<p>The impression I get is it's easier in a pure science.</p>
<p>From what i've seen, so no one be offended. Engineering requires more work and therefore can be brutal, but physics, chemistry, and math require more aptitude. I.e. many of my peers have a lot of trouble with the basic sciences conceptually and mathematically.</p>
<p>Both disciplines have similar avg. GPA range in our school (around 3.0). I don't know which would be easier to get the higher GPA.</p>
<p>Engineering requires more work for the same GPA. However, that doesn't account for the slight IQ advantage that Physics/Math programs have over engineering programs. I believe the drop out rate is higher in Engineering though, so it might even up by the time both cohorts graduate.</p>
<p>I wouldn't peg those who dropped out as all people who couldn't cut it in Engineering though... I feel like there is a bigger draw to declare engineering as a persons major these days for the assumed financial security, etc. I don't know many people that major in Bio, Physics, Chem without thinking further ahead. I guess I just know a lot more people in engineering that are there because they like math and physics and like the job prospects, so why not? Whereas in Physics I know a lot more people who plan on graduate school and are physics majors simply because they like Physics, not because they like the job prospects. Maybe like is the wrong word: they enjoy physics, whereas some(a lot?) engineering students don't know what else they would major in. I guess in that respect I see a lot of people take Engineering as the science equivalent of psychology or business in liberal arts schools... but not for the "ease", for the money. Poor motivation doesn't bode as well in Engineering though...</p>
<p>That said, I think both are roughly equivalent. Some of the engineering courses I have taken took more time outside of class because they had very specific standards for doing homework, what you needed to do in tests, etc. I couldn't leave off a unit, I couldn't divide by 2 without writing it down. It took time to solve the problem, but there was also a lot of time spent making sure it was properly explained. In my Physics classes there isn't that requirement. In physics we have that in labs though. </p>
<p>In terms of the thought/intelligence/effort required/involved in solving the problems, I think they are equivalent.</p>
<p>Note: I am an Engineering Physics major, so I take some engineering classes but I'm more heavily focused on the physics aspects of things. I could have a bias :)</p>
<p>Depends on the school. Depends on the department. Depends on the classes you take within the department. Depends on the person. Any answer is likely to be an overgeneralization.</p>
<p>(I have been both a pure science and an engineering student, FWIW.)</p>
<p>I'm glad jessiehl said what I'd come here specifically to post.</p>
<p>So we should end the discussion? How about we here more opinions from people who state: the school, department, classes and why they chose the major.</p>