I am an English major. I am English major because I like to write (revelatory!) and because I don't particularly like to endure inhuman levels of academic agony. Abstract thinking, great. Weekly problem sets involving STATA, not so much.
So having witnessed first-hand the many, many casualties of that non-NRO-able weapon of mass destruction better known as Econometrics, I can safely say that I made the right choice when I filled out my major card. I've had many a rough academic term at Dartmouth, but I'd still argue that I've maintained a better overall work-to-life balance than the people who will one day be specializing in a field of medical care that doesn't even exist yet.
Now you probably don't want to hear that you've got a cushy major, you philosophical types and religion buffs and lovers of literature, because that would seem to belittle your academic toils. It would almost appear to suggest that your studies are inferior to those of your premed buddies (who, come to think of it, you haven't seen in a while those shifty premeds are always up to something over in Gilman). Of course, this isn't the case. But when push comes to shove, you've got to admit that the insane few who can count themselves among the engines-modified-with-bio crowd have probably had a pretty tough time of it maybe even in ways you couldn't begin to fathom.
This is not to say that people who are naturally talented at multivariable calculus will have a super easy time in an upper-level seminar on T.S. Eliot, or that mastering a language is inherently any less (or more) difficult for the general population than mastering elementary quantum mechanics. (Or is it? Maybe somebody somewhere has conducted a study on this.) This also isn't taking into account nasty things like honors theses (clearly only for the very masochistic) or the sweaty palm-inducing format of art history exams (you have exactly one minute to write down every little thing you can possibly remember about this painting you suddenly can't recall the name of! GO!). It is also not to imply that those of us in the humanities do not have to work hard.
But generally speaking, choosing a major that routinely requires you to dissect things or regress things will probably end up making your life more of a drag than it would have been otherwise.
Maybe it's because these majors tend to have lower median grades, for whatever reason, which makes them "objectively" more difficult. Maybe it's because coursework within these majors requires one to apply complex methodology to find the "right" answer, whereas qualitative analysis is far more subjective (and far less rigid). Maybe it's because thinking critically and synthesizing concepts tend to be more intuitive than the mysterious process through which one comes to understand quarks and derivatives and metabolic pathways.
And maybe this all correlates with the number of consecutive hours one must regularly spend in a dark metal cubby hole in Annex B, sequestered away from all external stimuli (and happiness), in order to prepare for class.
Oh, and let's not forget about labs. Labs automatically make a class more brutal and time consuming (and thus more difficult). Labs are effectively deranged four-hour science fairs that occur in the middle of nowhere (i.e. in mysterious buildings located in the desert of construction that is Dartmouth Medical School) on a weekly basis except there's no glory, recognition or monetary prize. And everyone loses anyway (except for that one kid with the unweighted 90 average who's been laying waste to the curve on every midterm and who might also be allergic to sunlight and/or laughter).
As someone who is personally allergic to all science (including astro), I have a hard time conceptualizing what goes on in a chemistry lab, though my understanding is that lab-goers must routinely handle substances that could literally burn through human flesh. Awesome. I'm getting a C in this class, and my life is in immediate danger? Oh, the humanity.
Luckily, I have never incurred an acid burn, nor have I ever taken a midterm for which the median grade is below a 70. So it is to you, dear biology majors, dear econ enthusiasts, dear engineers and string theorists and mathematicians, that I tip my hat and raise my glass.
I only hope that one day, you are able to raise a glass as well.
