<p>How broad is Mechanical exactly? Can you also do the work that a chemical engineer can? Are there jobs for Process engineering that meches qualify for? What about in the pharmaceutical industry</p>
<p>No, not really.
There are some jobs that can be done by both ChemEs and MechEs, mostly because of their mutual knowledge of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. But that’s about where the similarities end.</p>
<p>Your areas of interest seem to indicate you belong in ChemE, which is very broad in itself.</p>
<p>The MechE coursework kinda skips the whole “chemical” part of chemical engineering.</p>
<p>Back in college i interned with a cheme process company who did gas refining, there were a good amount of mechanical engineers there. Though you probably wont be doing reactor design or seperations, i know a lot of them dealt with a bit of fluid flow, corrosion, and some worked in the actual structural design of the plants/units. But if you really want to be working in process engineering, ChemE is the way to go…</p>
<p>Lots of the oil companies down in Louisiana/Texas hire mechanical engineers to work at their plants. But you won’t be doing the same work that the guys with chemical engineering degrees do. Same as a guy with a computer science degree works at those companies. I’d imagine the mechanical engineering guys probably don’t get paid as well as the chem engs or the petroleum engs, but that’s just anecdotal info on my part based on people I know in the industry.</p>