Original post by jakes12345To answer the thread poster's message (I'm a final year ChemE, taking a break from my chemical plant design course)
The math by itself isn't an absolute disaster compared to what math majors do; in fact, we are limited to ODEs and PDEs more often than not, because chemical engineers, like many other engineers, are concerned with 'rates' (rates of fluid movement, rates of mass transfer, rates of reaction), which are more often than not in ODE/PDE form.
In introductory courses, the math that you see in MechE will be roughly similar to that in ChemE, because both of them focus on transport phenomena (movement of fluids through pipes/surfaces) as a foundation. After that, ChemE can arguably take on more math, because chemical engineers are much more theoretical engineers than MechEs; we design the chemical plants (that is, use equations to specify how big the tanks should be, how much chemicals I should be feeding into my reactors/separators), whereas MechEs have more hands-on work.
That being said, the most difficult part about engineering in general isn't the math. It is the applied thinking that you need. Every problem is something you have to simplify first, then synthesize the equations, and solve them. This calls for memorization skills (to know which assumptions to apply), mathematical skills (to solve the equations), and lastly, the applied thinking skills to even start piecing the problem together to tackle it. That's why people deem Engineering one of the hardest majors to take in university, because hard sciences such as Biology tend to be skewed towards memorization, whereas social sciences are highly-ambiguous.
But the logical thinking skills you acquire after 4 years (it will be beaten into you, don't worry), will make you highly-employable and sought after as an engineer, regardless of what engineering you choose. ChemEs are perceived to earn more because they have a gateway into the Oil and Gas industries.
Choose wisely, and enjoy your university life.