There’s always been a debate between STEM and Humanities majors in college. Most people discuss job opportunities or what skills they may teach you. STEM deals in facts and objective truths through evidence, logic, and experimentation. It focuses on solving problems and advancing human knowledge through discovery. Humanities explore more subjective experiences, ethics, and cultural narratives. They examine why societies function the way they do and question fundamental human values. Despite all this discourse between the two, I very rarely see people discuss what college itself looks like day-to-day. As a psychology major who is also on the premedical route, I feel well-placed to discuss the differences I see in my daily life between these two areas.
Part of being premedical in undergraduate universities means taking the prerequisite courses for medical schools. These include the general biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics series and more. I have learned that these are very rigorous courses with few assignments, but instead have long three-hour labs, difficult concepts, and complicated calculations. The reputation these classes have for having a 50% average on exams usually proves to be true. Additionally, a lot of these courses are designed to be “weed-out” courses, with increased difficulty in order to “weed” people out of the major or pathway early on.
Being a humanities major doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do math or science in college either though. There are usually basic math and science courses required to be taken as breadth courses in order to ensure that students have an acceptable level of knowledge in these subjects. In my experience, a lot of humanities courses require memorization or terms (psychology/sociology) and essays (English, philosophy, and history). While the concepts that are taught aren’t usually very difficult to understand, it requires a different level of creativity and deeper level of analysis in order to integrate these concepts into essays. Additionally, doing multiple humanities courses often means that you end up doing one essay after another, or often more than one at once. Weekly reading and discussion posts aren’t uncommon in humanities either. This can be an extremely time consuming experience.
While STEM and Humanities majors have differences in their approaches, skills, and daily academic experiences, both contain their own unique challenges. STEM courses tend to focus on problem-solving and experimentation, often with fewer assignments but rigorous exams and complex labs. Humanities courses, on the other hand, often have long readings and frequent writing assignments, demanding critical analysis and creativity. Ultimately, the choice between the two will depend on each person’s academic strengths, interests, and career aspirations.