What Is the Hardest Degree to Get?

Getting any degree in college is challenging, and for good reason. Colleges and universities design their curriculum to prepare learners for their careers. Courses should feel like they stretch your capabilities and inspire you to learn more, develop your skills, and gain improved focus.

However, some degrees earn the distinction of being harder to get than others. Obtaining one of thmore complicatedrder degrees does have its benefits by raising your post-graduate earning potential and employability. It’s important to note that difficulty varies from person to person, so while some students may find a particular degree challenging, others may have an easier time understanding the materials. Knowing your own interests helps when choosing the right college major for you 

Are you looking to challenge yourself? This article answers the question, “What is the hardest degree to get?” It examines the reasons a degree may be considered difficult to earn, along with the challenge offered by graduate degrees, before providing details about some of the hardest degrees to get with jobs and salary information. 

What makes a college degree hard to get?

Various factors and variables determine the degree of difficulty learners may have in earning a particular degree, including the learner's background and interests. Additionally, three factors that often combine to qualify a major as hard include the following:

• GPA

• Hours studying

• Courseload

GPA

One way to examine how hard a degree is is by looking at exit grade point averages (GPAs) from college majors. This measure aims to find a correlation between the difficulty of the material and how well students understood it. Using GPA as an indicator does have its issues since all programs in a range of universities have varying requirements, and some STEM fields increasingly use grade inflation to attract more candidates. However, consider this data from Cornell University regarding the GPAs of students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, which can provide insight into the link between challenging degrees and GPAs. 

The list below provides the average GPA of Cornell University’s students in the following majors from 1997 through 2007 [1]:

• Chemistry: 2.78

• Biology: 2.98

• Math: 2.90

• Psychology: 2.95

• Physics: 3.09

Hours studying

Another aspect of what makes a degree hard is the amount of time per week you need to dedicate to it to understand the theories and concepts. This means that students imore challenging majors spend significantly more time studying in their major throughout their career to perform at the level they need to. 

A study conducted by Grand Canyon University revealed that approximately 50 percent of learners spend an average of two hours or less studying daily. However, participants in challenging fields like health, engineering, and business were more likely to study at least six to 10 hours weekly [2].

Courseload

Some degrees require a heavier courseload than others. For example, STEM majors have many difficult prerequisite courses like calculus, programming, and lab classes that require you to have very technical skills to be successful later on in your studies and field. This makes them hard when compared to the prerequisites and courses taken by humanities majors. 

Hardest college degree majors to earn in the US with average earnings

Let’s take a look at some of the hardest college degree majors to earn in the United States, along with their average earnings, admission requirements, and common coursework. 

*All salary data is average annual from Lightcast™ Analyst as of February 2024

Energy engineering

Common coursework: Physics, calculus, chemistry, renewable energy, thermodynamics

The difficulty in an energy engineering degree comes from the combined nature of energy systems and the mechanics and industry required to build them. It combines typical energy courses like physics and mathematics with energy courses like thermodynamics, wind, and ways to distribute energy effectively. 

Possible careers and average earnings

• Environmental engineer: $101,670.40

• Petroleum engineer: $146,206.17

Philosophy 

Common coursework: Logic, ethics, metaphysics, ancient philosophy, modern philosophy

Philosophy requires critical thinking and writing skills that examine methods of thought throughout history. Philosophical thinking requires creative thinking, which requires students to think outside of given truths about society, which makes it challenging compared to technical majors like mathematics or engineering. This makes it a major many students take when they want to apply to law or medical school. 

Possible careers and average earnings

• Professor: $78,759.66

• Lawyer: $165,395.44

• Physician: $237,799.10

Physics

Common coursework: Advanced calculus, mechanics, electricity and magnetism, particle physics

Physics is a challenging degree that involves understanding the mathematical and physical basis of the universe. It forces students to not just memorize information but to apply it and know why they are applying a particular formula or concept to solve a problem. The foundational scientific and critical thinking skills gained in physics give you access to a variety of careers within the discipline and outside of it. 

Possible careers and average earnings

• Physicist: $150,134.40

• Astronomer: $127,462.40

Biology

Common coursework: Organic chemistry, physics, molecular biology, lab skills, biochemistry

Biology studies all forms of life, from humans to fungi, and involves lots of time spent in a lab analyzing and running experiments. Difficulty in biology comes from the fundamentals of biology, such as biochemistry, microbiology, and physiology. It has a range of specializations and a major for many pre-medical school students, making it extra difficult. 

Possible careers and average earnings

• Microbiologists: $89,309.44

• Biologist: $96,168.42

• Biochemists and Biophysicists: $115,650.58

Data science

Common coursework: Linear algebra, statistics, computer science, software engineering, programming

Data science is an interdisciplinary degree that combines knowledge of computing, programming, data, hardware, and mathematics. Students learn how to use data and make predictions by building algorithms and programs. 

Possible careers and average earnings

• Data scientist: $114,282.59

• Computer and Information Systems Manager: $170,817.21

• Software engineer: $132,466.34

Challenging graduate degrees to earn

Graduate degrees are inherently more challenging than undergraduate degrees because they build on the foundational skills and knowledge you already have . If you already have an undergraduate degree or want to know if you want to pursue a graduate, consider the challenge that comes with each kind of graduate degree. 

Master’s degree

Master’s degrees take the foundational skills you learn in your undergraduate degree and put them to the test by exploring them even deeper. With a master’s degree also comes a thesis program, where you spend your time not just in classes but developing your ideas and original research. In the hardest thesis programs, expectations of students are high, and you need to write and read at the graduate level and pace. 

Professional doctorate

A professional doctorate prepares students to work in their selected field. These degrees are highly coveted for working professionals like lawyers and doctors. Some examples include:

• Medical doctors (MD)

• Pharmacists (PharmD)

• Dentists (DMD)

• Lawyers (JD)

Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) 

If you want the challenge of rigorous academic research, a PhD is among the hardest. Even getting accepted into a program is a challenge as you need to show your previous degrees, which sometimes requires a master’s and begin to formulate your research interests. The degree itself takes five to seven years and ends with you defending your dissertation, which is a piece of original research. Earning a PhD requires intense dedication, time management, and hard work. 

Reasons to pursue a challenging degree or major

Choosing to pursue a challenging degree has its benefits. One of the main benefits of choosing a hard major is that you graduate with a range of hard-earned skills and an understanding of your discipline. Another reason is that harder college majors can deliver a higher earning potential because of the skills and disciplines you choose to study no matter the kind of degree received. 

Getting started with Coursera

Are you ready to take on the challenge of a hard degree? If you want to get a hard degree and learn at your own pace, try some of the online degrees found on Coursera. Try the Master of Applied Data Science from the University of Michigan for a challenging graduate degree. Or try the Master of Advanced Study in Engineering from UC Berkeley College of Engineering for a rigorous engineering degree.