You may have little idea of what you want to study in university. You probably just want to get a degree and don’t care that much what is written on your Certificate of Graduation. Or you probably have a different plan for your university life, and want to put study towards the bottom of your agenda. If that is you, then the logical thing to do is to drive on a road with the fewest obstacles, so you can free up your hands, most of the time, from the “wheel of study” to do many other things that you want.

But comparing Major A and Major B for their difficulty is as difficult as it is to say whether learning to cycle or learning to swim is harder. You have to know your own strengths and preferences. If you have long arms and legs, you are potentially a good swimmer. If you enjoy sweating under the sun, cycling seems to be a better option.Such questions Digital Senior can’t answer for you. But what we can do is to compare majors on some objective criteria, hoping the comparison can shed some light on the issue.

There are a few objective criteria that we are using here. Firstly, we check the course workload, i.e. how many academic hours you want to put in for the entire duration of studies. Secondly, we look at the admission cut off points. Lastly, we look at the composition of students to gauge how strong is the competition. And here is your list of 3 easiest majors in Singapore, in no particular order.

Mother Tongue

What’s easier than studying a language that you speak as your mother tongue? Unless you really just speak English, studying mother tongue could be a great way to have an easy university life.

If you are studying a mother tongue, you are carrying less academic workload, so you have more free time for yourself. For example, the NTU Chinese Undergraduate Program requires 126 academic units. Excluding a final year project that takes up 8 academic units, you will be spending slightly less than 15 hours per week on lesson, 3 hours a day! Comparing to some other majors such as medicine or law, you will be living in heaven. (Caution: never show off how easy your academic workload is in front of people from other schools, if you still want to make friends!)

The admission cutoff point is generally among the lowest. For NTU, the 10 percentile is BCCC while the 90 percentile is AABB. For NUS, though you are directly admitted into its Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, they offer lower admission bar for students pursuing a mother tongue degree. See, the competition is in your favor.

Would you be concerned that students coming from the countries where the language is the official language will put you at a disadvantaged position? Well, as far as we know, there is restriction on admitting such international students into a mother tongue program. And being able to speak faster doesn’t mean scoring better in exams.

Project & Facilities Management

Yes, your first question may be “what is this major about?” NUS, which is the only university that offers this major, has a concise description here. Basically you will be learning how to manage property, improve their operations or reduce the cost.  Efficiency is the key goal of project management.

As you can see, this major looks very practical. Probably a bit too practical. But being less theoretical, the workload for study in the classroom is also less. It requires 120 MC (credits) for the entire duration, which is a more attractive requirement compared to many other majors. Do you know how much is required to earn a bachelor degree in computer science? A whopping 160MC! You should be thankful that NUS offers such a major that doesn’t push you to burn the midnight oil.

Oh did we also mention the cut off point isn’t high too? That means your friends in the same school would be rather laid-back. If you also have a more “chill” personality, you stand a better chance to have good friends there to have drinks (or watch movie) with.

Moreover, not many (in fact, very few) international students are taking this major. It is generally true that international students raise the level of competition. In this major, you are shielded from that source of competition, which could be rather intense. But still want to make more international friends? Join school clubs or campus activities!

Sciences

Don’t be scared by the word sciences. We are not talking about “hard sciences” here, such as physics or mathematics. Do yourself a favour by staying away from hard sciences if you want to have an easy university life.

If you look closely into the science school, you will realise there are many hidden gems there. Have you heard of Food Science? If you don’t mind a bit of biology stuff, Life Science could be an easier version of applied biology. These are more niche areas of studies. (Yes, the fad for Life Science has gone in Singapore).

But being niche areas, you are assured that the competition won’t be that intense. The admission 10th percentile cutoff is at BBCC for NUS College of Sciences. Yes, you notice its 90th percentile is AAAA. But don’t worry. Such are the kids who are “science geeks” or “science geniuses”. They won’t be big in number, and you just need to be their secret admirer, without worrying too much about competition.

Again, for international students intake, the niche areas in sciences are less popular. International students generally don’t want to take risk in a new country by doing a major that is less than popular. But you get rewarded for taking such a risk, by getting an easier academic life.

Get a Good Ride

With all that said, the rigor in a local university (even for the above 3 course) is no child’s play. Choosing a major based on its difficulty won’t be a bad idea, as long as you can still live a fulfilling life in your university. With less academic workload in your car, we wish you can fill it with other interesting stuff so you can always enjoy your ride!

PS: In order to complete this not-so-easy task of finding the easiest majors, we have to make certain assumptions throughout the articles. Knowing how we think about the issue is more important than the answer we give to you.