Chem+ComputerEngineering

Hi all. I am a senior in high school and with the impending decision of choosing a college and a major I have a quick question. I plan now to go into an engineering program as an undecided/first year engineer, but that is more because I am torn between which major I would want to commit to. As of now in high school, I have taken/am taking advanced chem, physics, and compsci classes, among others, and I feel that the most interesting career choices for me would be either ChemE or Computer Engineering (preferably on more of the hardware side of things, but not so much that it’d be electrical engineering). Besides the double major option, is there any logical combination between these two fields, or do they traditionally not make any sense to combine? Thanks.

They don’t really make any sense to combine. Even if you decided you wanted to, it would be challenging (if not impossible) because they share so few courses in their curriculum.

I suggest you pick a school where your major is not frozen at the time of admission. You need to explore a little and even ABET accredited STEM schools give basic foundations for a broad range of majors in the first year. Year two narrows choices, but all is not yet lost. Find out at what point your course choices solidify your major. Some schools have first year programs specifically designed to help you explore options. Check out the specific school’s system for addressing this very excellent question.

Do these large chemical plants require complex computer systems controls? I don’t really know. Why not call EXXON and ask? :bz