The Hardest Degree?

Duff-Man said:
I can tell you without a doubt that the general quality in engineering departments is severely lacking in comparison to math departments. I've seen this trend at three different Universities (Cambridge, Imperial and Nottingham), so I have a fairly wide frame of reference.

I know this won't be a popular point of view, but it's well founded and generally accepted as true (in academia at least).
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What do you mean by quality? Do you mean the teaching isn't up to scratch, or the department is badly structured?
 
Probably not as hard as some engineering degrees, but I would argue Biology was pretty tough (Depending if you are going down a zoology route or a molecular / developmental biology, the latter being more taxing). I'm currently transforming a plant, and the nitty gritty theory of how the vectors work is pretty 'gnar'. The logic behind how nobel prize winners have presented their original thoughts contributing to such work is ingenious and outstanding!

Saying that, my library project on 'The Reptile Ear' is horrendously difficult (It took me four hours to write one sentance - what a Reptile is), so I imagine any science based research essay requires mass effort to do well.
 
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Duff-Man said:
I can tell you without a doubt that the general quality in engineering departments is severely lacking in comparison to math departments. I've seen this trend at three different Universities (Cambridge, Imperial and Nottingham), so I have a fairly wide frame of reference.
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What do you mean by quality?

edit: beaten by Vixen :)
 
It depends on where you are studying and what your background is.
I believe theories are always the hardest. Whether it be psychology, economics or mathematical theories.
Plus if it's a subject you do not enjoy you won't find interesting and find it harder to learn. Plus the instructor plays a role in this.
 
Vixen said:
What do you mean by quality? Do you mean the teaching isn't up to scratch, or the department is badly structured?
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General intelligence of students. Ability to comprehend new concepts quickly and effectively, and then use them independent of supervision.

For example, I supervise a lot of undergraduate and masters students for their end-of-year projects. The work my group does spans a wide range of subjects and applications, so I get students mainly from maths, mechanical engineering and civil engineering. If the student is a mathematician, I can gloss over the basics and get straight into the advanced material, and be confident that they will be able to apply it. At the other end of the scale, I know that a civil engineering student will struggle with even the basic concepts, so I must structure the project to minimise the amount of independent thought required. The mechanical engineering students vary quite a lot in ability, but generally fit somewhere between the two.

Now, I'm not talking about motivation here - that seems roughly evenly distributed through the subjects. I'm just talking about raw ability. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but they are somewhat rare. I have worked with dozens of students and I'm rarely surprised.



edit - I should point out that students are given projects suitable to their background - a civil engineer would not get a math-based project and vice-versa. Also I have no basis to state whether this difference in ability is down to natural intelligence or the effectiveness of the teaching.
 
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if we're putting forward the argument as to why our own degree were the hardest, then here goes:

for three years i worked a 45 week year
20 weeks in uni, and 25 weeks in a hospital working as a 'free' junior member of staff
the course included academic subjects such as physics (in particular the physics of ionising radiation), maths (treatment calculations), anatomy and physiology, oncology, and research and statistics
on placement as well as working a whole week (37.5hrs) unpaid - we were constantly assessed, our every move was watched and recorded - and the slightest ****-up could lead to a fail
we started year one with 26 students, 12 graduated this summer.

but realistically - i couldn't imagine doing a maths / physics / engineering / ppe degree - they look insanely hard!
for me, i loved the variety in my course, and continue to love the job now i've graduated :)
 
Duff-Man said:
General intelligence of students. Ability to comprehend new concepts quickly and effectively, and then use them independent of supervision.

For example, I supervise a lot of undergraduate and masters students for their end-of-year projects. The work my group does spans a wide range of subjects and applications, so I get students mainly from maths, mechanical engineering and civil engineering. If the student is a mathematician, I can gloss over the basics and get straight into the advanced material, and be confident that they will be able to apply it. At the other end of the scale, I know that a civil engineering student will struggle with even the basic concepts, so I must structure the project to minimise the amount of independent thought required. The mechanical engineering students vary quite a lot in ability, but generally fit somewhere between the two.

Now, I'm not talking about motivation here - that seems roughly evenly distributed through the subjects. I'm just talking about raw ability. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but they are somewhat rare. I have worked with dozens of students and I'm rarely surprised.
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I probably have to agree with you there then. I started off studying Maths, but switched to Chemical Engineering at a different uni, so I've seen a small amount of both sides too. When I was studying maths, I was pretty much an average student in the class and almost everyone had come in to the degree with straight As, even in our class exams most people got an A or B.
My chemical engineering class, however, has a lot of people who couldn't understand basic concepts (it took ages for most people to understand mass balances!) and most of those who are still there get by through working very hard.
 
goldilocks said:
if we're putting forward the argument as to why our own degree were the hardest, then here goes:

for three years i worked a 45 week year
20 weeks in uni, and 25 weeks in a hospital working as a 'free' junior member of staff
the course included academic subjects such as physics (in particular the physics of ionising radiation), maths (treatment calculations), anatomy and physiology, oncology, and research and statistics
on placement as well as working a whole week (37.5hrs) unpaid - we were constantly assessed, our every move was watched and recorded - and the slightest ****-up could lead to a fail
we started year one with 26 students, 12 graduated this summer.

but realistically - i couldn't imagine doing a maths / physics / engineering / ppe degree - they look insanely hard!
for me, i loved the variety in my course, and continue to love the job now i've graduated :)
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I take it you were a medic? I certainly don't envy you!

I can't think of any other subject which requires more hours than medicine (other than vetinary med of course).
 
See, a lot of people mention Engineering/Physics/Maths.

Yet i'd have an easier time at them, than I would my friend's Biomedical Science degree, that's just insane and my brain doesn't work like that.

It's all down to the person. The sort of person who is adept at English, writing etc. will find a Maths degree exceptionally hard. I'd probably struggle to get through an English degree.
 
Edinho said:
Only degree that look like a joke to me was a business studies couse, any idiot can pass it, hence why idiots do it. (Sorry to any idiots out there :D )
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I'm shocked and offended :P Accounting degree here. It's obviously harder than Business Studies though :rolleyes:

I'd say maths/physics/medical stuff.
 
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Seeing as everyone who studies for a degree has different skills/abilities it's impossible to answer this question objectively.
 
Pointless thread unless people have experience of all these courses which of course none of us have, with us having practical experience of 1, or at most 2, degrees.
 
Duff-Man said:
I take it you were a medic? I certainly don't envy you!

I can't think of any other subject which requires more hours than medicine (other than vetinary med of course).
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i am an allied health professional
not a doctor, not a nurse, but one of the other 'medical' lackeys that help run the nhs :)

although my degree was a three year BSc, i think (anyone medical can please correct me if i'm wrong) that we did more clinical training hours than in the 4 years of a medical degree
(though i know they do a lot more academic work than i could ever have stomached)

i'd love to do post grad medicine - but at the moment it is the money rather than the work load that puts me off :)

TWF - i think that everyone posting is aware that this is by no means a by the book comparison between how 'hard' (how can hard even be classified?) degrees are - but it is interesting to read what everyone else had to do to get theirs!!
 
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