<p>Hi,
I plan to earn a chemistry bachelor degree. My current school doesnt provide engi. classes and i plan to take more advanced math&physics classes than the requirements. If i want to do some 'industrial' or 'pratical' majors (i.e., chem E or material sci.) for M.A or even PhD, do i stand a chance? I heard somebody with a physics B.S degree was admitted into engi. master programs and made up the prerequisite courses in the graduate school. What about a chemistey degree for material sci. &chemE grad?</p>
<p>You should pick some schools that you are interested in and contact the departments. The idea is that the M.S. will have certain ‘deficiency’ courses, which are the undergrad courses (in math, chem, eng.) that the program will require you to take in addition to the regular graduate courses. With a chem B.S. you will find programs that will admit you and just add the deficiencies to your graduate study plan, but you can kill some of them off in the semester/summer before entering the grad program to make your life easier.
My spouse had an M.S. in Math (and a B.S. in Philosophy before that!) and entered and finished an M.S. in Civil Engineering - she just had to take a few deficiency courses. For instance, I think the Chem B.S. to Chem. E. is very doable (you’ll probably have to take Mechanics, Thermo., and Mass Transport/Fluid Mechanics as deficiencies).</p>
<p>Materials science is a fairly broad field and tends to take students from broad backgrounds. I know a number of people in my grad program were Chem for undergrad. I think it’s a little harder for ChemE since they’ll expect more prereqs you likely haven’t taken (thermo, transport, fluids, etc), but I imagine it’s not out of the question.</p>
<p>Thanks very much! What extent of math is required for most chemical engineers? I know linear algebra/diff.equation/calc 1-3 are difinetely required. But is the entry-level statistics or partial diff. equation required too?
BTW, there’re graduate-level courses about thermodynamics. Then, will advanced mechanics courses in the physics dept help in understanding fluid mech? And do i need to study advanced electromagnetism for chem e? (i have taken calculus based AP classes)</p>
<p>For a general cheme curriculum the required math courses are: calc 1-3, differential equations, linear algebra, probability and statistics. You scratch the surface on PDEs in various classes such as transport phenomena, but you don’t delve into hard problems until grad transport. Physics dept might focus on completely different aspects and may not be applicable to a chemical engineer with regards to thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. Lastly, no there is no advanced electromagnetism requirement unless its what you want to do research in.</p>
<p>You might want to be careful with the grad thermo classes. Most of them already assume at least a semester worth of undergrad thermo, probably closer to a year if you’re in ChemE or Mat Sci.</p>