I am an Grade 1 undergraduate student majoring in biological sciences
My major is of the category of science majors. Many people call this major "the literature major of science majors", which I am really averse to. I think my major is just a normal science major as all other majors of this category are, and that statement, seemingly plausible to those who say it, make me feel like my major is treated unreasonably differently. Some people confound my major with biological engineering, and some think we learn the same things as students majoring in agriculture do. I even see some people online say agriculture, biology and environment are of the worst in the categories of science and engineering majors (for they seem very useless in these students' further development in the future). I feel uncomfortable and unfair that my major has to suffer from all these misunderstandings.
@Nightfrost I did some biology. I'm not sure where you are but I think generally a lot of insults between majors is just joking and ribbing each other, and then a bit of truth underlying where the jokes come from (although not the general 'worth'). Where I was in high school you needed 1 grade 12 science to graduate, - general, biology, chemistry or physics. Many of the students who didn't like math did choose biology and biology at that level was certainly more of a read the textbook to understand it than most of physics (which was more working with numbers, less, reading).
Your post also brings to mind physics is applied math, chemistry is applied physics, biology is applied chemistry and medicine is applied biology. The math majors will joke this means they can understand it all but a math major isn't doing surgery on a patient (unless they did actually do medicine too).
And there's also a lot of cross over depending on areas people focus on. A biophysist is probably going to know more about physics than an organic chemist. Bioinformatics can be a lot of computer programming. Ecology mathematical models. And the large animal veterinarian may have done a fair bit of their schooling based out of an agricultural school.
Those who are saying those things to you, what is their background? Are the comments teasing or is the tone more negative?
@AffyAvo
Those people aren't from a certain background, and what I know about them is only they are not from biology majors. The words they say are aimed at my major so not necessarily directly towards me. As I can see, they are something widely spread and very likely to be even stereotypes. The reason why people look through colored spectacles at this major perhaps lies in that we seem to have to memorize a lot of things. I don't have opinions toward majors of math because math is a tool for all kinds of natural sciences. I always look up to those who major in physics and feel my major inferior to chemistry, but I rarely tell this to others. However, I do feel my major superior to those which apply biology but I won't tell those who major in them. And I think my major is better than applied ones but I never tell those of these majors. Actually I hold the view that basic discipline is better than applied discipline, though I know both are useful. I would like others to see my major a basic one, so I feel offended when they confound it with applied ones. I have no opinions toward medicine majors except for they seem extremely tiring. I am not saying my words include no stereotypes at all. By the way, I am considering cross over recently, but I am still not sure about it.
Every student has their own understanding of how their Major is defined by and we can't control what others say about it. So, believe in your own understandings and ignore the rest. What others say/joke/tease about your Major shouldn't interfere with your studies itself. It's okay to feel that your Major has not been recognized much by others, I'm pretty sure it's not the only Major with that problem. So, believe in yourself, this Major you've chosen, and let others say whatever they want about it. Stand firm with your own understandings and work through your field of study the way it is. You're probably not the only student who feels the same way within your Major. Maybe see what others have to say and think about it too, that way, you won't feel that you're the only person taking all the negative blows from students of other departments.
