Civil
Chemical
Computer Science
Mechanical
Material Science
Industrial
Computer
Chemical
Electrical
Mechanical
Material Science
Industrial
Civil
Computer and electrical problems can grow to totally huge proportions. Computer programs have no reusable parts, in the sense that if there was code to use twice, you'd write a subroutine and call it twice. And, since you make up parts as you go along, you end up with millions of unique parts with some exponential set of interactions. A million seconds is about two weeks, 24x7.
But the real question is "for whom"? I've met some seriously smart engineers who do not get computers. Sure, the learning curve is about five years. But there seems to be some skill that you either have or you don't. Not all off-the-wall brilliant people have it. This is probably true for other branches.
Computer programmers would get paid much, much more, if the people who are good at it didn't enjoy it so much.
The other shock is that despite the absurdly good scores that the engineering students generally have to have gotten, only about 1/4 of entering engineering students graduate. Within a percent, all entering engineering students are so brilliant it's scary. What's up with that?
Having studied more than one engineering major and working with many others, I would not say one is easier or harder than the other since they are pretty much the same.
They all take the same classes in the first 2 years of college. Some even share 3rd year classes.
I would rank Civil, Industrial, and Mechanical as equal since they are extremely closely related in material, classes, jobs, and salaries. For example, an Industrial Engineer may work as a Mechanical or Civil Engineer if he or she wants to with little to no training.
Chemical is known as a tough field, but I believe that it just "sounds" tough because of the word "Chemical". A lot of work that Chemical Engineers do in the main industries and job titles that they work in are very similar to what Industrial Engineers and Mechanical Engineers do in the same industries and job titles such as Process Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Product Development Engineer, R&D Engineer, Safety Engineer, EHS Engineer, and Environmental Engineer
Material Science is a subject that Mechanical, Civil, and Industrial Engineers are required to study. I would not classify that as a major or degree.
Electrical requires a little more Physics than the other majors, but many of it's 400+ level classes are based on the easier 300 level courses in college. It's easy if you understood the EE classes in your Junior year, but tough if you did not understand the 300 level courses.
Computer Science has the least amount of engineering knowledge. But they use the most math in the form of computer language. Computer Scientists learn new languages like Java, C++, HTML, and more. HTML is very easy, but Objective C is a tough language to learn.
Each major has it's tough classes and it's easy classes, but I would still say they are mostly equal in knowledge and importance.
Right now, the most well known and most entered College majors in the U.S. in order are:
1. Mechanical
2. Electrical
3. Industrial
4. Civil
5. Computer Science
^This was based on a study in 2012 by counting the number of graduates in those majors.
In descending order of difficulty, hardest on top, easiest on bottom:
Chemical
Electrical/Computer
Mechanical
Industrial
Material Science
Civil
Chemical and Electrical/Computer are similar in difficulty, but I would give the edge to Chemical. Electrical and Computer are the same difficulty as they are very similar in terms of coursework and require a good imagination since their works are not as conspicuous (you cannot see electricity moving, only the results of it doing so). Mechanical involves a good deal of understand of thermodynamics and fluids, so it is high up there. Industrial and Material Sciences both require a broad spectrum of knowledge, but aren't as inherently difficult as the others. Civil engineering is mostly just statics and geology, which is decidedly easier.
Tier A: Electrical, Chemical, Computer Science
Tier B: Mechanical, Aerospace, Nuclear
Tier C: MSE, Industrial, Marine/Naval
Let's cut to the chase and consider pay rates.
EE and Chem E are paid more than the others mentioned here.
Computer "Engineering" is paid a lot more than "Computer Science,"
and the pay is comparable to that in EE & Chem E. Nuclear E too.
Materials Engineering & Mechanical Engineering are paid more than
Industrial Engineeing or Civil Engineering.
High-paid field tend to attract students who relish competition,
and that's probably the biggest reason why an EE or Chem E or
Computer "Engineering" program might be "harder" than, say, Civil.
What criteria are you going to use to rank them? WIll you use the number who drop out of the programs? The money they earn? How many students are in each class. Or are you just going to depend on someone's opinion which is probably limited in terms of their exposure to what each discipline learns or does.
The most objective answer is that there is no way to rank engineering disciplines. They all take many of the same courses and in the real world many end up working as general engineers as much as they do in their speciality.
Electrical
Civil
Chemical
Computer Science
Mechanical
Material Science
Industrial
