<p>How is a basic science major different from an engineering major? Take chemistry as an example.</p>
<p>What is the difference between a chemistry major and a chemical engineering major -- especially if a school has a separate engineering school? Do you need to decide freshman year if you want to do engineering? If you just like science, which would you start with?</p>
<p>Basic science is more about the discovery/understanding of knowledge, whereas engineering is about problem-solving. If you're a scientist, your job is make discoveries and thus add to the pool of human knowledge, whereas engineering involves using that knowledge to solve problems for practical gain.</p>
<p>This is why you can generally get a job as an engineering with a bachelor's degree (though this is less true in such a harsh job climate; it would be better to have a master's in engineering or an MBA), whereas a basic science undergraduate degree must be followed up by the practical experience of a graduate degree.</p>
<p>One of the reasons that many people struggle with engineering classes in college is because they have no experience in high school with the thought process that an engineer must have. As an engineer, you must always work with the end in sight.</p>
<p>I started off engineering and switched to science. Deal breaker for me was physics...wayyy to much physics for my liking in engineering. Engineers seem to have better problem solving skills, their minds work differently. As far as the differences between chemical engineering and chemistry...size and cost.</p>
<p>Chemical engineering deals more with the process involved in large scale production. There's not so much chemistry in it as there is physics.</p>
<p>To choose between the two, you really have to look at what an engineer does and if that's what you're interested in. Many people choose engineering just because they were good in math and science, and that turns out to be a poor decision sometimes. </p>
<p>Engineering is about real world applications and finding solutions to problems. As srunni said, you always have to work with the end product in mind. In science, your goal is basically to acquire more knowledge through research. It may or may not have immediate real world applications.</p>