Hello everyone. I’m undecided whether to take up Chemical Engineering with a focus on Biology (ex. Chem-BioMol) or Biotechnology.
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How are they similar and how are they different? (Both in what is learned in school and what is done in the real world.)
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(Though interested in graduates studies and beyond, I ask this for undergraduate level studies.) What are the common jobs for ChemE? For Biotech?
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For ChemE, how is the job market in biology fields? I heard that there are more openings in the oil and gas, and manufacturing industries.
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How does taking graduate degrees affect job responsibilities in each? (Like, what kind of work is done/can be done with a graduate degree vs. an undergraduate.)
I’m not sure which specific field I want to go into yet, but for sure something related to medicine. I also want a degree that will allow me to continually grow and be challenged.
Other input regarding these fields are welcomed too! Thanks in advance for your help!
Well, one is an engineering degree. The other isn’t. Do you want to be an engineer? Engineering involves the use of mathematical and quantitative principles to solve problems–if you like and are good at math, and you like problem-solving, you might be well-suited for engineering. Keep in mind that chemical engineering jobs in industry skew mostly toward process development–optimzing and developing large scale chemical processes.
Chemical engineers may also be involved in researching and developing materials, potentially including biomaterials and biomimetic materials. This type of work probably requires an MS or a PhD. You might be well-served by majoring in a traditional engineering discipline as an undergrad (ME, EE, or ChemE), then getting a MS in biomedical engineering.
A biotechnology degree is basically a watered-down biology degree. Biology undergraduate degrees are about useless for finding a decent job–most of the jobs in the field of biology that you can get with a biology BS degree are temp lab tech jobs that pay about as much as a fast food job, and there is little or no room for advancement and little or no job security. Things are better at the MS and PhD level, but not a whole lot better. A biotechnology degree will relegate you to the same types of jobs as a biology degree, but since biotechnology degrees tend to be more hands-on/practical and less academic than biology degrees, the biotechnology degree might make it harder to continue on to graduate or professional school, if you’re interested in education beyond the BS.
Thank you very much! I am leaning towards an engineering degree even though it’s harder. And like you said, I’ve also heard others echo that going into a traditional engineering major is better than the new bio ones. Thanks again!
No problem.
On another note, if you’re interested in working in an area related to medicine, you should also consider a mechanical engineering degree. There are quite a few jobs in ME related to biomedical research and product development. In industry, these are mostly related to biomedical devices. In academia, you’ll also find a lot of research on cell and tissue biomechanics by faculty in many ME departments.
Thanks. I’ll look into that. I didn’t realize that ME is an option for the medical field as well–I’ve always thought that it was either ChemE or BioE.
Chemical Engineering is perhaps the most broad of all the traditional engineering disciplines. With a ChE degree your first job might be with either a food processing company, a petroleum company, a chemical company, a health care/bioengineering corporation and all other sorts of manufacturers.