Not everything's easy breezy when you study the sciences! Here are the things you'll only understand if you do a science degree.
Oh God, the testosterone!
Whilst many amazing scientists are women, the truth of it is that the sciences are all too often dominated by men who preoccupy themselves with being as macho as possible and drawing genitalia on each others textbooks.
With the current amount of women in the UK’s engineering workforce standing at just 6%, we can’t wait for the next generation of girls to be inspired to study the sciences. Please, send help. Check out Girls Into STEM to find out more.
Geography is not just colouring in!
There’s only a certain amount of times you can cope with being asked “So, got your colouring pencils ready?” when you tell people that you study Geography. Even though 50% of the assignments in your first year do actually involve creating some very pretty rainbow-hued maps, it’s still offensive.
Everyone expects you to be a maths whizz
There’s a reason we didn’t study maths, and it’s because we’re not amazing at it. I mean, we’re pretty good, but our love of engineering basically came from a childhood obsession with Lego rather than a fascination with long division.
People (like the person who wrote this article) lumping ‘The Sciences’ in together all the time
Non-science people always think all degrees with a ‘BSc’ in title are basically interchangeable. Not true. There’s an enormous amount of different subjects, and you’d be offended if we said that classics and history were ‘basically the same thing’, so stop doing it to us.
Long hours in the lab
Is there anything spookier than being on your own in a lab, in a deserted wing of your university, in winter, at night? We think not. Especially if you’re studying biology or forensic science. Working with bits of person in jars after dark? NOPE.
Long hours in general
If you want to be a doctor, you’ll probably have to study for at least 5 years to get your degree, and then go on to do even more afterwards. That’s a lot of time to spend sobbing into a textbook, but at least you’ll be rewarded and respected by the government at the other end. Wait...
Oh God, the sexism!
Whilst the disparity between numbers of men and women studying the sciences is still ridiculous, we know that most of the fellas on our degrees, and our professors, are top-notch guys. Unfortunately, some of them aren’t. See Tim Hunt, who honestly said “Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.” Tim Hunt, they were probably tears of pity for your little backwards brain.
Trying to think of an exciting yet manageable study for your dissertation
Dissertations are no fun whatsoever, but even harder when you study a science. English students can just head to a library and have every resouce they could possibly need at their fingertips, but you have to fly to New Zealand and slog your way across a glacier lugging a tonne of old, expensive equipment to get yours done. Or spend half the year trying not to let your experimental fruit flies escape.
Battling with an unflattering lab coat for 3 years
You’ll feel very important when you buy your first one, but the novelty will soon wear off as you realise how hard it is to keep a gleamingly white lab coat gleamingly white for long. Especially if you work with soil samples.
Having to deal with your un-science-y friends
Maybe you have friends that, although wonderful, struggle with the concept of evolution. Maybe they just don’t get that when lightning strikes an aeroplane, it’ll be just fine. Maybe they don’t care about your opinions on string theory.
The comradery of such a time-intensive course
There’s no better way to make close friends than to spend 9-5, plus extra hours in the lab or doing practical work, in the company of similar people with similar interests.
Do you study one of the sciences? Why not leave a course or module review, and tell us how much you love (or hate) it?!
Or, if you're an aspiring scientist-to-be, check out some science courses here.
