<p>Is physics major harder than engineering major since courses in the former are more "rigorous and theoretical?" Also, how feasible is it to double major in them?</p>
<p>I'm a college freshman really interested in physics but pursuing, at least, an engineering degree.</p>
<p>Just curious. Thanks!</p>
<p>My physics classes have been harder for me than my engineering classes. I am majoring in Engineering Physics, which is a hybrid of electrical engineering and physics. It's certainly possible to double major in physics and engineering.</p>
<p>Anything is possible, however, you probably are going to need another 1-2 years of school to double major. Also, since the fields are so close, you probably will not see much in return for having the double major.</p>
<p>I would not say physics is harder than engineering. physics bored me to death while my ME classes fascinated me.</p>
<p>And the general concensus usually is that engineering, on average, is harder than science.</p>
<p>You might look into Materials Science engineering which combines physics and chemistry -- somr pretty cool things going on in the field.</p>
<p>Engineering provides virtually no space for electives whatsoever. If you added a physics major, that would mean adding 8-11 more classes (depending on the school), which adds about 1-2 years of school like carnelian mentions.</p>
<p>Engineering is harder in terms of workload, but physics is harder in terms of subject matter. Most people major in engineering over physics. You could look into engineering physics or just do engineering if you're more interested in getting an engineering degree. There will be enough physics in engineering.</p>
<p>Physics is definitely harder for most people than engineering. Once you get past the easy courses such as Mechanics and E&M, it gets much harder and much more difficult to understand concepts. My students in engineering E&M have difficulty with differential equations for goodness sakes.</p>
<p>I was a Materials Science major with a minor in physics, and I found my MSE courses to be way more interesting and understandable than my physics classes. In physics it seemed more about proving things and not necessarily understand the underlying principles of what was going on in the system, while in engineering it's understanding what's happening, why, and how we can make use of those things.</p>
<p>RacinReaver, I completely disagree with your statement about physics. If anything, I believe the exact opposite is true. The whole goal of physics is to understand the underlying principles. I find that most engineers really don't care about the underlying principles but only how to apply them.</p>
<p>I guess the main problem is that I've only done physics classes and all of my research has been in materials. I've had a lot more problem sets in physics that were just "moving symbols around" than in my engineering classes. I'm taking a quantum mechanics class in the chemistry department right now, and it's actually refreshing to have a question along the lines of "What does this actually mean physically?" I will say, though, that I haven't exactly been blessed with the quality of my physics professors. We usually kept around an 80% attendance rate in my MSE classes, but physics was, well, lucky if it was around 50%. :(</p>