Hey everyone,
I have a high 80s to early 90s average right now and I plan on taking neurosciences.. can anybody let me know if they're enjoying the program so far?
And also, I've been hearing negative comments about the humanities and arts programs, could you please list as many of these condescending ideas associated with the humanities as possible?
Humanities entry is like a 75 average isn't it?
And so, many people are assuming it is "for dumber individuals who could not get into sciences". I will be going into the sciences at Mac next year, but as for the humanities, I'm trying to find this info for a good friend of mine who hopes to share residence with me. If you could please be honest as this is the key question - how do other students view the humanities students? After all, it is a science university.. there is definitely a negative stigma towards the arts and humanities. And yes, I'm aware that it doesn't matter what others think, but still, it is interesting to know.

It does matter what others think, ours is a social race. My engineering roommates think anyone in the humanities and social sciences is stupid. We rarely talk now.

I'm in Commerce and I get ripped on every now and then by my Eng and Science roommates. I'd say humanities kids get it the worse though. No matter what program you're in there are bound to be a few people that will be jackasses and rip on you.

If you are interested in both Humanities and Science, then this program might be a good fit: http://artsci.os.mcmaster.ca /prospective-students

It really saddens me to see my bud feeling kind of down. People are attacking each other and cussing each other out for being in the humanities program. It's like a hot shot type of ego that consumes them simply because they are taking science. I am going to be taking neuroscience, but I hope my attitude towards the faculty of arts and humanities does not become condescending. Science is nothing without abstract perspective of the humanities, and the humanities are nothing without the universal truths of science. Why can't people realize the importance of both.

That is sad.

*sigh* people's attitudes are disappointing. Humanities have produced great writers, lawyers, psychologists and teachers to name a few. Without them, where would the world be, right?

This is so sad. You can get many jobs from the Humanities faculty not just the sciences. Actually parts of humanities and social science has some science involved in it. For example, Linguistics, Geography and Psychology...

Although, I heard from my linguistics professor that a student is doing a study about how students in the humanities have a lower IQ than the science students. *sigh*

Oh that's just terrible.
Creates more of a weird stigma, makes the humanities look less wise. How awful. Where is this guy, I will talk some sense into his square science head. (p.s kidding).
But seriously, that's so condescending to them.
Some of the "sciences people" have such an arrogant attitude, I mean come on, they need to realize that a shit ton of people in the humanities and social sciences have a 90+ average
MATH isn't everything. It's crucial for anyone going into medical schools, but realistically, medical school is often glamorized.
It is heavy work and half the students who want to become doctors actually cannot handle all the blood and dead bodies they will see, and so, only a select few will actually become professional doctors. It's funny, it's just funny, why do they bother putting the humanities down, how closed minded, without the humanities the world would not be the society it is today, same for sciences, they need each other. people need to take their heads outta their asses and Stop hating

I honestly believe that it's not about the faculty someone is in, but why they are in that faculty. From personal observation only, I have found that a lot of humanities and social sciences students (more-so for social science) are from the Hamilton area, and chose McMaster because it's local, their friends are going, want to be able to go to college/university and have a good time, and because they are not difficult programs to get accepted into. Personally, I have absolutely nothing against someone (regardless of faculty) who comes to McMaster to study something that genuinely interests them. On the other hand, I have no-so-positive opinions of the students that I earlier described, as I find these students tend to party way more, care less about academics, and aren't always representative of the kind of image the institution wants to show off.

If your friend is interested in arts and humanities, then don't let others' opinions influence their decision. Generally speaking, the humanities program is not quite as difficult as some faculties such as engineering or life sciences, but that doesn't mean there isn't so much to learn from these programs. There are some great educators at McMaster, including within the humanities faculty. Although bias, I think McMaster is a great choice for a post-secondary education.

Best of luck and hope to see you both next year!

There is no undergraduate program called Neuroscience. It's Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, and it's a second year program, you don't apply to it from high school. You can enter from first year social science/humanities or from first year science programs such as life science. You need the same mark to get in either way. In PNB, we take literally the same required courses whether we're from the science background or the arts background. Our available courses cover a broad range of topics from neuroanatomy, animal behaviour to social psychology. Sometimes our science PNBers find the social side more interesting, and social science PNBers sometimes find the science side more interesting. We're one integrated program and background isn't important.

Originally Posted by Commie42

Generally speaking, the humanities program is not quite as difficult as some faculties such as engineering or life sciences, but that doesn't mean there isn't so much to learn from these programs.

I take issue with this statement because you need to define "difficult". For me as a science student, I would find it difficult to read 5 novels and write 4 long papers in a month, and that's the level of work expected for just ONE humanities course usually. For someone studying math & stats, maybe they find doing math problems easy, while an arts student could find that difficult.

The reason engineering and science are typically dubbed to be "harder" is because they have an increased workload in terms of units and time spent in labs. But what if you put an engineer into a course that required a lot of paper writing and readings? Do you think the engineer would find it "easy"? I don't think so. People pick their programs based on what they enjoy and that's usually what you find easiest. why pick on humanities students for that?

Besides, during the year I entered university, the average to get into eng was the same as for commerce and lower than life science. Entrance averages tell you absolutely NOTHING about difficulty, just about how many people are competing to get into the program.

finally, someone who sees past the numbers

Originally Posted by EvgeniMalkin

finally, someone who sees past the numbers

lol, thanks.

I used to be one of those people in first year who looked down on humanities students, but I entered PNB and discovered that I, as a science student, actually wasn't too keen on the neuroscience aspect of PNB, was more interested in the social psychology and behaviour side. And that's totally okay. It's important to keep an open mind, get exposed to different things and do what you like, and you can't do that when you're judging other people.

Originally Posted by ooburii

I take issue with this statement because you need to define "difficult". For me as a science student, I would find it difficult to read 5 novels and write 4 long papers in a month, and that's the level of work expected for just ONE humanities course usually. For someone studying math & stats, maybe they find doing math problems easy, while an arts student could find that difficult.

The reason engineering and science are typically dubbed to be "harder" is because they have an increased workload in terms of units and time spent in labs. But what if you put an engineer into a course that required a lot of paper writing and readings? Do you think the engineer would find it "easy"? I don't think so. People pick their programs based on what they enjoy and that's usually what you find easiest. why pick on humanities students for that?

Besides, during the year I entered university, the average to get into eng was the same as for commerce and lower than life science. Entrance averages tell you absolutely NOTHING about difficulty, just about how many people are competing to get into the program.

Totally agree with you. I personally would struggle with reading novels and writing long essays. I'm just saying that based on personal observation, students who are in humanities tend to not not have as hard of a time going through their programs as say an engineering student. However, like I said, this is a generalized statement and not true for everyone.