Many Loyola students believe that STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) majors, especially those that are pre-med, carry the most stress. Inversely, students think business, communications, and education are easier majors and overall, less stressful. BigEconomics.org published an article entitled The Hardest Majors – Ranked by Millions of College Students, and in turn, projected these feelings nationally. These students ranked STEM as the most difficult discipline and Education as the least difficult.
Students also recognized the stigma that surrounds these stereotypically easier majors, often resulting in passive judgment from students within the STEM fields.
August Vittone ‘25, a biopsychology major, said of other majors outside of STEM, “There is a lot more learning than there is work. When people ask your major, they think ‘Oh okay, so you don’t really know what you want to do yet.’”
Statistics major Mari Sisco ‘25 admitted that she has fallen into the trap of unintentionally judging some of her classmates with majors that are perceived as easier.
“I do that sometimes, not on purpose, but I definitely feel that it’s not that their work is not valued, but it is definitely different ways of stress and homework. I do admire people that do it but I do definitely envy them for the amount of work that they have, which is mostly not at all compared to mine,” Sisco said.
Students have different opinions on whether or not having a major that they genuinely enjoy reduces stress, but they agreed that the heavy workload of difficult majors is worth it to get to where you want to be in life. Emma Sabino is a biology speech pathology major and added her thoughts on whether having a heavy workload is worth it.
Sabino said, “Yes, because you want to study it so why would you put yourself through it if you don’t like it?”
Devin Demelis ‘23 disagrees. Demelis is a pre-health biopsychology major.
“I don’t think it reduces school stress for tests and actual assignments due. But I do think it makes it so that I feel more satisfied, and more fulfilled when doing those things even though there’s more homework,” Demelis said. “The expectations are higher so you have to realize that you have to get it done one way or another.”
Molly Gels ‘24, a communication major, believes that as students get older and more used to college life, their stress about school may decrease. However, their worries about adult life grow.
“School-wise, it got better, but now I’m more focused on what I’m going to do after college, so now I’m trying to find classes that I’m really interested in to help me find a job in the field that I want to be in.”
Quite a few of these students pointed out that they believe their professors can play a game-changing role in reducing stress, and even have the power to save their mental health by allowing mental health days, not overloading with homework, and realizing that students have a lot on their plates. Olivia Giovannon ‘23 is a biology pre-health student and proponent of this idea.
“I admire when some teachers add in extra low stake assignments. That way, tests aren’t your whole grade, because in bio that happens a lot. You take three tests and it’s your entire semester, so that’s kind of nice; when they think about us and do extra things to help.”
If you feel that you need any help with issues related to school stress or a variety of other topics, please visit the school’s counseling website.
Featured Image Courtesy of Carissa Matrale