Can't decide between ME or CE

College Majors Engineering Majors
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I know I want to major in engineering, I just can’t decide which one.

I originally wanted to major in Chemistry when I thought I was going to med school. I have since changed my mind and switched to Engineering. When I first switched to Engineering, I had my mind set on Mechanical Engineering, but after looking more into Chemical Eng, I’m starting to consider majoring in it.

One of the things that is holding me back from going into Mechanical Eng is that I have never taken a Physics class, while I have taken a Chemistry class. I actually did really well, and ended up getting a 99.65% in the Chem class I took this semester (this chem class counts for both ME and CE). I really enjoyed learning about the structure of the atom, and I like doing stoichiometric-like calculations and learning about heat/energy. In fact, those are probably the only topics that I actually enjoyed in the class. I guess I only really like doing calculations in chemistry, aside from learning about atoms and stuff like that. But isn’t that kinda what physics is?

One of the things pulling me away from Chemical Engineering and more towards Mechanical Engineering is that I really don’t care for topics in Chemistry like predicting Chemical reactions. I’m also really not sure if I could see myself working in a lab environment, I don’t know though. Mechanical Engineering also seems really interesting to me.

Based on what I have written, which concentration of engineering do you think would be best for me? Obviously I haven’t given too much information, and it is a decision that only I can make for myself, but your opinion still helps!

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bump

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I guess you should start off by reviewing mechanical engineering essentials such as calculus, newtons laws,dynamics etc. You can go on online course sites (like MIT course ware) and see what sort of topics are involved for both majors and look at the exams posted. If you really like calculations, mechanical engineering is the way to go. I also believe mechanical engineers have some labs too ?

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I’ll try that out man, thanks

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I think this thread has gotten little traction because choosing between ME and ChemE has far more to do with how very different each field is than it does with how one might be easier than the other. I think you’d be better served to take a step back and do a little googling on something like “what do chemical engineers do?” and “what do mechanical engineers do?” Then choose the one that sounds the most interesting. They are very different and neither will be easy even if you have a firm command of math and physics. Good luck.