ArcGIS is painfully slow. To apply symbology, you need to go to toolbox, select apply symbology, select the layers, select the symbology file, then make sure to

ArcGIS is painfully slow. To apply symbology, you need to go to toolbox, select apply symbology, select the layers, select the symbology file, then make sure to select maintain ranges which for an absolute no sense reason is not the default, then click on apply. ArcGIS then proceeds to apply symbology one layer at a time, taking between 30 to 75 seconds per layer to apply it. In QGIS, right click in layer, copy symbology, select other layers right click, paste symbology. Done in 3 seconds. And like that I could be hours and hours talking about similar experiences. ArcGIS might be much more powerful, but honestly it isn't worth spending 45 minutes to what in QGIS can be done in 5 minutes.