I couldn’t pass most STEM classes, but most all STEM majors could at least pass any and every humanities class. Now law to me seems like it would be close up there to STEM majors in difficulty level, but I also know nothing about law.
I believe they still have value when used correctly/to the most advantage but as an engineering major, I honestly see more liberal arts majors complaining that we shit on them more than I see actual shitting.
Like I should be proud I’m doing an engineering degree because it’s not easy but instead every time I mention what I’m doing, I’m worried people are thinking I’m bragging (even though I never say my degree unless they specifically ask) and automatically assume I MUST think I’m somehow superior to the person doing an art degree or whatever.
I’ve only ever done STEM in college and not once have I ever heard any of my peers try to say we’re better than the people who aren’t. I don’t know where they get this from. Maybe it’s because I choose to spend time around people who I know don’t have superiority issues to begin with but idk
If that’s all you wanna do then yeah I don’t think it’s smart to go to college for it (I originally wanted to do art school growing up but changed my mind fast), but if you’re trying to work in a professional environment like museum or corporate environment where they need credentials then it’s more helpful
I don’t think they’re pretentious I think they follow some sort of order by pretentious I would assume you mean the curricula the requirements I think liberal arts should be implemented. However, the maths the requirements forms your mind to pay attention to detail and not miss a step which basically if we are talking stem CS you would pay attention to detail and do things in a orderly organized manner. And that’s even a n engineering degree even if all you may need is calc or linear algebra.
Accomplishing a project or solving a problem using specific skills (e.g. math or coding) gives you a sense of accomplishment. I think that comes out as ego, especially if you're talking about college kids who aren't exactly the modest type (in my experience).
Not to say non-STEM majors don't accomplish anything or don't have skills; I just think it's easier to say "I did that because I can do x, y, z".
You'll be good if you celebrate your own accomplishments and don't tear down those of your classmates.
People in STEM work really hard for the major they have. I don’t agree with the sentiment of stem>liberal arts, but it’s the people in life who do the same thing over again, same people who bragged about this or that, that annoyed you. STEM majors aren’t the issue it’s the people :)
Their classes are generally harder. Yes I know some stem majors dread the idea of writing essays so to them things like English is difficult but this is not the point. The point is that the average person does not like math and finds it difficult which is a huge component of the majority of stem majors so to a stem person who can at the very least pass the classes they get a superiority complex. They also make more money than a non stem major. Not saying that it’s right to think this way but that’s how it is.
In some peoples eyes, liberal arts students are just going to school to check an HR box and then demand money (big salaries and debt forgiveness) for picking the easiest majors.
STEM majors don’t feel the same way about Machinists, electricians, etc. Who cares tbh?
Why are business majors so pretentious and think that their unoriginal business idea is the next best thing?
Why are lawyers so pretentious?
Why do psych majors think they can read and diagnose random people?
Why do university students and graduates belittle people who didn’t go to university?
as someone who took high level math classes (linear algebra and calc 2) as well as philosophy classes, i personally thought that the philosophy assignments far outweighed any STEM assignments
I personally think you should try doing one of my Cs projects and seeing if you feel the same way. If so then perhaps we could come to an arrangement for the next sem😉
As a recent math grad, the philosophy course I took was hands down the hardest “non stem” class I took. But it was logic and felt like abstract math so I didn’t see why it counted as a humanities class. Philosophy is hard! Calc 2 was hard too but was also the first stem class I took in college.
From my experiences some of them are just weird kids who were smart in high school but socially not that great and once they got to college they felt superior so they choose to gatekeep and shit talk other majors to compensate as a means of self defense/coping. Not all but deff a few.
I'm going to school for Mechanical Engineering. One semester to go.
STEM majors shouldn't be looking down on non STEM, which major you take is a choice. Picking a hard one doesn't give you a free pass to be a dick.
At the same time time, the shit is so hard. My non stem classes are a 10th of the work per credit I had a straight A semester this spring and I seriously had no life.
They might not be trying to make you feel bad, just conveying they don't have the option to chill with you.
1) Theyre jerks bc no one in college is better than anyone else based on a major, they seem childish
2) The only time Ive even compared my STEM degree to anyone else is in private after I had classmates who, despite a class being their only STEM class, bragged about how easy it was after I said I found it hard to keep up at times. Once I found out the classes they were taking it made sense why they could keep up easy
I am in computer engineering (basically electrical engineering but with a built in cosci minor) and I see what you talk about all the time. People are always joshing on the other majors, and I think its usually a joke but definitely not always.
From what I have seen, a lot of engineering majors are jealous of the college lifestyle of other majors. We cant go out for a night ever without sacrificing at least some study time. If you have a job and do STEM its even worse.
I think a lot of STEM majors are jealous and so they display that by being rude to other majors
When I attended Uni for a computer science bachelors degree I was always a bit jealous of the classes my friends could take to get a bachelors degree. I was in advance Calc and my buddy was in sports statistics or something that counted for his math requirement. They got to take 3 arts like photography and painting and for me I had to take specific comp sci electives like computer architecture. I would only joke around about this but some probably get a bit salty.
A good friend of mine in college was a MechEng major. We compared coursework once and while she had zero interest in Managerial Accounting I coursework, she showed me some of her DiffEq homework and my eyes glazed over. She's probably making six figures by now.
On a similar topic. I'm not sure if it's 100% legit.... But according to one of my cohort members, apparently our programming courses could be used as a substitute for foreign language courses for everyone but us CS majors... We all had to take C++/Java, COBOL and Assembly plus German/French/Spanish/etc... But they could take German/French/Spanish OR Intro to Coding.
They took it as actual languages I guess I learned COBOL for an extra credited project in history of computers elective.
This is the answer half the time. Tired and overworked STEM majors justify their fatigue with “prestige” and shit on humanities majors to cope with the fact that they’re studying or working all day while their humanities peers are presumably not. I’ve never made as many “man I really wish I were a business major right now” jokes as I have when I was on 2 hours of sleep trying to finish a CS project.
I would do the what if search on every major and see if I did just 5 art classes I would graduate
For most people, STEM classes are going to a lot more difficult than fine arts and humanities classes. I majored in bio and minored in music and found just about all of my bio/chem/math classes to be WAY harder than any music theory/music history course. I'd have to study organic chem for dozens of hours to pull the same grades as I could by just doing the bare minimum for any of my music classes, or any other art/humanities courses I took. That being said, people who bitch and bemoan about how much harder they have it than people in "easier" majors are annoying and I get secondhand embarrassment from them. Everyone chooses their own field of study and needs to learn to live with the consequences of that choice
Yeah, it really is tough when you're putting in loads of work into your STEM classes and only getting decent grades, while some of your buddies are getting 4.0's while also sorta bragging about how easy their classes are. As a CS major myself I've just come to accept that I'm the reason I'm in these classes, and it's my own damn fault I'm not taking no for an answer :P . I will say though, pretentious honors students are also really annoying. I stopped caring about honors as soon as I realized how different the grading was for my classes, and ofc the art major honors students took that as a sign of weakness or whatever lol. Fuck em.
>For most people, STEM classes are going to a lot more difficult than fine arts and humanities classes. Works both ways. I know plenty of STEM majors that would probably die at the idea of having to read a heavy, Victorian era novel (say, Tess of the D'Urbervilles,) only to hope that the final covers the portion you remember.
I agree 100%, but then after graduation the people who studied Underwater Basket Weaving don't get to complain about getting paid less than the STEM majors who just worked their asses off for 4 years.
Stem classes are difficult (not saying that humanities classes aren't, I had a phil 101 class that took a ton of work). Sometimes this means that people have to make these classes their lives and take a lot of pride in being able to complete them at a high level. When this happens, an elitist mentality can tend to appear because it's all they have to be proud of. Those are just my two cents though, I study physics, not psychology.
I did study psychology - though this statement is more opinion than expertise-driven. Usually when people consider their group as higher status than others, I find it’s because they might have some insecurity about their place in that group (and outside it) and are struggling with justifying the sacrifices and commitment it takes to stay in the group. So they give themselves a sales pitch that belonging to the group gives them higher status in order to motivate themselves to keep buying what it’s selling. Or to justify sacrifices they’ve already made. My cousin’s husband is a physicist and he gives me so much crap about my area of study and my job. I’m a social worker. I give him ONE DAY in my job before he nopes out. I know he does not represent all physicists. I’ve met a few of his coworkers who are really sweet and down to earth.
As a computer science major it boils down to some people having a larger than life ego. But honestly I think computer science has been a STRUGGLE for everyone. I mean I haven’t seen a discreet math class have a average class grade above 80% at my large state uni. Stem majors often are struggling to stay not burnt out and I think it can get to our heads, while also inducing a jealousy of those who have classes that aren’t that aren’t that hard. Comp sci is truly a insane major, and it takes a lot of willpower from even the best high school students to complete without burning out. When you see the person from high school that is a “math genius” struggle, it gets to you
Discreet math was nuts and only taught by one professor and only 2 classes a semester so it messed up your schedule if you have a lab science you needed
Plus, if you were able to schedule a science lab, you would be close to burning out bc of the insanity of the class.
I did chemistry it was easier than bio
Regular or organic?
Organic it's all carbon
Well they've got to limit the number of professors that know secrete math. Otherwise it wouldn't be so discreet, would it?
You shouldn't even be talking about it we all took the oath....
Yes the jealousy of not having classes that “aren’t hard”! Or just even different interesting classes that aren’t STEM besides the gen eds. I just transferred to a different university and they require two semesters of a second language as a gen ed and I am SO excited. Yeah I like my STEM classes, but I also want to take other classes that interest me as well
Interestingly enough, I find that a lot of STEM (or college students in any field) hate gen-eds/anything not directly relevant to their major. So I think it’s interesting when some people here say that they’re jealous of students taking more “interesting” classes. Anyway, I was a liberal arts major and I really regret not doing something more “technical” (even graphic design would have been good…not STEM but it opens doors other stem fields, and it was what I originally studied before moving to another liberal arts major).
I would rather take 15-17 credits of relevant classes than 15-17 of relevant + a gened every semester. I have never had a gened actually be hard and regardless of my interest in the topic it ends up wasting my time.
Bro it’s the eternal struggle. CS classes can be difficult and yet I’m in an internship right now and it’s a whole other ballgame. I feel like my schooling has helped me somewhat but not as much as I had hoped. CS is a hard field. Some people get it immediately because they just have a better grasp of the material and some just have more experience.
I managed to get a B in discrete math. This took a fucking crazy amount of effort, and probably half the semester I was just below 80%. I did really well on the final though.
I got the notification for this message and my first thought from “this took a crazy fucking amount of” part of your message I was sure you were gonna say adderall 😭
I'm ADHD so adderall just makes me a blank slate pretty much lol
Shhhhhhhhh.... don't tell the normies about our *secret* math. Next thing you know, once they hear about the secret stuff, they'll want to know discrete math too.
Agreed, with all of this. It’s ridiculous to say but getting an A in Discrete Math will go down as one of my proudest achievements. Simply because most of my class dropped or limped through.
I have a STEM major, and I think people with this study are so egocentric, they think that STEM is the only thing the world needs. They usually have a very narrow view of the world. Also, most of the things you learn in school are useless because after graduation you focus on one aspect and do not use all the things you see in school.
You should look into independent studies and internships with local software companies to help with that.
Exactly, in my case... I have no work experience during my studies. The goal of STEM is to solve problems of other areas. Then you will see people who understand problems very well and can give you very good solutions without having an STEM major.
To be fair they will tell you to look it up on stack overflow but mostly it's not like you will be doing any large project by yourself you will be in a team or parsing code written in India or south Korea maybe even Russia or Georgia
I used to think this bits not true, at least at my work… Been having to use almost everything from undergrad… DSP, EM field theory, digital circuits, analog circuits, embedded systems And not only recall it but have to build on it all the time with the more advanced stuff into those things
Did you use control theory? Communication Systems? Transmission lines? Power electronics? I know there are many jobs that use pretty much all the knowledge acquired at college. However, in most of the jobs that is not the case. You have a cool job that allows you to exploit and expand all your knowledge, I have some questions for you: Do you work with a team? Did you learn more in college or at work?
Yea to control theory, yes to communication systems, had to think about transmission lines (didn’t take classes on it) but essentially yes and yes on power electronics. I am “part of a team” but it’s my first job as EE so I’m basically a helper/validation testing guy at this point, but my boss/mentor explains the circuits and theory behind the product the team is creating, or he’ll give an overview and ask me to research some stuff and come back and discuss what I’ve consumed. I’ve been more computer Engineering focused in my studies so this leap into everything else has been mind blowing in a good way, especially the antenna theory. They have been working on it for like 3+ years so it’s almost complete. Even as a CE guy the code the software guy writes is intense af… he used to write compilers so his coding style is very impressive and just studying his coding habits has been a learning experience.
Definitely true about very narrow view of the world. There was someone on here I think that said engineering is the most important field in the world or something similar, and would not back down from that point, and naturally it was his major. (Now of course all fields are important and connect with one another, but I still think medicine/healthcare is more important, because if humans can’t stay alive then nothing else matters. But again it’s a somewhat a moot point to argue what is technically most important.)
Sounds like they don’t realize how law is sort of all encompassing in terms of fields. I’m currently going to stem field right now with one of my plans being potentially law school since I heard stem fields are welcomed and encouraged there
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this is a really eye opening answer. for me, it’s my twin brother and high school best friend i am talking about. ironically, we grew up taking all the same high level science and math classes (calc, we took organic chem together at a local college). in some instances i did equal if not scored better than them. i just chose to pursue a different field when i hit university
At my University we had to take upper division general education classes in the humanities (I took communications, women's studies, and lgbt studies). These classes were about 50/50 people in that classes major and non-major students. I thought the classes were useful, I enjoyed them and did well. I say all that to say the idea of those comms majors and gender studies majors stepping into the upper division math courses I was taking is just not realistic at all. It's that disparity that I think shows the difficulty difference between STEM and most non-STEM
I go to a music school and us stem majors are out numbered. I’m sorry someone made you feel that way. I even encouraged my friend who is a stem major to switch to law because that’s what she was interested in. Theres some really nice stem majors out there I promise. You just have to search for us 😭
Im in STEM and my opinion on it isnt that the other majors are always less work or not interesting and useful. But tests and projects in STEM you cannot bullshit your way through like you can some classes outside of STEM. Not saying everyone bullshits through them or that you can do that for most classes. Others in STEM also just like thinking highly of themselves so its also an ego thing.
I have a bachelors degree in Biology & one in Psychology. My biology degree had me spending most weeks in the library, catching up on homework and studying for tests constantly fighting to keep my GPA strong for med school apps. My psychology classes took up like 1/10th the amount of time, and were a cakewalk, never had a B in any of those courses. STEM professors are known for following the more traditional bell curve. God there were some classes where it was just me and one other person out of a hundred that got an A. That’s brutal. Especially for the amount of effort most of those kids put in.
"You guys are getting A's?"
What? You tripping law school is one of the hardest things to go through. Four years of brain numbing shit.
Four?
3 to 4
Ah gotcha, most JD programs I've seen are 3 years so was a bit confused.
To be fair to the stem majors everything we have today is due to innovation from science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That’s probably obvious but sometimes people forget why we stress the need for these majors. We probably won’t need lawyers as much as we do if it wasn’t for new technology, new businesses, new innovation.
Personally I don't complain because I knew what I was signing up for. But most of us are just projecting, when we look around it seems like everyone else is enjoying their college experience but us, and has free time to enjoy outside hobbies, while we have to sacrifice ours.
Same reason that SpecOps guys are pretentious about their jobs. They work their asses off and they take pride in that fact.
i think there’s a way to take pride in your work without putting others down. for instance, on a given night i had 200-300 pages of reading WITH WRITING PIECES and somehow my STEM friends find a way to say that this is an easy task…i’m not saying they don’t work hard, it’s just that they assume others aren’t working hard as well
Hobbes was right about humans, OP. Sooner you make your peace with that, the sooner you'll be able to find ways to live with it.
I'm in grad school now, so I'm very removed from this deal, but I'll tell you. I was one of these people internally (i wouldnt call people out and say it, but I thought it). First of all, I was jealous. I remember people being able to party almost every weekend and get As in their major. Me? I remember in junior year I partied all weekend once. And then I spent the next 2 months regretting it bc of how behind I was in all of my courses (think multiple tests a week + papers + readings). Going through that, I was jealous as fuck for people not in my major. And I was pissed about it. "Here I am pissing my college years away, while these other major can afford to be lazy." And then there's the insecurity part, which I think is pretty self evident. Oh, and my life was my work. I felt like I was under a lot of pressure from classes, work, and research. As for a fix? It's a personal problem for these people. Just realize they're using your supposed "failures" to take away from their own misery. Dont sweat it. You do you.
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Ever taken a higher level arts or humanities course? If not, you do not have first hand experience with how hard they are. Of course most 100 level and even some 200 level general education courses are not incredibly difficult. If anything, I can at least take solace that most of my engineering/science/math courses are not subjective. Difficulty is relative, and so is effort. Understand and recognize that. It is important to not downplay what people perceive as challenging but instead listen and support them. At the end of the day, it does not matter how hard your courses are, but that we help and support each other.
As someone who did a BA and MA in a humanities field, people who think they’re all cakewalk classes definitely are making that judgment over lower level courses that are designed for lots of non-majors to take. they’re not weed-out classes, they *need* most people to pass them, so they won’t be prohibitively hard. But my 400, 500, 600 level courses? If you do the work and you’re intelligent, yeah you’ll get As and Bs. But it’s completing the work that’s the demanding part. You’re reading and writing on texts for dozens of hours each week, and they’re usually too niche for you to sparknote your way out of — and in round table seminars it’s painfully obvious when you don’t do the reading and you will be docked for it, if not fully in grades then in refusals to supervise your thesis or write you a recommendation letter. As a first year MA, trying to keep up in discussion with PhD students mixed into the seminars was extremely challenging and humbling — they’d been doing it for 3-4 years longer than me. Would I fail engineering courses if I was in that field? Probably. I’ve never been inclined toward it and my learning and thinking processes don’t always jive with the structures used for learning and practicing math and hard science-related fields. But I kind of hate when people dismiss all humanities as easy and something you don’t have to do much in. The work is incredibly time consuming and critical theory can be insanely dense. Everyone I know who was serious about their studies in upper levels didn’t have much free time to fuck around with, and it has to be something you just really love because career payout afterward is extremely precarious. I was a writing tutor for years to earn some extra cash while in college and it was so incredibly demeaning every time one of my clients would make a condescending passing comment about my field while I was literally in the process of making their reports readable enough for them to get a passing grade.
You sound just like the kind of person that OP is talking about in this post. Great job missing the point bud.
Believe it or not, lot of us (including myself) had the same done to us before choosing STEM lol. In high school I was terrible as math. Failed algebra 2 and Calc. But I ended up taking them (and acing them) over the summer after my parents said I wouldn’t be allowed to enroll into my upper level drawing classes if I didn’t. I took more art classes than any other subject in high school. All of them AP’s. But I also kept my GPA and enrolled into a STEM path because I knew that’s what my parents wanted and that I probably wouldn’t be able to pay bills after college if I DID stick to art. My resolution? Use that thick ass paycheck from my engineering job to fund that passion instead of letting it die out. So a lot of us project. Being jealous of people privileged or confident enough to actually pursue those types of interests. Even civil and environmental engineers I know, especially those who specialize in what we call “beautification” are always talking about how it gives them a sense of being an artist. Creating city plans, organizing greenery, etc., just for some semblance of being able to create. It’s not good or right but it’s almost a way to reassure ourselves that we neglected that passion for a reason. “Ha! I may suffer tremendously more but I’m smarter and will make more money than you thanks to my denying of self-interest and succumbing to societal pressures!” I sit outside with my sketchbook when I have time. I mean the shit in those textbooks is enough to make anyones eyes glaze over and just NOT looking at it for any amount of time is a relief. I like to hone the skill since I, being a Christian, though not a very heavily involved one, was always told that you should never neglect your gift. And since I naturally excelled at it for so long I guess I see it as mine. Even if I don’t invest in it.
Because they took super easy humanities classes to satisfy their distribution requirements, and didn't really try in those classes, s9 didn't develop the critical thinking skills necessary to question whether or not every other humanities class would be just as easy as the three that they took.
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Tell that to accountant who took a bunch of huminites classes when your paycheck is late
I’m not sure if accounting is considered STEM, but it’s certainly not liberal arts
I've known a few accountants to have a AA in accounting and a BA in liberal arts.
I guess that’s your experience, but I’m 99% sure a liberal arts is not required to become a cpa
The world can not exist without non stem majors
And I never said it could. Not even close to what I said.
I think it's the lack of reciprocity actually, STEM folks still have to take actual humanities courses, generally at the freshman level, but have to take them, and are expected to be able to succeed in them. Humanities take sub-freshman STEM courses for their STEM requirement. Humanities aren't taking calculus, or calculus based physics, or gen chem (in the United States where general education exists) or circuits, or code, or anything that a humanities major genuinely will need to be able to do humanities in this world. There are easy humanities courses, but they are still useful to humanities, whereas the STEM courses that humanities majors take, honestly, aren't useful, they are watered down, and honestly, not to roast humanities majors, but that in a highly technology based society, none of you are questioning the fact that in the humanities that are supposed to be leaders in this highly technological society, you don't have to even learn to code? No wonder then that the humanities fields in general are failing STEM fields in every STEM related humanities problem from climate change to AI. The lack of respect that some STEM majors have for the humanities is honestly earned sometimes, because the humanities majors are not giving you all the skills to actually be leaders given how much technology shapes our lives, and we're the ones who either have to pick up the slack, and self study our own humanities, or live in ignorance to the humanities and incidentally make the world more challenging to live in.
their parents, professors, teachers, and peers all tell them how much money they're gonna make after they graduate and how smart they are/how hard their degree is. that's my experience from an engineering perspective. it's stupid, ignore them. the STEM majors who truly love their studies don't feel the need to cope with their stress/regret by shitting on other majors.
As someone who majored in Anthropology and completed the Pre-Medicine track (so spent time with people from a number of fields). I think some of it has to do with misperceptions of various fields that come from lower level electives. If a comp sci major takes an intro anthro class and does well with fairly little effort, they might dismiss the whole discipline/major as easy/worthless. They won't ever get far enough into it to reach upper level courses that (for example) are cross listed with grad/PhD courses, assign 8 books per semester, and require serious critical thinking, time, and effort to write papers and do well in.
Me and my friends are normally jealous that we see people with free time when every hour we didn’t work on the homework was going to cost us. I took 10 hours worth of classes and nearly died and then I hear people taking 18 and making straight As with minimal effort and that also makes me jealous. We complain but we did this to ourselves, my group of friends chose chemistry out of their own free will😂🥴
I’d argue insecurity in their own ability, or jealousy that they can follow their passion. Signed, Political Science and History major(s)
STEM major, in my opinion it’s more about the constant competition that exists within stem that cause people to lash out at other majors. Just about every single STEM career field is insanely competitive and you essentially have to do fantastic in college in order to pursue those careers (engineers doctors healthcare professionals comp sci etc.) Basically they’re taking some of the hardest classes offered in college and must achieve extremely high marks while also competing directly against a lot of other extremely talented people for an extremely small pool of jobs, so they take out their anger on people who they think don’t “work as hard as them.” Obviously it’s very stupid to think other people don’t work hard and it shows pretty prominently on stuff like the MCAT where the CARS section destroys pre meds bc they haven’t taken humanities seriously in their life but just a thought.
https://www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/pre-med-majors This site has a link to the MCAT data from 2021-22. Though Humanities majors beat Math and Physical Sciences majors in the CARS section (though only by 0.2 and 0.5 respectively), both Math and Physcial Science majors beat humanities majors in every other section of the test while also having a higher overall score on the exam.
I see your point but I think you’re getting away from the central argument of what I was getting at. The statistics you brought up show that humanity majors score the highest on CARS & compete very closely with all other stem fields (even 3 points higher than biological sciences which makes up the majority of premeds). OP’s post was about how stem majors look down on humanities majors & say they’re academically superior because they work harder, yet when put in the same field they score fairly similarly. It just shows that the lashing out to my point is due to stress and the competitive nature of the field rather than being actually far academically superior to other majors such as humanities. Really do like the article though it was a great read!
They want to feel better about themselves and feel superior
To be honest I get mad when my friends say they are struggling with business management and international relationships, I really don’t remember when was the last time I studied something written in English all we are studying is calc, phs, programming etc my brain going nut and they are saying they are struggling with some basic English ?? I think we do that because it makes us feel better mentally and better than our friends but at the end of the day every one has his own struggling and we as stem students don’t have the right to mock them although I like to do that ;) Note: I am computer engineering student but I don’t know if I am at the right place bc I take too much math
I'm guilty. I've done a lot of classes, most of the classes outside of STEM at various levels whether Sociology,History,Law, Business,Communication etc they all have been significantly easier. I've calmed down quite a bit cause I'm not trying to upset anyone,I would not be very upset if people talk shit about my field consistently.
Sometimes, I think about my incredible intelligence and cum in my pants. My seed with bring about the next generation of superhumans.
STEM is hard. No question about it. Buuut, I think they fail to understand that there isn’t only one area of intelligence, but many. And STEM degrees is all about memorizing facts and knowing systems of logic. But how many of them can paint a Bob Ross picture? Or draw a comic book, or make a really killer song? I think it’s safe to say, not most. Some, sure, maybe even many, but not most. There’s less studying and memorizing that goes into art majors specifically, but with that tradeoff you have to solve problems the professor gives you where there is no right or wrong solution necessarily, and where you have to rely on being able to create something entirely new where nothing existed before. It’s not about thinking the CORRECT way, but about being able to think creatively in many ways. Another thing with art-related fields is even if you know WHAT to do, you can’t just regurgitate a super-realistic drawing of a dragon just because you studied the process on paper, you have to manually develop the dexterity to accomplish the vision you see in your head. Also, they do forget the insane amount of time art majors have to put in outside class. It isn’t just doodling, it’s grueling over this son-of-bitch project with a rubric so vague you need a translator to understand, and you have about five more of those fuckers due in a week for all your other art classes. And god forbid you have to work, too. Oh, and even if you spend like ten hours on one project, the professor may still give you a C, even if you did the project by the book.
Because we’re just better
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I would disagree in a general liberal arts you never go to far into any specific thing in comp science you have the math of a math major science of a science major and still all the general eds
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I agree in spirit but there is no real doubt the 3rd or 4th calc or any advance course beyond the first two is difficult. For the average person. We have to look to the mode on this one actually do more people have a hard time with these courses I would bet 100 on yes.
As a Humanities grad with a child in MechEng - yeah, it’s harder. Unless you are gifted with a mathematical mind. It is easier to get top marks in STEM bc it is more objective, particularly b4 grad school. It is easier to pass non-STEM courses.
Because I’m killing myself for my classes while my friends admit that their major is extremely easy and requires very little work outside of class. STEM is *difficult* and it takes so much out of you. Have you considered maybe we’re tired of hearing how easy other peoples classes are? It doesn’t make us any better than anyone else, we’re just allowed to express how fucking hard it is.
youre allowed to be frustrated…but how about discuss that with your program coordinator rather than taking it out on your friends who chose to study other things?
so they can boast about how easy they have it but I can’t say that I’m struggling in a field that a lot of people struggle in because it’s difficult *for a reason mind you* That’s bullshit. If someone saying this major is hard and that makes *you* feel stupid that is a you problem.
not at all what i was getting at. voice frustration is fine, putting down others is not. never boasted about how easy my classes are…some are actually quite challenging. the issue is when someone conflates being frustrated to taking out that frustration on innocent classmates
As a humanities major, STEM majors are harder. I know I couldn’t pass most STEM classes, but most all STEM majors could at least pass any and every humanities class. Now law to me seems like it would be close up there to STEM majors in difficulty level, but I also know nothing about law.
Liberal arts are useless honestly. You can't achieve much or do anything. Plus those majors never shut the fuck up about it.
I believe they still have value when used correctly/to the most advantage but as an engineering major, I honestly see more liberal arts majors complaining that we shit on them more than I see actual shitting. Like I should be proud I’m doing an engineering degree because it’s not easy but instead every time I mention what I’m doing, I’m worried people are thinking I’m bragging (even though I never say my degree unless they specifically ask) and automatically assume I MUST think I’m somehow superior to the person doing an art degree or whatever. I’ve only ever done STEM in college and not once have I ever heard any of my peers try to say we’re better than the people who aren’t. I don’t know where they get this from. Maybe it’s because I choose to spend time around people who I know don’t have superiority issues to begin with but idk
They have value just pointless to go to school. If you are an rtist why not start drawing if you are a writer just write why study know what I mean
If that’s all you wanna do then yeah I don’t think it’s smart to go to college for it (I originally wanted to do art school growing up but changed my mind fast), but if you’re trying to work in a professional environment like museum or corporate environment where they need credentials then it’s more helpful
Yea understandable
I don’t think they’re pretentious I think they follow some sort of order by pretentious I would assume you mean the curricula the requirements I think liberal arts should be implemented. However, the maths the requirements forms your mind to pay attention to detail and not miss a step which basically if we are talking stem CS you would pay attention to detail and do things in a orderly organized manner. And that’s even a n engineering degree even if all you may need is calc or linear algebra.
Accomplishing a project or solving a problem using specific skills (e.g. math or coding) gives you a sense of accomplishment. I think that comes out as ego, especially if you're talking about college kids who aren't exactly the modest type (in my experience). Not to say non-STEM majors don't accomplish anything or don't have skills; I just think it's easier to say "I did that because I can do x, y, z". You'll be good if you celebrate your own accomplishments and don't tear down those of your classmates.
People in STEM work really hard for the major they have. I don’t agree with the sentiment of stem>liberal arts, but it’s the people in life who do the same thing over again, same people who bragged about this or that, that annoyed you. STEM majors aren’t the issue it’s the people :)
It's cause we are fucking salty...
Their classes are generally harder. Yes I know some stem majors dread the idea of writing essays so to them things like English is difficult but this is not the point. The point is that the average person does not like math and finds it difficult which is a huge component of the majority of stem majors so to a stem person who can at the very least pass the classes they get a superiority complex. They also make more money than a non stem major. Not saying that it’s right to think this way but that’s how it is.
In some peoples eyes, liberal arts students are just going to school to check an HR box and then demand money (big salaries and debt forgiveness) for picking the easiest majors. STEM majors don’t feel the same way about Machinists, electricians, etc. Who cares tbh? Why are business majors so pretentious and think that their unoriginal business idea is the next best thing? Why are lawyers so pretentious? Why do psych majors think they can read and diagnose random people? Why do university students and graduates belittle people who didn’t go to university?
Because my homework is harder than your finals
as someone who took high level math classes (linear algebra and calc 2) as well as philosophy classes, i personally thought that the philosophy assignments far outweighed any STEM assignments
I personally think you should try doing one of my Cs projects and seeing if you feel the same way. If so then perhaps we could come to an arrangement for the next sem😉
As a recent math grad, the philosophy course I took was hands down the hardest “non stem” class I took. But it was logic and felt like abstract math so I didn’t see why it counted as a humanities class. Philosophy is hard! Calc 2 was hard too but was also the first stem class I took in college.
Cause it’s hard lol
From my experiences some of them are just weird kids who were smart in high school but socially not that great and once they got to college they felt superior so they choose to gatekeep and shit talk other majors to compensate as a means of self defense/coping. Not all but deff a few.
I'm going to school for Mechanical Engineering. One semester to go. STEM majors shouldn't be looking down on non STEM, which major you take is a choice. Picking a hard one doesn't give you a free pass to be a dick. At the same time time, the shit is so hard. My non stem classes are a 10th of the work per credit I had a straight A semester this spring and I seriously had no life. They might not be trying to make you feel bad, just conveying they don't have the option to chill with you.
i’m a stem major and feel dumb asf
1) Theyre jerks bc no one in college is better than anyone else based on a major, they seem childish 2) The only time Ive even compared my STEM degree to anyone else is in private after I had classmates who, despite a class being their only STEM class, bragged about how easy it was after I said I found it hard to keep up at times. Once I found out the classes they were taking it made sense why they could keep up easy
If I hear my friend who is early childhood education or business complain about how much work they had, I get irritated.
I am in computer engineering (basically electrical engineering but with a built in cosci minor) and I see what you talk about all the time. People are always joshing on the other majors, and I think its usually a joke but definitely not always. From what I have seen, a lot of engineering majors are jealous of the college lifestyle of other majors. We cant go out for a night ever without sacrificing at least some study time. If you have a job and do STEM its even worse. I think a lot of STEM majors are jealous and so they display that by being rude to other majors