<p>Accounting? I almost had a mini-vomit. You have to be kidding…</p>
<p>I took environmental engineering course for electives and aced them, I’m ChemE. I don’t think environmental is harder. However, I never really got the hang of statics, which is a Civil type course. I did alright, and I gave it some time I’m sure I could have mastered it, but it drove me batty, same with circuits. I will leave that stuff to the EEs and Civils.</p>
<p>I really think what is hardest is those things that don’t interest you.</p>
<p>Every engineering student likes to think that their major is the hardest major. Who cares? It’s such a stupid contest. It’s not like harder implies more worthwhile, or whatever. Choose whatever engineering major sounds most interesting.</p>
<p>The difficulty of the majors have little to do with which subject you take and more to do with how the specific university treats the subject.</p>
<p>For example where I am engineering physics learns as much about statistical mechanics as chem and as much theoretical electro dynamics as electro. Basically they teach all the theory but not the applications for anything and since its the theory which is hard it is usually seen as the hardest degree here. Also since it has a history of “being the hardest degree” those who apply for it are usually very keen on the subjects which allows it to continue being a hard degree without reducing the number of students who pass. </p>
<p>So instead of ranking by degree, rank by what courses each degree consists of. Of course I am not used to the US way of doing these things so maybe all ChemE are the same?</p>
<p>Some of it has to depend on the school also. I think engineering major X at M.I.T. is going to be more rigorous and demanding overall than the same major at say … Chico State…no offense to anyone who went there.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Wow, no one has ever mentioned Mech E. How hard is Mech E in relation to all the others?
Suppoosedly it’s the most in-demand major of the future according to: <a href=“http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_top_5_in_demand_majors-466[/url]”>http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-the_top_5_in_demand_majors-466</a></p>
<p>I’m an ME and I can tell you its no picknic. However, I dont give much attention to those who say “this is the hardest major” or “that is the hardest major.” How do they know? What qualifications do they have to back up their statements? </p>
<p>At the end of the day, pretty much anything with engineering attached to it is going to be hard and is going to be in demand.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of ME as being the most in demand discipline…again thats someone’s opionion. I can’t speak for other disciplines, but I can tell you ME’s recieve a very broad education which allows them to work in a variety of places, including areas not directly in their discipline.</p>
<p>What made you decide ME over other engineering disciplines?</p>
<p>the general consensus at my school (UCSD) is this in order from hardest to easiest</p>
<p>Electrical > Chemical/Nano > Mechanical/Aero > Structural</p>
<p>Not sure where Bio would fit.</p>
<p>Aerospace engineering… its rocket science for god’s sake.</p>
<p>I think the whole engineering vs. other technical and scientific disciplines dichotomy is silly, superstitious, and outdated. How hard any such program is at any given university depends on such a wide range of factors that any meaningful comparison is impossible.</p>
<p>For instance, I doubt most (as in 50%) of engineering majors could pass the Introduction to Analysis sequence here, let alone the Abstract Algebra or Topology courses. Does that mean math is a harder major than engineering? Most math majors pass it.</p>
<p>I’m a CS major, and I struggle to the point of self loathing with the classes that focus on hardware issues. It’s hard for me because my interest level is literally zero. It’s frustrating because these are the classes my classmates seem to enjoy and look forward to… I guess my one consolation is that in the math and CS theory classes, and I don’t mean to sound cocky but I think it’s out of my hands at this point, I am pretty much two standard deviations above the next highest scorer(s).</p>
<p>[/rant]</p>
<p>Seriously, though, how hard a major is depends on too many things to talk about it. You can make any subject as easy or as hard as you want.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Many of my ChemE professors use to say “this isn’t rocket science, for this you really need to use your brain.” Or some variation thereof.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not to mention that it also depends on the person. With my strengths, classes like quantum mechanics and fluid dynamics were a breeze. On the other hand, I nearly failed a class on film noir. Everyone thought I was joking when I’d tell them how hard “film class” was. It wasn’t the professor, either, I just didn’t get it. People would have these elaborate meanings behind while the heroine was holding a napkin, and I’d just respond “because she’s probably going to eat something,” which was the wrong answer (to this day, I still don’t know why). </p>
<p>So even if you go to the same college and find two people that are doubling majoring in the same fields, you can have one tell you that Major A is more difficult and another tell you that Major B is more difficult major, and both be correct.</p>
<p>As doubtless mentioned before, various universities and professors teach their majors on different levels, and people have knacks for particular fields, which vary the perceived difficulty.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s probably a more difficult major if it involves more complicated calculations and a deeper understanding of physics, chem, etc. Still, you can’t compare those too easily, and most people will naturally assume that they are in a major that is at least within the upper 70%. Who here thinks they are working on a major that is ridiculously easy and could be done by an above-average monkey?</p>
<p>Consider that the difficulty of a major can also be judged by how hard it is in the workplace. There’s various levels of everything, so that a person from a major with easier classes could end up working harder.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Two words: Expository writing</p>
<p>I’ve heard more laments about this course than any other.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why? Calculations aren’t difficult - you recognize the methodology you need to use, you find your book on that methodology, you open to the right page, and you use that method. </p>
<p>Performing complex math doesn’t mean the problem is difficult, it just means you had to take higher level math courses to be able to identify the problem.</p>
<p>Now, some of those subjective humanities courses… those are difficult.</p>
<p>… like Music Appreciation.*</p>
<ul>
<li>serious, btw.</li>
</ul>
<p>I think most engineering classes aren’t too hard because the types of problems that are reasonable to give on exams are the very simplest cases. Same with math classes; usually you get a few definitions and then you apply those definitions in some succession to get a pretty simple result. The actual material might be quite hard, but the classes are in general not (at least in my opinion).</p>
<p>^ my experience, with EE, is that exams are hard because they make you “apply” what you have learned to something you haven’t seen before.</p>
<p>Correction… Materials science also one of major cyllibus for mech.E student. Formerly known as “metallurgy”. Since nowadays, engineering materials scope are very wide, then terms metallurgy was not relevent anymore. I would say this is one of the killer subject for mech.E students. And for additional, it’s cover crystal structures, crystalline soilds, crystal defects, dislocation, metal strengthening mechanism, mechanical prop’s of metal, alloy phase diagram, alloys, heat treatment, ferrous and non-ferrous metal, advanced materials such as engineering plastic, ceramic and composites. A tonne of stufs need to be memorized…</p>