Changing majors to ChemE

<p>I am a current high school senior admitted to UI-UC for the fall semester. On my application, I indicated my major to be general engineering, as I was unsure at the time what I wanted to do. I've decided that I would like to be a chemical engineering major now. At first glance, I didn't think this would be a huge deal, since at most universities, usually you get admitted to the college you applied for and declare your major later. For UI-UC, however, I have recently found out that the department is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, rather than the College of Engineering. I was reviewing the information for switching majors, and looks like it will require an intercollegiate transfer that will take a few semesters worth of work. </p>

<p>So now, the questions. Is the ChemE program hard to transfer into? Is it worth it, or should I consider other alternatives within the College of Engineering? Will I be at a disadvantage to current ChemE students in terms of the classes I will be able to take (up until I attempt to transfer)?</p>

<p>it shouldn’t be a problem. just talk to your advisor when you go in for registration that you want to go chemE. if you’re really set on it, they’ll probably put you on the chemE track instead of general engineering - just so that you don’t fall behind in your chemE studies. if you aren’t transferred in to LAS at registration, you can transfer after one semester. if thats the case, you’ll already be registered in the chemE classes you won’t be behind. and if i recall correctly, the gpa to transfer is a 3.0.</p>

<p>hope that helps and good luck!</p>

<p>edit: forgot to address your other questions. chemE is a great program at uiuc, and i believe they have the highest starting salary of any major. it is definitely worth the investment in your education. just be aware that chemE is very different from chemistry. you’ll be dealing with the industrial processes such as mass and heat transfer and reactors. as i heard someone said, its a lot of engineering with chemistry sprinkled in. a lot of people don’t realized what chemE is until they get too deep in it, and at point they can’t back out. </p>

<p>if you want to stay in the college of engineering, take a look at matse (materials science and engineering).</p>

<p>You must stay in major you are in for first year. Despite that Chem E is in LAS (a quirk of history), it is considered and treated as a department in the engineering college and does and follows all things of the engineering college (including having about the same middle 50% range for those admitted to the engineering college) and thus any transfer would be treated the same as inter-departmental transfer as if it were within the college of engineering. You would need to take same math and science courses that a chem E major takes the first year-- of importance would be to make sure you take the correct chemistry sequence because math and physics requirements do not differ; Chem E prefers the accelerated Chem 202-203 and 204-205 sequence for freshman rather than 102-103 and 103-104 sequence that engineering freshman not in chem E usually take. Being able to transfer will then depend on open spaces and approval of the department. As long as grades are good, you should be able to do it. You can of course also consider other alternatives in the engineering department.</p>

<p>Thanks both of you! I’m going to stick with ChemE. From what it looks like, there isn’t much reason to be scared, even if it requires taking higher level chem classes initially. It fits my interests better than the other engineering majors. I’ll talk to my adviser at summer registration (I’m an out-of-state student, so I opted to do the online one) and get things straightened out.</p>

<p>best of luck. the accelerated chem sequence can be tough, but its not impossible to do well in. you’ll learn a lot more in those classes than in the regular gen chem classes. not to mention you’ll be more prepared for the higher level orgo and p-chem classes. only thing thats a pain in the ass are the labs. 205, especially one specific lab, is a right of passage for new chemE’s at uiuc.</p>