Chemical Engineering or Computer Science/Engineering/

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I will be transferring to the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR), but I am not sure what to major in. I hope to provide my pros and cons and also what the school offers. Then I would appreciate your thoughts and inputs into this.

First, UNR combines computer science and computer engineering into a single major (computer science and engineering).

Second, ChemE has a couple of “focuses” that can drastically change the course schedule. These are: Material science, process and energy, biomedical, and environmental.

Chemical Engineering

Pros:
-Good salary
-I enjoy physics, math, and chemistry a bit more than tech stuff
-I can enter the petroleum field

Cons:
-Very few electives

Computer Science and Engineering:

Pros:
-Diverse field
-I should be able to always find a job
-I can actually just work for myself. Develop apps, software, etc on my own time.

Cons:
-I am not that guy who built his own Linux system at the age of 10
-Very popular major means a lot of competition
-I have other hobbies and CS is a fast changing field. I do not want to spend all of my time at home looking up the newest papers on new programming languages

Opportunities at UNR

Competitions:
-Mars Rover
-Chem E Car
-Water Treatment
-Hackathon
-Micro Mouse

Clubs:
-Technical Engineering Club
-Association of Chemical Engineers
-Association for Computing Machinery

Internships:
-UNR seems to offer plenty of internships for engineering majors, but I cannot seem to find what type of majors these companies are looking for. Just by looking at the names, it seems like CS might have one or two more internship opportunities.

I do not really have a career plan. My life goal is to work for about 5 to 10 years while living extremely frugally (live in an RV at a mobile home park) and then gain financial independence and basically try to earn an income as my own boss doing either odd jobs, owning a business, or developing my own programs or potentially doing part-time consulting. I would love to just double major in this, but I am not disciplined enough to take like 30+ credits to graduate within reasonable amount of time.

2

Go Chemical. Heres why, I’m sure you’ve read all over the internet and seen on tv how “in demand” Computer Science Engineers are. Let me tell you something, so have millions of other kids. The market is saturated with computer science majors who couldn’t program outside of a class room to save there life. Unless you’re passionate and really good at it, dont do it. Chemical Engineering & Mechanical are in my opinion the “truest” engineering disciplines. These two are the broadest and encompass what engineering really is and not just a niche of it. Chemical Engineering enrollment is also not very high due to how rigorous the degree is so its not hard at all to find a job, and a well paying one at that. With a ChemE degree, you can go onto med school, pharmacy school, law school, research in biotech,nanotech, alternative energy, or go straight into industry. I took ONE computer class in my ChemE program, and I learned that if you aren’t capable of thinking like a robot, computer science is not for you.