College students really dig math and science—or at least they do until the coursework starts catching up with them.

Those are the findings of a study out of Berea College, a liberal arts school in Kentucky. Researchers surveyed 655 students during their college careers, asking them a series of questions 12 times during their attendance. These researchers discovered that, while math- and science-oriented majors were very popular with incoming freshmen, they were the majors most likely to be dropped and least likely to be picked up.

Were the students scared off by the daunting level of work required? The experts say no.

“Students knew science was hard to begin with, but for a lot of them it turned out to be much worse than what they expected,” said Todd R. Stinebrickner, one of the study authors. “What they didn’t expect is that even if they work hard, they still won’t do well.” (Wall Street Journal)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.