Humanities Degrees are Harder Than STEM Degrees

Kate Castello

Humanities degrees are harder than STEM degrees.

Perhaps a bold statement to make, but I stand by it.

From that opening, you may think I’m some disgruntled English major who's tired of hearing people undermine how difficult my degree is— but, no— I’m actually going into my final year of a STEM degree. 

In recent years, it feels like the discourse over STEM vs. humanities degrees has grown. Many acknowledge the hard work put into getting a humanities degree and realize the positive and necessary impact the people with these degrees make. However, there are still many people who will tell you that STEM degrees are harder—no exceptions. 

Don’t get me wrong, this degree has pushed me to my limits and made me work harder than I ever thought possible, but STEM degrees aren’t the only ones that take hours of dedication and determination. Not to mention how STEM majors are rewarded for their work while humanity majors are often ridiculed and left without support. 

When I told my parents I would be switching to chemistry they were relieved; I’d previously been an athletic training major: a great degree, but notably harder to get a “good” job. Every time I tell someone I’m a chemistry major they usually look at me pitifully and ask why I hate myself. The next most common answer is someone telling me how horrible they were at chemistry in high school. Either way, they seem impressed. Adults tell me how good of a job I’ll get and friends are a little easier on me when I have to cancel plans to study. People respect what I do. 

But I’ve been on both sides of the coin. 

While in high school, all I wanted to be was a history major. My history courses were consistently my top marks and no job in the world seemed cooler to me than being a history professor. Of course, I never actually told anyone this. Instead, I told everyone I planned on being a physician assistant (which soon changed to an athletic trainer). I knew if I chose to pursue a history degree I’d constantly be asked what I would actually do with it—law school being the only acceptable answer to most people—so I kept that tucked away and pretended I could stand the sight of blood. 

Later, after switching to chemistry and finding the material extremely difficult, I had a moment of panic where I switched again to be an English-psychology double major. 

I lasted two whole weeks. 

Nonetheless, those were two eventful weeks. My parents and I fought over whether I’d get a job with an English degree and my STEM friends looked at me a little differently—to them I was a traitor who had jumped ship. In the end, I realized I did actually love chemistry and switched back.  

However, in my two weeks of panic, I got a taste of how people view humanities degrees: easier than STEM and less useful than business. Even now, back under my safety blanket of a chemistry degree, I watch my friends in the humanities get ridiculed and grilled about their plans after college. 

But the more I think about it the more I realize that it’s just as difficult to get a humanities degree as it is STEM.

In truth, I think this because humanities degrees require a type of ingenuity that STEM degrees don’t. In my first few years, my courses were all memorization and regurgitation. Yes, I would spend hours and hours studying, but the right answer was always right in front of me. The most out-of-the-box thinking I did was when I was asked to synthesize a specific molecule, and even then there was an objectively right and wrong way to do it. In my final year, I have gotten the chance to do a few more projects that involve thinking for myself instead of reading the answer out of a textbook, but again, there’s always a correct and incorrect way to do it. That isn’t to say a job in STEM requires no originality, quite the contrary, but we are not exactly taught to think that: we are just given an instruction manual (sometimes literally) and expected to follow it. 

Humanities majors, on the other hand, are trained to think for themselves from the jump.  A film major friend recounted a time when she had to drag heavy filming equipment down Forbes Avenue to shoot her own film. She had come up with the concept, written, and directed it. A whole film from the mind of one person. Similarly, an English major friend told me about all of the stories she wrote in her fiction writing classes and the personal essays where she had to completely rely on her own brain and experiences. Another friend, a psychology major, had to write a white paper—a paper summarizing topics of interest and their importance for a political figure to get involved with. She interviewed experts and activists and had to form her own ideas on how to solve the issue. These answers aren’t found in a textbook or Google, they had to shape their own unique opinions and present them logically and creatively. 

Another major disadvantage humanities majors have compared with STEM majors is success in the job market. While graduating with a STEM degree doesn’t guarantee you a job, it goes a pretty long way in getting you one. Tack on an internship or two and some research, and in a few years, you could be making six figures. I hate to admit it (because it makes me feel like a prick), but I have very little apprehension about finding a job after graduation. That’s not to say I’ll get hired for my dream job right away, but pretty much no matter where I go, I can find something. On the other hand, humanities degrees face a slightly more difficult path, with many positions nowadays requiring a higher-level degree. 

The suffering doesn’t end there though. Even after finding a job, STEM majors usually earn more annually than humanities majors (sometimes up to 50% more). 

Finally, I think humanities majors have it harder than STEM majors because they are braver than us. Us STEM majors are (practically) guaranteed a job, will make more money, and be thought of as “smarter.” However, most of us will hate the job we have, be overworked, and barely have time to spend with our families (a pleasant photo I’m painting of my own future). We at one point probably wanted to do something in the humanities—if it wasn’t for my own fear of not getting a job I’d undoubtedly be an English-history double major—but we’re too scared of failing, so we went with the safe option: STEM. 

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter which degree is “harder,” or who is “smarter,” there will always be something we can all agree on: we hate business majors.

Edited by Brynn Murawski and Elisabeth Kay