Engineering Majors Study the Hardest, Business students the least

[Andy Nguyen]

Does this surprise you? Do you experience the same thing?

Business majors spend less time on course work than other college students, but they devote more hours to nonschool duties, like earning money and caring for family members. In contrast, engineering students spend the most time studying and the least on outside demands.

Those are among the findings released on Thursday from the annual National Survey of Student Engagement, a project that tries to measure how hard, and how effectively, students are working. This year’s results are based on forms filled out last school year by more than 400,000 undergraduates, all of them freshmen or seniors, at nearly 700 colleges and universities in the United States.

Grouping students into seven academic disciplines, the study shows wide differences in the number of hours they put into schoolwork outside the classroom. Among students concentrating in engineering, 42 percent say they spend at least 20 hours per week on such study, well ahead of any other group.

They are followed, in descending order, by students studying physical sciences, biological sciences, arts and humanities, education and social sciences. Business majors ranked last, with 19 percent saying they spend 20 hours or more each week on schoolwork.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/education/college-student-survey-shows-balance-of-work-and-study.html

 

[Freakonometrics]

Unsurprising to me. Over here business studies are quite easy on time and difficulty compared to the more "hardcore quant" stuff. Varies wildly between universities of course.

 

[BILEL]

Very interesting study!

 

[DStahl]

At my undergraduate institution the business majors were by far the least hard working and to be honest the most stupid. The assignments they had were easy, and could be completed in 20 minutes, but it would take them hours. Similarly, the engineers at my school just did not understand math. They studied hard, but ended up memorizing ways of solving problems instead of actually demonstrating problem solving skills. They were often referred to as the "business majors of the sciences" by my friends in physics and math.

My perception of the intelligence of the departments are as follows: Math (my minor), Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, Economics (my major), humanities, Business. My perception of the amount of work/studying by department: Engineering, Physics, Math, Chemistry, Biology, humanities, Economics, Business. Many math majors so quickly grasped concepts that they could finish their homework (which was, by all accounts, much more strenuous and lengthy than the average engineering homework) in just a few hours, while it could take engineers days to complete the same homework.

 

[bansalmohit]

At my undergraduate institution the business majors were by far the least hard working and to be honest the most stupid. The assignments they had were easy, and could be completed in 20 minutes, but it would take them hours. Similarly, the engineers at my school just did not understand math. They studied hard, but ended up memorizing ways of solving problems instead of actually demonstrating problem solving skills. They were often referred to as the "business majors of the sciences" by my friends in physics and math.

My perception of the intelligence of the departments are as follows: Math (my minor), Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, Economics (my major), humanities, Business. My perception of the amount of work/studying by department: Engineering, Physics, Math, Chemistry, Biology, humanities, Economics, Business. Many math majors so quickly grasped concepts that they could finish their homework (which was, by all accounts, much more strenuous and lengthy than the average engineering homework) in just a few hours, while it could take engineers days to complete the same homework.

Engineers do lot more than solving theoretical math book problems, atleast at the undergraduate level. I have just completed my Bachelors in Mathematics and Computer Science. For me Math was real easy part compared to coding complex comp science projects. Also courses like Machine Learning in Comp Science dept had more math than Probability course in Maths department. So i think at the end it comes down to which courses you take. It is on student how hard or easy he wants to make his degree.

 

[Li Cai]

At my undergraduate institution the business majors were by far the least hard working and to be honest the most stupid. The assignments they had were easy, and could be completed in 20 minutes, but it would take them hours. Similarly, the engineers at my school just did not understand math. They studied hard, but ended up memorizing ways of solving problems instead of actually demonstrating problem solving skills. They were often referred to as the "business majors of the sciences" by my friends in physics and math.

My perception of the intelligence of the departments are as follows: Math (my minor), Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, Economics (my major), humanities, Business. My perception of the amount of work/studying by department: Engineering, Physics, Math, Chemistry, Biology, humanities, Economics, Business. Many math majors so quickly grasped concepts that they could finish their homework (which was, by all accounts, much more strenuous and lengthy than the average engineering homework) in just a few hours, while it could take engineers days to complete the same homework.

How are the math and engineering departments at your school ranked respectively? My school has a top 5 engineering department but a 20 something ranked math department, and math classes are extremely easy compared to engineering classes. I just do not think you should generalize just based on what you see at your school.