<p>It also seems to be that at the Graduate Level Engineering no longer is one of the more difficult ones.</p>
<p>VTBoy, what do you mean?</p>
<p>Peck that at the graduate level it seems that a lot of other majors have a lot more work than engineers.</p>
<p>material science. um, from what I've heard (from my dad, a material scientist) is that material science isn't a extrememly hard major. there's less calculations, just understanding concepts. there's also a shortage of material scientists (lesser known and therefore "reject" field) so I do believe that some schools give people who are interested an advantage in admissions (there was no way I could have gotten into UCLA and Berkeley out-of-state with my stats, I think). but, like jeffl said, it's a growing field and I would have pursued it hadn't some other school offered me a better deal in some other field.</p>
<p>Nuclear Engineering and Chemical Engineering have to be way up towards the top. They require both a high level of compentency in a difficult and in-depth scientific field AS WELL AS a high level of competency in mathematics.</p>
<p>I think Aerospace Engineering and Electrical Engineering both are next in line. Granted, there certainly is some science (physics and/or chemistry) that must be understood in these degrees, but not to the same extent that it does in Chem E or Nuc E. The mathematics is pretty intense in these two, though, so I'd probably put them next in line.</p>
<p>It's also not as simple as just "physics" or "mathematics". There are numerous different types of mathematics degrees. Many schools, such as mine, will allow a mathematics major to concentrate in a specific area of mathematics. I think some of these areas are fundamentally harder (Real Analysis) than some of the others (Education). The same holds true for physics.</p>
<p>Is anyone majoring in Industrial Engineering Operations Research. I would really like to know the level of difficulty with those mentioned earlier in this thread. Furthermore, how's the job recruitment for this major? and where are most of the firms located?</p>
<p>Industrial is easily the easiest of the engineering majors, easier than even civil. In fact, IE is sometimmes referred to as imaginary engineering.</p>
<p>It's more management of industries.</p>
<p>i would agree.</p>
<p>How's the job market for the major, and where are these firms geographically?</p>
<p>Oww! Ow, ow ow... civil is easy?? Any of you guys tried structural engineering? Civil ain't easy. There are aspects of civil that <em>can</em> be easy, if you choose to take an easy route, but a blanket statement that civil's easy just ain't called for.</p>
<p>Yes civil engineering can be very difficult.</p>
<p>LOL. My actual point is, <em>any</em> field can be difficult. It's pretty much impossible to say which field is easiest and which field is most difficult. You can say things like, "engineering is very analytical", and "physics is very theoretical," and "accounting is very calculation-intensive," and then analyze which field would be most difficult for an individual based upon their strengths and weaknesses, but you can't carve in stone a ranking of difficulty.</p>
<p>Aibarr, are you persuing a p.h.d. in struc. engineering? If so, why? Do you want to head in the research direction? Will they allow to have higher responsibility and cooler jobs in the industry with a p.h.d?</p>
<p>I'm pursuing just a masters in structural... I'd intended to get a PhD at the onset of my graduate studies, but a string of unfortunate administrative snafus have convinced me that I'd rather leave here sooner than later and get paid <em>real</em> money. =)</p>
<p>I very much so enjoy the design aspect of engineering, so I'm probably not going to go into research. In design, your design experience tends to count more towards your advancement and the 'coolness' of your job than having a PhD or not having a PhD, but having a PhD can definitely help. Not having a doctorate won't keep you away from really interesting and challenging jobs, though.</p>
<p>I'd say...
1. EE and Chem E
2. Aero E and Nuclear E
3. Mech E, Physics, Math, Chemistry
4. BME
5. Civil E, IME</p>
<p>What about petroleum engineering? Is that up there with nuclear, materials science and Chemical engineering?</p>
<p>EE really is a beatiful major. I'm torn between choosing EE, ChemE, and general E.</p>
<p>wats so beautiful about it?</p>
<p>You can build circuits and design electrical systems. You can build a machine that generates a tremendous amount of electricity which can practically power anything. Today everything is run by electricity; it is crucial and has changed the face of the earth. How do you think it is that we have luxury of having fans, t.v., air conditioners, computers, cellular phones, and pretty much everything that runs on energy. Many of them require a direct output connection but for those can mobile, they need microchips and batteries developed and programmed to utilize power.</p>
<p>The world revolves around EE. You don't realize but everything you use today has been designed by an EE or another. Try not using a machine that utilizes any form of electricity for one day and you'll see how hard it is.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the entire world of communications revolves around EE. The reception on your cable channel - how do you think it's even able to pick up radio waves from thin air and convert those specific electromagnetic waves into visual and audio waves that you hear and see so clearly? How do you think satellites relay information from one place to another? The cell phone calls that you take for granted every single day; just stop for a second and look at the genius behind it. </p>
<p>Your talking to a person thousands of miles away and when you speak, the cell phone relays an electromagnetic radiation with a frequency and wavelength matching your actual sound wave (which in reality is a pressure wave) and these e-m radiation waves travel the speed of light across the globe and hit the other person's cellular phone. That cellphone in turn receives the frequency of the sound wave, which, when exposed to the air is sufficient to cause the pressure waves which you recognize as sound. In reality, everything was actually a form of e-m radiation. </p>
<p>Come to think of it, what the hell am I doing as chemE when I should be an EE. That's it, I'm switching.</p>