<p>I have a few questions about ChemE:</p>
<p>1) Are most ChemE grads working in the oil industry?
2) How hard is it compared to some of the other Engineering majors?
3) Is it possible to go to med school after ChemE undergrad? And if so, do med schools take into account your chemE major if you have lower gpa than a bio major?
4) What's the job market like?
5) What's the male/female ratio?</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated!</p>
<p>I can only answer for my school.</p>
<p>1) Yes, but others are in Pharmaceuticals, etc.
2) It's supposed to be one of the harder ones.
3) It's possible. No, med schools do not take into account your major.
4) The market is good.
5) At my school, it is 38% female in Chem E.</p>
<p>do many chemE's end up in semiconductor related fields? Because thats where i would like to end up, but are those kind of jobs for EE's?</p>
<p>I am pretty sure that chemE's can indeed enter the semiconductor field. This is a very interdisciplinary field so everyone from EE's to chemE's can be hired in this field. But I would assume that EE's are more likely to enter this field.</p>
<p>
[quote]
do many chemE's end up in semiconductor related fields? Because thats where i would like to end up, but are those kind of jobs for EE's?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, many do. This is especially true where many semiconductor fabs exist, like in Silicon Valley or Phoenix. </p>
<p>Let me say this. Think about Andy Grove. Don't know who he is? He was the former CEO and Chairman of the Board at Intel, and one of the most respected businessmen in the world - so respected that he was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1997, because of the world technology boom. His background is in chemical engineering - he has a bachelor's in ChemE from CCNY and a PhD in chemical engineering from Berkeley, and has written several highly respected textbooks on semiconductor technology. In fact, his book "Physics and Technology of Semiconductor Devices" is a widely used textbook at many engineering schools. For 6 years, he taught a class on semiconductors part-time in the engineering school at Berkeley while he was working at Intel.</p>
<p>I understand what you are saying Sakky, and I know that semiconductor technology is "interdisciplinary." </p>
<p>But yet it seems as if the majority of hirees in this industry are not ChemE's and EE's. </p>
<p>Let me phrase the question this way. </p>
<p>If two candidates were entirely equal (same interview, GPA, undergrad college, etc) but one was a EE while the other was a ChemE, who would get the nod.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But yet it seems as if the majority of hirees in this industry are not ChemE's and EE's.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would point out that obviously a big part of it is simple sheer numbers. EE is far and away the largest of all the engineering disciplines. I think something like 5 times as many people graduate with EE degrees than with ChemE degrees. So obviously if you just have more people to start with, you ought to have more of your people ending up with the job. </p>
<p>
[quote]
If two candidates were entirely equal (same interview, GPA, undergrad college, etc) but one was a EE while the other was a ChemE, who would get the nod.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Probably depends on the specific job in question. If it's an R&D job, I would say probably the EE. However, if it's a fab job, I would actually say the ChemE has the nod.</p>
<p>1) Are most ChemE grads working in the oil industry?
Maybe but who cares. You can work in almost any industry from food, to computers as a chemE grad.</p>
<p>2) How hard is it compared to some of the other Engineering majors?
One of the hardest. For the freshmen year at my school it was by far and away the hardest major. NO Comparison. Seriously it was that much harder. Which is was why it was so much more rewarding.</p>
<p>3) Is it possible to go to med school after ChemE undergrad? And if so, do med schools take into account your chemE major if you have lower gpa than a bio major?
No and seriously don't try it. The ones that do aren't that serious about a med school career. If they are, they are stupid. Just don't even try. Unless you're a genious (which you're probably not). That is the best advice I can give about chemE.</p>
<p>4) What's the job market like?
I don't know but I'm not worried. I guess that's saying something.</p>
<p>5) What's the male/female ratio?
Pretty even. I think besides maybe GE, chemE has the most even ratio of m/f of any of the engineering majors. In fact some stats put females in chemE as higher. I forgot where I found those stats. It wouldn't be hard to find I'm sure.</p>
<p>
[quote]
5) What's the male/female ratio?
Pretty even. I think besides maybe GE, chemE has the most even ratio of m/f of any of the engineering majors.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think you're right. I remember seeing that chemE had a large percentage of females. Have they finally started considering chemE as an engineering major at UIUC?</p>
<p>Yeah, ChemE has the highest number of females in my school too. At my school, like I said before, ChemE is 38% girls. Compare this with how 15% of the people are girls overall.</p>
<p>
[quote]
3) Is it possible to go to med school after ChemE undergrad? And if so, do med schools take into account your chemE major if you have lower gpa than a bio major?
No and seriously don't try it. The ones that do aren't that serious about a med school career. If they are, they are stupid. Just don't even try. Unless you're a genious (which you're probably not). That is the best advice I can give about chemE.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I know at least 3 people coming out of one particular Berkeley ChemE class (of about 80 or so graduates) that got into med-school. One got into the University of Rochester Med school. One got into an MD/PhD program in Texas. One worked for Guidant (the biomedical devices firm) for a couple of years and then went to Stanford Med. None of these people I would consider 'geniuses'. Smart, sure. Geniuses? Not really.</p>
<p>I do agree that it is harder to get into med-school coming out of ChemE because of the grading. I would argue that if this is the road you want to take, then you should be prepared to graduate in 5 years or to take lots of summer sessions so that you can spread out your coursework. Either that, or go to an 'easy-grading' engineering school. Yes, there are such things as easy-grading engineering schools. One in Palo Alto immediately comes to mind.</p>
<p>"Have they finally started considering chemE as an engineering major at UIUC?"</p>
<p>ChemE IS AN ENGINEERING MAJOR!! haha but the it just isn't in the college. They are held to the same standard and even above. Like for junior and senior year ECE only needs a 2.0 and to graduate a 2.25. For chemE it is a 2.5 to pass on and a 2.3 or something else to graduate. So yeah it's an engineering major why it is in LAS is even hard for the mentors and counselors. They don't even get it. My best guess is the money and prestige? Engineering is given a lot of money but chemE would share so much equipment with chem that it might be better to combine the cost instead of having parts of the chem library kept up by LAS and other by Engineering and other things like labs and stuff would need to be split costs. That's the reason I think.</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering at UIUC is fully ABET certified, hence that makes it a 'real' engineering degree. I personally think that ABET certification is of only minior importance, but I suppose it does a certain official imprimatur of authenticity. However, I would add that certain extremely prestigious and highly regarded engineering programs like MIT Bioengineering and Berkeley MatSci are not ABET accredited. </p>
<p>Berkeley chemical engineering is also not housed within the College of Engineering. Rather, it is housed in the College of Chemistry (along with, unsurprisingly, the Chemistry major).</p>
<p>Just to comment on using engineering towards medical school, I have known several engineering students who have gone on to medical school. One told me his medical school did take his major into account. So it can be done.</p>
<p>IllinoisBravoEcho said:</p>
<p>How hard is it compared to some of the other Engineering majors?
One of the hardest. For the freshmen year at my school it was by far and away the hardest major. NO Comparison. Seriously it was that much harder. Which is was why it was so much more rewarding.</p>
<p>How was ChemE the hardest major as of your freshman year? Don't 99% of all engineering majors take the same classes freshman year?</p>
<p>Depends on the school. ChemE is the exception at U of I. Other majors may start one or two courses in their major (CS & ECE for example). ChemE's have to take extra or more accelerated chem classes and chem labs. At least at U of I. This adds more pressure and a prett much insane workload during your first year. I think I could have done any other major better. But still it was hard right away. The others catch-up but that hard right away I think is what gives chemE its reputation. I think few on this board would disagree with me there.</p>