How difficult is an English BA compared to Biology or other degrees?

I think Chuckles answered this very effectively, but I'll add my opinion as a B.A. English graduate. If you enjoy Biology and/or the sciences and can be successful in those classes, I would recommend you go that route. This is mostly because the demand for science teachers is much higher than English teachers, both in the primary grades and higher education. There truly is an overabundance of Liberal Arts students out there trying to teach, whether they want to or not. If your motivation for taking English is because you think it will be easier, save yourself the time and frustration and know that it definitely is NOT. I am much like you in that English comes naturally to me without much work, and there were times in my undergraduate study that I felt I was definitely in the WRONG department and that I was in over my head. It is a LOT of work; a lot of researching, writing, editing, proofreading, revising (even when you don't think you need it), and starting the process all over again. If you enjoy that kind of work, and I do mean REALLY enjoy it, then English might be the right area for you. Another piece of advice (in the form of an example): don't think that because you got an A in ENG 105 that English as a whole will be "easy" or "slower paced" than science. It won't. The lower division courses are, for the most part, not an accurate representation of the coursework you'll get in upper division classes. However, some of the survey courses that are required in the lower division can be a bit more work because they're preparing English majors for the workload that upper division requires. They're pretty much the "weed out" for the English department; not as hard as pre-med, but still a bit more difficult than the classes they recommend for all students, like Writing 121 in Oregon. I actually took the lowest BIO class possible, BIO 101, as a senior in order to get the credits I was required to have to graduate. I was not a science person so I left it until the very last term possible. :-) It turned out to be my favorite class and there was a LOT of lab and outside of class work. I think my English study actually helped a lot when I finally took this class. Still, it was like a whole different world: doing daily lab assignments, taking weekly quizzes, completing bi-weekly lab packets, mid-terms, and finals. I was used to two or three big papers that I worked on over the course of 10 weeks and then I found myself in a class with daily work that didn't require the deep research but did require a lot of time. They're two different worlds, you really can't compare evenly. It's truly like apples and oranges; you just need to decide which "fruit" you prefer. :-) Good luck!

An English BA is easier than any sciences degree and the pay you get after you graduate reflects that ease. Not to say it is easy, just that it is not as difficult as the sciences. Philosophy pays even less. Before the early 20th Century, a college degree was not meant to train a person for a job. A college education was for personal enrichment. To turn you into an educated person with skills in critical thinking to allow you to take up a career in public administration, the clergy or business where you would learn on the job. There was no intention for a degree to train you for a specific career. However since the 1940’s the expectation of the public about a college or university degree has changed and a college or university education is now expected to lead you to a career. Unfortunately the college and university system has not changed with the times. A degree in Anthropology, Archeology, Art, Art History Creative Writing, Film, General Studies, History, Humanities, Language & Culture, Liberal Arts, Liberal Studies, Literature, Political Science, most any language including English, Media, Music History, Paleontology, Photography, Philosophy, Religious Studies or Sociology is considered a "personal enrichment" degree. Also pretty well anything called “Something Studies”. That is, these degrees are degrees that are meant to enrich you personally in the classical sense of a university education without leading to any specific job. These degrees sometimes result in a position in academia if you go on to get a PhD though there is an oversupply of PhDs for all the academic jobs that come up in these fields. However, in today's world where people go to university to enable themselves to get a job and hopefully a career a bachelor's in these fields is essentially useless. With a degree in these fields and a GPA generally over 3.0 you can: 1. Get into law school. However law schools today graduate far more lawyers than there is business for lawyers. 2. Get into graduate school in a different field. Hopefully one without too many prerequisites you do not have. Consider getting a masters in Technology Management. You can make a similar salary to an engineer but you need essentially no sciences prerequisites. 3. Get into graduate school in the same field and eventually into a PhD so you can become a college professor in this field someday. However, there are far more PhD grads in some fields like Philosophy than there ever will be professorships or any kind of teaching programs. 4. Take a teaching qualification, which is usually 2 more years, so you can teach the subject at a public K-12 school. 5. Look for a job in a field where they want you to have a degree without any concern what it is. Where they only want the degree because they want educated people who have proven they can stick with something difficult and see it to completion. Like the insurance industry. 6. If you join the military you are more likely to enter as an officer instead of enlisted personnel. Do note that if you do go for a more advanced degree, no one cares where you got your bachelor’s degree. Only the school where you got your most advanced degree counts. And that counts for a lot less than the name schools would have you believe. If your GPA is over 3.0, don’t take a second undergrad degree if you already have one of these degrees. A graduate degree will be more valuable to you. So, what exactly IS an English major supposed to do after college? http://www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/posthost/2009/07/28/english_majors.php Here is a listing of the average starting and mid-career salaries for most 4 year majors. http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp The ones with the highest salaries are the ones in the most demand by employers. And the higher they pay, the harder they are. And remember this survey only covers the students who got a job in their field of study. The lower paid the job on this list, the few the number of graduates in a particular major got a job in their field. http://education.yahoo.net/articles/six_in_demand_degrees.htm?kid=12X5N The Highest Starting Salaries of 2010 http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_highest_starting_salaries_of_2010-1296