<p>So I've been reading lots of articles on majoring in chemistry vs chemical engineering, and I'm still torn between the two.</p>
<p>It seems that chemistry is about WHY, and chemical engineering is about HOW. I really enjoy the "why" aspect of chemistry.
My favorite topics are 1.) organic 2.) bonding and 3.) kinetics. I don't mind calculations in chemistry at all; I just dislike pure math. Chemical engineering majors are usually required to take higher-leveled math courses than chem majors, and I'm not sure if I can handle it. I also enjoy the lab aspect of chemistry, but I also love the theoretical and problem-solving aspect.</p>
<p>I've also been cautioned against a degree in chemistry because of the lack of job opportunities (ex, impossible to find a non-teaching job if you don't have a PhD), while chemical engineers are currently in need, and you can find a decent job straight out of undergrad studies.</p>
<p>Advice? What are some important factors I should consider? Pros and cons? Anyone else face a similar decision?</p>
<p>In many schools, both chemistry and chemical engineering majors have to take the same math courses: freshman calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations.</p>
<p>You might want to look into the types of research many chemical engineering professors are pursuing. It might surprise you how much they focus on the “why.”</p>
<p>^^^ Yeah I feel like this above post tells it all. </p>
<p>Any engineering major will set you up for easy internships, jobs, and a good career. Ive heard so many stories of pure science majors getting into grad school and getting stuck in the postdoc loop, and then snap and get hired in industry as an engineer.</p>
<p>If you start in chemical engineering, a move to majoring in chem would be smooth. Going in the opposite direction might not be as easy. Both require chem, physics and multiple semesters of calculus, but freshmen engineers usually take a two semester Intro to Engineering course at most schools.</p>
<p>I think the biggest difference is scale. Rather than why vs. how, it’s more of micro(chemistry) vs macro(chemE). As a crude example, chemistry is about finding out a useful reaction such as:
1 mol X + 1 mol Y -> 1 mol Z
While ChemE is more about how to do:
100,000 mol X + 100,000 mol Y -> 100,000 mol Z given that you know that
1 mol X + 1 mol Y -> 1 mol Z.
Both deal with the why/how, just on a very different scale. Chemistry finds out about new useful reactions in a lab (micro), but ChemE has to find a way to make those work on a large (macro) scale. ChemE is basically the field that uses chemistry to solve large-scale, engineering problems.</p>
<p>I was a double major in chemE and chemistry, and I am now in grad school for chemE. The two fields were the same in the 1920’s, diverged greatly, but have now merged back together recently in terms of active research areas. Traditional chemical engineering courses are essentially applied physical chemistry. Chemical engineering is notable because varying orders of magnitude scales are traversed when rigorously solving a problem (i.e. the overall governing equations for most of the problems are very stiff ODEs and PDEs). Most of the hand calculations focus on microscopic analyses for transport phenomena, but macroscopic for classical thermo. ChemE courses are mainly applied physics with little chemistry, which is why I liked being a chem major at the same time. It was really complementary. In terms of research, if no one in the ChemE department told you they were chemE, you would think judging by their research topics that they are either materials science, bioE, biology, applied math, physics, or chemistry. You can pretty much traverse any field with chemE, definitely recommend it!</p>
<p>I am an undergrad ChemE student entering my Junior year. I just recently started an internship with a polymer company, and I began on rotation with their analytical chemistry lab, where I work with several chemists. It could be different at other companies, but the work these chemists do is so repetitive and slow paced. I love working with spectroscopy, analyzing data and whatnot, but there is A LOT of downtime in a chemist’s environment. (Usually while they are waiting for their results, they sit at their desks and play solitaire on their computer). And when the results come back, you literally have to sit at a desk for the rest of your shift and type up a lab report to be sent to your boss (not your average gen chem lab report either!)</p>
<p>Conversely, the chemical engineers at the plant are always in and out of the lab, dropping off samples to be analyzed. They spend most of their time on the move throughout the plant and make sure the processes run smoothly, solving any problems that may arise. And you better believe they have to know almost as much chemistry as a chemist! So Chemistry and Chemical Engineering are two somewhat different disciplines working in very different environments. </p>
<p>I do believe that a ChemE can do most of a chemist’s job, but not the other way around. I mean, there must be a reason why they started me off in a chemistry lab I’m not just saying this either; I have some friends who are chemistry majors and they are in awe of how math intensive ChemE is, and the work required for my major compared to theirs. Not to mention, I’m taking close to 75% of the chemistry courses they have to take. If your looking for sleepless nights and spending the rest of your college career settling for a mediocre GPA, ChemE is the way to go…but it is well worth it. Remember, ChemE is HARDCORE.</p>
<p>Start with ChemE since both majors take the same set of science/math classes. If you hate the engineering classes but love the science ones, switch to chemistry. If not, stick with ChemE.</p>
I’m not just saying this either; I have some friends who are chemistry majors and they are in awe of how math intensive ChemE is, and the work required for my major compared to theirs. Not to mention, I’m taking close to 75% of the chemistry courses they have to take. If your looking for sleepless nights and spending the rest of your college career settling for a mediocre GPA, ChemE is the way to go…but it is well worth it. Remember, ChemE is HARDCORE.</p>