/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.7150847]

Here is what I know from reading anecdotes about people at Cambridge university. Remember in the UK it's unusual to switch major. Also remember that everyone in cambridge has almost equally perfect high school grades.

People who are failing maths get put in to physics, engineering, or CS.

People who are failing physics get put in to chemistry.

A guy who had 20-something A levels (or some other ridiculous number; most people do 3 or 4) was doing badly at CS and was put in to politics.

People who do badly at medicine or chemistry get put in to biology.

Do you think this represents the true heirarchy of intelligence needed for subjects?

[Anonymous No.7150856]

>>7150847
>know from reading anecdotes
>true heirarchy of intelligence
hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Anonymous No.7150857]

you study natural sciences at cambridge, not individual subjects
also that's not true,
also that's not a good basis for an interesting thread

[Anonymous No.7150863]

>Do you think this represents the true heirarchy of intelligence needed for subjects?

You know, if you spend less time being status-conscious and more time studying/doing research, you might actually go somewhere in any field, regardless of its position in the "intellectual hierarchy"

lel

[Anonymous No.7150865]

>>7150857
If you want to you can take subjects purely in biology or purely in physics.

[Anonymous No.7150887]

>>7150847

[Anonymous No.7151446]

>>7150865
Being someone doing natural sciences at Cambridge, I can confirm that's not the case.

In our first year we take 3 subjects from a choice of 8 (normally linked, so I did chemistry, physics and matsci), alongside a maths options (I did the straight maths one).

Most of those anecdotes are bullshit: some people can and do change degrees (NOT majors), but the vast majority stick with what the applied to do. You're not shifted around subjects if you struggle with the content, you just get a worse degree (most people don't struggle anyway). By the end of first year most people are realistically too specialised to transfer to another discipline (this isn't always the case however).

The guy that wasted his time doing 20 A levels clearly wasn't good enough for cambridge: he reached his academic plateau at A levels and wasn't prepared for the step up.

[Anonymous No.7151503]

>>7150847
there are different kinds of intelligence, ect. ect.
someone who is used to handling the logic and straightforwardness of math can seriously struggle with elementary parts of other majors, like dealing with mass memorization in medicine, or the illogical exceptions and lack of proof in chemistry/physics.

I do, however, think of these things in terms of purity. Just because mathematics is more pure than physics doesn't mean that physics is easier than mathematics, or vice versa.