Choosing a degree is incredibly difficult because it’ll likely determine your career path. Math is one of the subjects that people continuously question. They often ask, “is maths the hardest degree?” because it has a bad representation of being difficult.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The reasons for this will vary for students, but it’s still a somewhat popular option. Between 2019 and 2020, it got rated the 32nd most popular major out of the thousands available. However, although popularity is excellent, retention rates, success probability, and average GPAs are much better when deciphering if maths is the hardest degree.
Is maths the hardest degree? The Breakdown
Undoubtedly, all degrees are hard. Whatever you select will require classes, studying, and additional learning to achieve a pass. A degree in math is the same, and the below will determine how difficult it is.
Pass rates
When it comes to pass rates, the exact information isn’t available. However, we can suggest that 52 percent of those entering a maths major decide to swap to something else before finishing the semester.
The above image indicates that maths has the worst retention rate of all the Stem and Non-stem fields. Therefore, a degree in maths is clearly more challenging than others if people are leaving before their study ends.
Popularity
Above, we mentioned that maths is the 32nd most common major globally. The three most popular countries that receive degrees in maths are India, China, and Korea. Therefore, it isn’t a go-to option if you live in the US, UK, or EU.
However, it isn’t like nobody has a degree in maths in the US, UK, and EU. If you obtain a maths degree, there are some healthy pay packets in these countries. For instance, a mathematics degree can open up the following career paths:
The available jobs are the primary reason people enroll in this degree. Although it may be more complicated than some degree options available, achieving this can be more rewarding than most.
Grade point average (GPA)
The GPA to pass any form of mathematics degree is usually 3.0. However, in maths, they have one of the lowest averages of 2.90. That means you’re more likely to fail a maths major than pass, which undoubtedly showcases its difficulty.
If we compare this to the other information in this post, like the 48% retention rate, we can start to understand how challenging this degree might be. By matching these, we can suggest that out of the 48% of people that remain, the “average” person won’t officially graduate.
Conclusion
After reading the above, you should better understand the question, “is maths the hardest degree?”. From evaluating the information from this post, we suggest it’s up there with the hardest. Although this will highly depend on the individual, it can get categorized with other challenging degrees such as Chemistry, Economics, and Biology.
However, it isn’t impossible. If you believe that passing a math degree will showcase benefits, go for it. Yes, it’ll take a lot of studying and hard work, but every degree requires this.