"Though Maybe It's Different in the Sciences" (Education at Home and Abroad)

Ever since I arrived in Geneva, I have had the unique experience of being the only science major in a given group. Though once "humanities girl" (oh so many years ago), and normally a slacker amongst much more talented science students than I, being more-or-less labelled as "science girl" was all very new to me. As if this wasn't a big enough unecessary boost to my ego, being the first student to take science classes abroad on the program, not to mention a lab, made everything a special case for me. Exam registration was at different times, no one else took classes in my building, and many other tidbits of academic advice were always suffixed with "though maybe it's different in the sciences." I cannot deny, they had goood reason to say this.

In the US, there is the permeating belief (at least officially) that all majors require the same amount of work and intelligence, just in different forms. In Switzerland, however, there is no question among students from all facutlies as to who is working harder. Since I have had the unique opportunity to walk in both pairs of shoes, I'll tell you about it, and perhaps you can decide:

In the History and Litterature school (Lettres), students laze with wine and cigarettes on the lawn that shares greenery with a public park. They don't seem stressed- nor do they need to be. Class always starts 15 minutes later than indicated in the schedule, and while attendance is taken, they are allowed two skips per class per semester. More importantly, Humanities students only have to take a few graded classes at once, the majority of their curriculum is just pass/fail. They can pick which classes they would like to take pass/fail as opposed to graded, and weekly reading assignments (when assigned) rarely ever exceed 10 pages. My history professor, once upset with the class for not doing the reading well enough, singled me out and said that in the US students get 100-200 pages of reading a week, so to me this must be like Club Med. If students take a class pass/fail, their only assignment is a 20 minute oral presentation. If they take it for a grade, then they must also write a single 10-12 page paper on the same topic, or arrange to have an oral or written exam (also on only one subject within the course). Teachers are lax, not wanting to give the students "too much work" and the students can pick all of their own due-dates at the start of the semester. Now I understand that if I were taking six or more classes the workload could add up quickly enough, but you have to admit, what these kids are getting away with is pretty disgusting.


Four tram stops and a short walk down, we find ourselves at the Science buildings. Creatively named "Sciences," "Sciences II," "Sciences III," and "The Isotope Pavillion" the air is entirely different. In a more urban setting than Lettres, students occassionally huddle in groups to smoke cigarettes during class breaks on the steps outisde, but there are no luxurious lawns in sight. Classes start promptly when indicated, sometimes earlier if all the students are assembled anyway. On the bright side though, students are often given a 15 minute break in the middle of class to keep them paying attention better, and attendance is never taken. In the dark buildings with narrow hallways, students on the first floor socialize, play cards, and do work together in the cafeteria, while on the upper levels students flit about in lab coats. While many science majors in the US only take one or two science classes at a time (maybe matching up a notoriously challenging class wth a lighter schedule otherwise) Swiss students have no such luxury. Here, for example, students will take Biochemistry I, Organic Chemistry I, Both Physical chemistry classes, Analytical chemistry I, and intro Inorganic all in just one year. But that's not even the kicker. Lab meets three days a week, starting after lunch and often not ending until after 5 or 6 PM. Each week, each pair of partners is responsible for producing two, single spaced, 8-10 paged, full lab reports, in addition to their weekly problem sets in lecture. All classes have graded exams. Needless to say I have gained a ridiculous amount of respect for these people. When I asked a friend of mine "Ca va la vie autrement que chimie?" [How is life other than chemistry?] she responded "Haha, Quoi de vie autrement que chimie?" [What life other than chemistry?]


Still wondering?

There are also some other interesting differences between academics here and in the US that are worth noting.

• School is mostly sponsored by the state, and it only costs a few hundred dollars per student per semester. Many students go to university in the same town they grew up in and continue to stay at home with parents and the same friends. Only a few foreigners need to pay for independant housing. Since repeating a year is inexpensive, it's not uncommon for students to fail a class and be allowed several retakes (the exact number depending on the faculty).
  
• When students come to the univeristy, they pick a faculty and stick in it- rarely taking classes that are not required for their major. As a result, it's not uncommon (in Sciences, at least) to have the exact same small group of people in almost every class, day-in and day-out. Degrees tend to come more quickly here: a Bachelors, Masters, and PhD each taking roughly three years.

• Classes are also more numerous than in the US: students often take 5 or more at a time depending on how many individual credits each class is worth (there is a much larger variance here than amongst classes in the US). However, classes are easier to do well in, with exam questions pulled directly from the homework. Papers are mere cumuluation and recitation of fact without need for personal analysis. (After all, you've only read a few books in the subject and you don't have a doctorate, why should it matter what you think?)