I live in California (LA) and I’m currently a senior applying to college. I always found interesting math and science classes (Chem was my fav, I enjoyed physics & math), solving problems and really understanding the reason behind it; I’ve always been a curios girl (I feel like I’m really perfectionist and look at every detail) . However, being frank, I’m not passionate about any career & I don’t love any of the two (CS or CE) but from all the majors, those are the ones that I feel I could get to enjoy. Now, I’m really concern about picking one; yes I want to do something I could enjoy my entire life but I would lie if I say I don’t care about money. I do care about money and I would like a good salary, don’t have a hard time finding a job once I work my ass off in college because I know I will, work in an office (no necessarily all the time but I like the office/ comfortable environment) & have a job security ( like I’ll probably have to give everything at college but I’ll know at the end there is something good waiting for me, that my hard work will pay off and I’ll have a confortable life) What do you think? These majors are in different colleges so I really need to decide. I’ll appreciate an honest response 
Which colleges are you applying and do they admit by major?
What are your stats? What about Chemical Engineering since you liked Chemistry?
Which interests you more, designing computers and software or designing buildings and infrastructure (roads and other transportation, bridges, water treatment, etc.)?
Also you are looking at those majors like you have to be a working civil engineer after graduation… I majored in Electrical Engineering but work at a Telecommunications Company as a Systems Analyst/Solution Architect…talking to customers and figuring out their requirements and designing solutions for them…I have not touched a circuit since college (and am happy about that!). There are many jobs where a technical background is good but you won’t necessarily be building bridges or designing circuits.
Or do you like a combo of the two like Traffic Engineering?
In many schools, all engineering majors will have the same classes freshman year, one of which is an intro to engineering class, where you will rotate through several engineering disciplines. That may help you figure out which one you like. Some colleges also allow you to go in undecided. My son loved chemistry but was told that Chem Engineering actually doesn’t use much chemistry. Not sure how true that is but it turned him away from that. He is a civil e major but has really enjoyed the mechanical engineering rotation. Mechanical may give you the most well rounded engineering degree, giving you a wide variety of career options.
In the CA public system (CSU and UC) you usually apply to a specific discipline and then have to apply to change majors. None of the ones I’m familiar with have a rotation plan. You can also apply as undeclared engineering, but they you’ll have to qualify to get into a specific major once you’ve decided. “Qualify” may be a specific gpa and you’re, or it may be they have 10 slots and will take the 10 with highest gpa.
The concern I have is that the actual practice of engineering has surprisingly little to do directly with math & science, at least the way you’ve done it up to now in school. You’ll keep doing the same math/science on steroids as an engineering major in college, but working engineers use software that does the calculations. You won’t be doing integrals, derivatives, solving algebraic problems, etc. in the profession, nor will you be doing calculations using the scientific rules you learned in undergrad. All the calculations are based on the math & science, but you’ll almost never see/do the actual calculations once working in the field.
Time is short since the UC app period is next month and other deadlines are coming up. So I doubt you’ll be able to do much investigation before apps are due. But I do suggest talking to a few people working in the CS & CE fields to see if its really something you can see yourself doing. You may be able to find books about the careers, but the ones for CS at least are probably outdated as soon as they are published.
You may just be happy in either field.
One of my daughters got her degrees in architectural/structural engineering and works as a structural engineer. She dates a CS major and has said she could also have enjoyed CS, had she been exposed to it more prior to choosing a major. My other daughter was an Econ major/math minor, who taught herself to code during college and uses it daily at work along with her Econ and math knowledge. She loves it all. Both of my daughters make good money in their respective fields.
You don’t have bad choices here.
Civil/structural engineering tends to have a fair amount of field work and my daughter is often on site visits at high rises, a hospital, parking garages, historic buildings, and various others. A head for heights can come in handy.
My two kids were both interested in engineering but were not sure which specific field. I suggested Mechanical Engineering as it is one of the most general fields.
BTW, most engineers do use software programs for many of their calculations but you will probably still do some hand calculations to check those results. I was one of the exceptions in that I did a lot of analytical process development and so did use integrals, derivatives and the like. My graduate work was in applied mathematics. I very much enjoyed the work. The work was in support of the space program. You can usually find the nitch in engineering that you will find most interesting.
You probably won’t go wrong with either choice., and CE is a VERY broad field. I bet you could find a niche that you enjoy. I’ve been a CE now for 26 years. The last 23 I’ve worked for a local government where I have to be a jack of all trades. I do stormwater, sanitary, road design, site design, traffic, environmental, and everything in between. I do not do structures or domestic water/gas systems.
I picked CE because I wanted a job that could be anywhere. Small towns, big cities are all CE jobs. I also hated dynamics. That being said, CEs are on the lower end of the pay scale vs other engineering disciplines, though I believe structural engineers make more than land development engineers. The private sector offers greater salaries. Local government probably pays the least. However, the trade off is no overtime and no travel. That was important to me as a working mom with little ones.
Field work? CEs tend to either love being in the field or not. I’m the latter and I"m not alone. Some site work is needed, but I don’t go out often. I think I would have enjoyed being a pure traffic engineer. Lots of data & analysis.
I definitely don’t do calculus! And I don’t know of anyone who checks anything by hand past basic math. I confess I was happy when my kids took calculus, so I could steal their books and do some problems on my own and make me feel smart again. The job involves more problem solving and working with what you’ve got in front of you. It’s much easier in school where everything is given and assumed and there’s an answer they are looking for. The real world, there often isn’t a perfect solution. You just have to make the best choice you can. And once construction begins, there are always problems. LOL.
One other thing, I can’t speak for CS, but a big part of CE in the private world is obtaining work. You have to be able to speak to prospective clients and speak with authority I HATED THAT, especially as a 22-24 year old. It’s much nicer being in the government sector and on the other side of the table hiring consultants.