Which subject is more demanding?

wednesburywench

I know, my personal reasons for not choosing chemistry related degree were because there are simply no jobs out there, apart from teaching. I dont know about other people but that is what put me off

All I know is that the English teachers at my college were a hell of a lot more charismatic than the science teachers, and as a result, over 30 people got As in English lit and loads went on to take English degrees. The people studying chemistry, on the other hand, complained about it for two years and saw it as a necessary evil that must be endured for the sake of getting onto medicine and vet courses at uni. The only person (to my knowledge) who went on the study chemistry did so because he was getting sponsored for it.

At my school we had loads of great English and history teachers, with people queueing up for jobs, but the science department was hideously understaffed and they would employ anyone prepared to stand upright in front of a class and try to keep control for 50 minutes.

Reply 82

wednesburywench

OP

2

ahh our science department was very good, compared to the rest anyways, but we had some psycho english teachers who used to cheat with coursework lol. We had the hottest chemistry teacher, just qualified he was only like 22 lol so that made it bearable. Nope I loved doing my sciences cudnt have done anything else. Mostly does depend on the teachers tho, we had a very boring biology teacher n we wud dread going to the lesson (even tho i found it interesting)

Reply 83

I guess an awful lot of it does depend on your personal experiences then. I moved from one school to another, and in the first school the science department were very good. If I'd stayed there I probably would have got A*s instead of As for the sciences and might well have carried them on at A-level. I would have lost out in other ways though, I guess.

Reply 84

Acaila

17

SMMB, if you spent as much time working as you do getting on to people who think your subject isn't the hardest, English would win the poll hands down.

Reply 85

wednesburywench

I know, my personal reasons for not choosing chemistry related degree were because there are simply no jobs out there, apart from teaching. I dont know about other people but that is what put me off

There are loads of jobs for chemistry graduates - infact there are more jobs than graduates at the moment. Downside is that the vast majority are in pharmaceticals, as its such a growing industry (not something I want to do with my degree).

susiemakemeblue

All I know is that the English teachers at my college were a hell of a lot more charismatic than the science teachers, and as a result, over 30 people got As in English lit and loads went on to take English degrees. The people studying chemistry, on the other hand, complained about it for two years and saw it as a necessary evil that must be endured for the sake of getting onto medicine and vet courses at uni. The only person (to my knowledge) who went on the study chemistry did so because he was getting sponsored for it.

At my school we had loads of great English and history teachers, with people queueing up for jobs, but the science department was hideously understaffed and they would employ anyone prepared to stand upright in front of a class and try to keep control for 50 minutes.

I think that depends on your school. My school had 2 very good chemistry teachers who taught A-Level, and also some very good English teachers. As a result, both subjects ended up with a good set of grades from their students, and yes not many people went onto do chemistry at uni - in fact I think from my year there was only me - however LOADS went onto engineering, medicine and stuff like pharmacology, because they enjoyed scienc. But quite a few people did English too. It is a teacher that makes a subject what it is sometimes, especially for the more boring subjects, but you can't generalise for every single school in the country!

Reply 86

Acaila

SMMB, if you spent as much time working as you do getting on to people who think your subject isn't the hardest, English would win the poll hands down.

No it wouldn't. We'll always be on the receiving end of this kind of crap. Nothing's ever going to change that. :rolleyes:

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Chicken

I think that depends on your school. My school had 2 very good chemistry teachers who taught A-Level, and also some very good English teachers. As a result, both subjects ended up with a good set of grades from their students, and yes not many people went onto do chemistry at uni - in fact I think from my year there was only me - however LOADS went onto engineering, medicine and stuff like pharmacology, because they enjoyed scienc. But quite a few people did English too. It is a teacher that makes a subject what it is sometimes, especially for the more boring subjects, but you can't generalise for every single school in the country!

I know I can't, but a lot of people I've spoken to seem to say the same thing. And there are definitely a lot more English graduates floating around trying to find jobs than chemistry ones. All the teaching magazines seem to agree that recruiting English teachers is a doddle compared to less popular subjects.

Reply 87

susiemakemeblue

No it wouldn't. We'll always be on the receiving end of this kind of crap. Nothing's ever going to change that. :rolleyes:

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I know I can't, but a lot of people I've spoken to seem to say the same thing. And there are definitely a lot more English graduates floating around trying to find jobs than chemistry ones. All the teaching magazines seem to agree that recruiting English teachers is a doddle compared to less popular subjects.

Thats because there are so many jobs available for chemistry graduates that pay more than teaching does. What is there for English graduates? Not a lot - so they all do PGCE's and law conversions. Hence there being more English teachers than science ones.

Reply 88

Chicken

Thats because there are so many jobs available for chemistry graduates that pay more than teaching does. What is there for English graduates? Not a lot - so they all do PGCE's and law conversions. Hence there being more English teachers than science ones.

Tell that to the people earlier on in this thread. That's the point I was making earlier. Which means that if you want to study English, you're under pressure to get into an excellent university and then to get an excellent degree, otherwise there's not much point going to uni. Getting a first in English is very difficult, so if you want to get one (or even a decent 2:1) you have to work as hard as any medic. :smile:

Reply 89

Drogue

19

susiemakemeblue

Tell that to the people earlier on in this thread. That's the point I was making earlier. Which means that if you want to study English, you're under pressure to get into an excellent university and then to get an excellent degree, otherwise there's not much point going to uni. Getting a first in English is very difficult, so if you want to get one (or even a decent 2:1) you have to work as hard as any medic. :smile:

Ok, I'll admit many English students work hard, but I've *never* seen an english student work 80 hours+ on a particularly hard week. Nor have I seen one usually work 50 hours+ in a week. I know quite a few med students who do. Med has different rules for other courses (ours has an 85% pass mark for some modules). Many of the very best academic people end up doing med, as it's as hard to get in anywhere as most subjects are at Oxbridge, and yet still have to spend horrendous hours working.

Reply 90

susiemakemeblue

Tell that to the people earlier on in this thread. That's the point I was making earlier. Which means that if you want to study English, you're under pressure to get into an excellent university and then to get an excellent degree, otherwise there's not much point going to uni. Getting a first in English is very difficult, so if you want to get one (or even a decent 2:1) you have to work as hard as any medic. :smile:

But it still doesn't guarentee you a job - I saw a case study in a newspaper a while ago about an English student from UEA (which is a very good university, especially for English) who graduated with a 1st class degree, and was still looking for a job a year later...

And as for "work as hard as any medic" - somehow I really don't think so.

Reply 91

MattG

1

my English student friends are some of the laziest buggers I know :tongue:

that "work as hard as any medic" statement is laughable

Reply 92

Sarky

18

I don't know how you can compare an english degree to working shifts in a hospital, seeing babies born, people die, watching someone be told they may die, dealing with families on top of going home and reading/writing about what you've learnt. Thats on top of learning all the theory behind things, writing essays (yes we do those too) and having a life outside of medicine. I don't think you'll ever convince me that they are equal in their workload.

Reply 93

Sarky

I don't know how you can compare an english degree to working shifts in a hospital, seeing babies born, people die, watching someone be told they may die, dealing with families on top of going home and reading/writing about what you've learnt. Thats on top of learning all the theory behind things, writing essays (yes we do those too) and having a life outside of medicine. I don't think you'll ever convince me that they are equal in their workload.

You have a life? I'm sorry, that's not allowed - you're a medicine student after all :wink:

Reply 94

Sarky

18

Chicken

You have a life? I'm sorry, that's not allowed - you're a medicine student after all :wink:

I had one last year lol. I'm trying to get one back hence going out tonight. But i'm forcing myself i'm absolutely knackered! And this week wasn't as bad as it could have been. :p:

Reply 95

Fluffy

15

susiemakemeblue

Tell that to the people earlier on in this thread. That's the point I was making earlier. Which means that if you want to study English, you're under pressure to get into an excellent university and then to get an excellent degree, otherwise there's not much point going to uni. Getting a first in English is very difficult, so if you want to get one (or even a decent 2:1) you have to work as hard as any medic. :smile:

You spend quite a lot of time online for someone with such a heavy work load...

Reply 96

Kew

MattG

my English student friends are some of the laziest buggers I know :tongue:

that "work as hard as any medic" statement is laughable

All that shows is that your friends are lazy. It doesn't show that they have less work that they *should* be doing.

Reply 97