<p>I have been accepted to Duke, but I was planning to major in Chem E, and Duke does not have a CHem E program.</p>
<p>What should I do? I really have no idea. Feels so stupid to throw away Duke acceptance, just because I have this notion that I will be majoring in Chem E.</p>
<p>Aaaaanyone?</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware that any decision came out yet.
What’s there to say? This is a personal thing for you to decide.
How much do you want to do ChemE vs. how much you want to go to Duke / you chance of getting into an equally good school that offers ChemE.</p>
<p>As I said in my previous post: Duke allows students to create their major if it isn’t listed. If chem engineering is not available, then you need to go to admissions and talk with your Duke counselor about your options. If you want to make a new major, you should plan your classes ahead of time. A lot of students who follow this route eventually go onto become part of prestigious groups internationally just because they have that unique factor about their major. I would not go too extreme with the idea of leaving Duke just b/c of this one bit. It is an awesome university and if you seek help, everyone will be extremely enticed in helping an individual like you. 
Congrats! Wow they sure release their decisions quick.</p>
<p>So applied to Duke and didn’t even bother to see if they had a ChemEng program beforehand?</p>
<p>I’m not sure the whole Program II (or whatever they call the “create your own major” program) can help in this case. </p>
<p>The premise of the program isn’t to create your own major from scratch. it’s to take courses and programs from existing departments and majors and to put them together to make a personalized major. In short, the resulting major will be something unique and completely customized to the goals of the student. </p>
<p>ChemE however is an established discipline with a (relatively) standardized curriculum and course set. Not to mention it is an engineering discipline which already implies a large degree of rigidity in instruction. You cannot simply mesh different courses together from existing departments and offerings at Duke and call it “ChemE.” If that were possible, Duke would have a ChemE department already and it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen in the near future.</p>
<p>Also, talking with admissions will most likely not be of any help. Admissions cannot influence the strategic plans of the undergraduate schools which must be approved by the faculty, the board of visitors (in Pratt’s case), and the administration and I doubt they have that much clout. </p>
<p>So in short, if the OP is set on ChemE, then don’t go to Duke.</p>
<p>Edit: It also appears that Program II is trinity only. Looks like Pratt doesn’t buy into the concept, at least not for an engineering education.</p>
<p><a href=“http://trinity.duke.edu/program-ii[/url]”>http://trinity.duke.edu/program-ii</a></p>
<p>Contact the Engineering dept.</p>
<p>Connie Simmons
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs
314 Teer Engineering Building
<a href=“mailto:csimmons@duke.edu”>csimmons@duke.edu</a></p>
<p>I would not bother contacting Pratt about this. Dean Simmons will not be able to provide any information other than what SBR has already provided, namely that Duke simply does not have a chemical engineering department (why did you apply again if that’s what you were after?), and that it will not be possible to “create” this major anytime soon.</p>
<p>Also, Dean Simmons is flooded with work this time of year with class registration for Spring semester.</p>
<p>^^good point.</p>
<p>^true. At first I wanted to say what dd1993 said, but held myself back.</p>
<p>I noticed from your previous posts that you weren’t really sure of your major…You wanted to do something chemistry related. Well, this attitude reflects how flexible you can be with your major. So I suggest you think about Plan B and begin researching on another area of interest. I don’t know if you want to apply to another school or what b/c I don’t think you have a sense of where you want to truly be (perfectly alright). Research is one of your best tools. I’m guessing you got admitted to Pratt…so look into biomedical sciences…or something else. If you decided to be a chemical engineer after you applied to Duke, and you know it is the only profession you want to pursue…you should seriously reconsider your options elsewhere. In this situation…it’s either you decide to attend and get some other major, or you go to another uni that has your present program.</p>
<p>You can develop your own major within Pratt, but it won’t be accredited by ABET, which is kind of a problem.</p>
<p>@ sikhman, wow, I’ve never heard of this program in all my time here. To elaborate, it’s called the IDEAS program. I don’t know how not being ABET-accredited will affect grad school admissions, but it shouldn’t hurt getting a job in a non-engineering field such as investment, consulting, or finance. Without ABET accreditation, you can’t sit for the FE exam, and therefore can’t be a licensed engineer, but this only matters when your work will be directly used by the public. The IDEAS program might be good as a second major, but you need something established to fall back on.</p>
<p>[The</a> Edmund T. Pratt Jr. School of Engineering](<a href=“http://registrar.duke.edu/bulletins/undergraduate/2010-11/html/pratt33-41.html]The”>http://registrar.duke.edu/bulletins/undergraduate/2010-11/html/pratt33-41.html)</p>
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<p>lol I noticed they totally didn’t mention BME at all, the other 3 departments are covered but not BME.</p>
<p>In this other place where they mention it, they give more examples. I don’t really know what to think of this program or where there’s enough classes (in Pratt) to do all these things.</p>
<p>[Policies</a> & Procedures | Engineering at Duke University, Pratt School](<a href=“Undergraduate Policies & Procedures | Duke Pratt School of Engineering”>Undergraduate Policies & Procedures | Duke Pratt School of Engineering)</p>
<p>Look at Rice University in Houston, TX if you are looking for chemical engineering… plus there’s a ton of opportunities to get internships in Houston with oil or energy companies if you want to go that route. I attended Rice last year and currently attend Duke (transferred because Rice didn’t have a strong environmental program), and I personally believe that Rice has better quality of life and happier students.</p>
<p>If you’re really interested in Engineering, look at the ‘power-houses’ like MIT, CalTech, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia Tech, etc. </p>
<p>The only Engineering area Duke is well-known for is (as far as I know; compare also rankings in USNews, etc) Biomedical Eng.</p>