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Computer science undergrad here, final year in a very nice public university. For a long time now I've observed how business majors (my roommates) go on unpunis

Computer science undergrad here, final year in a very nice public university. For a long time now I've observed how business majors (my roommates) go on unpunished for years of blatant cheating. It has made me completely lose faith in the system. In computer science, cheating is not such a simple proposition. Our university CS department has a no-bullshit cheating policy: first offense results in failing grade, suspension for one semester, and mark on your transcript. Second offense results in expulsion from the school of Computer Science. I've seen this punishment applied in person many times; I know the dean isn't bluffing when he says he'll do it. Also, the school CS department uses a modified version of MOSS: http://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/ http://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/ to detect the cheating. Maybe you can circumvent it if you're smart enough. Personally I have better things to do with my time. Business majors, on the other hand, already have a reputation as the "bullshit major". You curriculum is a joke. You study for exams the day before. You party on finals week while the rest of us study. It's the major you go to when you want the easy ticket through life. And the blatant cheating they get away with just serves to rub it in the face of all the majors who actually have to gasp work for their degree. More reading here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/education/edlife/edl-17business-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/education/edlife/edl-17bus... When my roommates are done with college, they'll be screwed. I'm not disputing that. They have a degree that won't be worth the paper it's printed on, in a heavily oversubscribed major (25% of all US undergrads are business majors), with no marketable skills, and a tendency towards laziness and dishonesty. Why do Business schools let this kind of stuff go on? I've talked to people in other schools, hell even business majors themselves, and they all acknowledge it. Don't people realize that they're just screwing themselves over in the long-term while accumulating the animosity and disdain of their peers? It's crazy, self-destructive, sad, wasteful, and it's ruining lives. The entire system is broken. Cheating is just a symptom.

aidenn0 15y ago
I would be careful generalizing the business school at your university. I went to Purdue. I started as a Physics major and switched to computer science. I had several friends who started as an engineering or science major and then switched to other majors. The academic standards in the Physics program were significantly higher than in CS, and liberal arts was a joke. There is a reason for this more than just Physics > CS > Liberal Arts: Let's say you're a quality student who has decided against a private college for whatever reason (e.g. you don't want 6 figures in student debt) in Indiana: If you want to major in liberal arts, you go to Indiana U. If you want to major in CS and you don't mind the medium increase in cost, you go to the University of Illinois If you want to major in Physics, you go to Purdue. So there is some selection bias here. I don't know much about business schools, so I don't know if your generalization is valid or not. This is just something I've noticed in my own narrow experience.

aidenn0 15y ago

I would be careful generalizing the business school at your university. I went to Purdue. I started as a Physics major and switched to computer science. I had several friends who started as an engineering or science major and then switched to other majors. The academic standards in the Physics program were significantly higher than in CS, and liberal arts was a joke. There is a reason for this more than just Physics > CS > Liberal Arts: Let's say you're a quality student who has decided against a private college for whatever reason (e.g. you don't want 6 figures in student debt) in Indiana: If you want to major in liberal arts, you go to Indiana U. If you want to major in CS and you don't mind the medium increase in cost, you go to the University of Illinois If you want to major in Physics, you go to Purdue. So there is some selection bias here. I don't know much about business schools, so I don't know if your generalization is valid or not. This is just something I've noticed in my own narrow experience.