<p>Just wondering what you all thought about this question.</p>
<p>Here in the US, it’s not far fetched to say many (not all) STEM (science tech eng math) majors are nerdy. Is it like this in other countries around the world? Just wondering if this is exclusive to us over here.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Everyone is nerdy in some sense of the word. The only people who aren’t are those who really are and just don’t admit it and spend too much time trying to fit in. The rest of us are quite happy with our quirks. In other words, my answer to your question is yes since I think pretty much everyone has things they are nerdy about.</p>
<p>Yeah, STEM people are nerds everywhere… no escape.</p>
<p>Not as much actually. In a lot of countries, as much as 70% of college students will be STEM majors. It makes sense, STEM majors get good jobs - and in poorer countries, the difference between a good job and a bad job is a lot scarier than it is in the US.</p>
<p>Smart kids in the US will major in Poly Sci because it’s “cool” even if they were awesome at math and science. A big motivating factor in where American kids choose to go to school is the social life at the school. Turns out, more attractive girls/guys seem to be liberal arts/business majors than STEM majors. Big engineering schools are rarely labeled “party schools.”</p>
<p>This is pretty easy to observe in the percentage of foreign kids in Engineering vs the percentage of foreign kids in History, for example. </p>
<p>Heck, in the US it almost seems cool to say you’re bad at math. At the very least, few people are ashamed to admit it. In other countries, kids of average intelligence are taking Calc when they’re 13.</p>
<p>I know I am making a lot of generalizations here. There are plenty exceptions to everything I’ve said.</p>
<p>@Kamel,the question is:do people who major on POLY or other arts get better paying jobs than STEM or other hard majors?I really doubt.</p>
<p>I think this is where the word “deadbeat” comes from.</p>
<p>My Engineering son is happy to be a nerd . He will graduate this May , and go right into a Nuclear Engineering Masters program . Can you be cute and nerdy at the same time ?</p>
<p>Wow this is really interesting to read, for me coming from my personal background-
I am a sophomore girl in high school and I’m prefer science/math subjects
I’m thinking of majoring in premed when I go to college and I feel it’s almost unusual that, being my age now and especially being a girl, i am interested in STEM. and I find it really interesting that most of my friends in school are really into English/history/poli sci etc. and want to major in that stuff in college and im wondering what their degrees will bring in today’s economy… I agree with those of you above who’ve said that in the U.S. people aren’t as into STEM as those in other countries…
My only concern is that so far this semester I’ve gotten a B+ in honors chem and I got a B+ in algebra 2 last year…I wonder how colleges (especially top ones which I want to apply to) will look at that on my transcript when I tell them I want to major in a STEM field</p>
<p>Well nobody has really answered the OP’s question, I believe he is curious about the perception of STEM people in other countries.</p>
<p>I have never left the US, but I have come across anecdotes here and there in the media about kids in Japan, SK, etc. being the most popular kid in their class because of their prowess with math or computers, whereas in the US the idea of a person being the most popular in their class for being good at math or computers is a completely unbelievable joke. In American schools, you become popular by being good-looking, rich, or good at sports. I wish I had more info on this.</p>
<p>
I did not see this in my country.</p>
<p>Maybe in developing countries I can believe people think it’s cool to be in STEM, but my impression is that, in the West, the STEM stereotype exists universally. Maybe it’s because when you can afford leisure/culture, work/STEM is considered stuffy. Even in the US, I wouldn’t consider a poor/working class kid a nerd, no matter what his major happened to be.</p>
<p>I was talking to an Iranian guy, and he said that the concept of ‘nerd’ didn’t even translate. Doing well in school and being smart weren’t things to be ashamed of, they were things to be proud of. He said that the ‘nerd’ thing is mostly an American phenomenon.</p>
<p>I think we are getting to the heart of the answer here.</p>
<p>I work in IT and many American born guys are stereotypical nerds. When I look at the guys from India (did not grow up here) they talk about about things that are not considered nerdy. For example, the Indian guys like sports whereas the American guys will only talk about Star Trek. This is a huge generalaztion and not true of everyone but it does hold pretty steady where I’ve worked.</p>
<p>So what does this tell me? In countries outside the US-- probably the Asian countries— it is cool to be smart as in major in something difficult and pursue a STEM career.</p>
<p>You want another example? The American show The Big Bang Theory. Science guys that are awkward, dorky and socially inept. Doesn’t shows like do more harm to kids wanting to go into a STEM profession? I think it does. I think we Americans get it wrong.</p>
<p>I’m into STEM stuff and my friends all call me a nerd, but I don’t care. I embrace it. Hey, atleast it makes me different than them </p>
<p>Sent from my SCH-I500 using CC App</p>
<p>I’m very happy going to a school (and majoring in electrical engineering) where you could be good friends with someone who is an extremely talented engineer/scientist and you would never know it if they didn’t tell you (hopefully you would already know this if you consider them a good friend but you see what I mean).</p>
<p>SeminoleTom writes “You want another example? The American show The Big Bang Theory. Science guys that are awkward, dorky and socially inept. Doesn’t shows like do more harm to kids wanting to go into a STEM profession? I think it does. I think we Americans get it wrong.”</p>
<p>I think that show is absolutely hilarious. I don’t think it does any harm to kids’ self esteem. First, the characters are a bit extreme but they’re still getting l**d so there’s hope even for the nerdiest of the nerds. BTW - my kids like the show almost as much as me and one is applying now as a CompSci major and the other next year for Mechanical Eng.</p>
<p>@ChrisTKD
Yeah I get what you are saying but do you think that is the norm for a rising high school senior to see that show and say “yeah those guys are great maybe I should major in a science field…”. Or would they rather be…“if that is what they are like I don’t want to major in a science field…”?</p>
<p>I don’t know. I hope most people can see that they are extreme. But is that taking a big jump to conclusions?</p>