<p>hey.. i'm a new member here..i'm studing at engineering college in jeddah..i'm just confused what major can i enter.. i want to enter chemical engineering because in saudi arabia the most of industry by petrol and petrochemicals but some people told me that it's so difficult and not any one can graduate from it with GPA like 3.8 or 4.0..</p>
<p>so please any one has an experience in those stuff please tell me..</p>
<p>Yes, Chemical Engineering is generally regarded as one of the toughest engineering majors. It's not uncommon for a Chem E program to have tons of drop outs.</p>
<p>yes, because of that i'm so afraid, but i'll join it.. i'll study so hard and god help me..</p>
<p>well buddy if your strength is chemistry then have at it. You have to like chemistry I can tell you that much. You'll be taking organic 1 and 2 and that is not for the weak at heart. But I have friends who say it isn't that bad. I would say about 10-15 hours of studying a week in organic should get you an A. I have friends who made A's in it and they said they studied that much. But these are people who are graduating with a 4.0 in biology and scored like 35 to 40 on their MCATs and are already accepted to med school. If you do chemical you'll be making stuff like latex and foam and all kinds of cool stuff. Chemical engineering is one of the smaller fields, you only have about 30,000 chemical engineers in the US alone. I'm a petroleum engineering major. What is good about chemical though is that you can get into nuclear which would be a plus.</p>
<p>Chemical engineering is one of the hardest engineering discipline out there. Don't be too surprise if your overall GPA is barely above 3.0. Loving chemistry is one thing, but you have to have a very strong math background in chemical engineering. Most of the stuff you'll eventually face deals with ODEs and PDEs.</p>
<p>just so that the OP is aware.. chemical engineering is only about 5% chemistry. But that part is hard too with the ochem, pchem (quantum mechanics) etc.</p>
<p>The other 95% is transport phenomena, numeric techniques to solve linear or non-linear models, unit operations, optimization issues, economics, environmental compliance issues in plant design... etc etc...</p>
<p>I think my class started with 120 freshman year, and ended up with like 30-40 senior year, which I heard was a good turn out.</p>
<p>My d will be a freshman next year. She's applying as a ChemE major to two schools. Her favorite subject, actually, is math, but she's one of those kids who's strong in everything science related. She's got straight A's, including all her AP courses: bio, chem, physics, calc b/c. (5 and 4 on two exams she's taken so far) And she scored a 740 SAT II chem, 770 math II, and a 36 ACT Math. She seems well-suited for chemE, doesn't she?</p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>^She'll do fine. Since she has a strong background in all those areas, chemical engineering sounds perfect for her.</p>
<p>ChemE's don't require math beyond Linear Algebra though, isn't that correct?</p>
<p>I'm applying to school as a ChemE and my favorite subject is physics <3</p>
<p>If you don't count things like statistics, multivariable calculus, differential equations, numerical methods, etc. as math, then yes, there's no math beyond linear algebra.</p>
<p>Lol Steevee, you could just say "it also requires." And I have no idea what "etc" means, since it's all math and the assumption is that ChemE's are not pursuing a math degree.</p>
<p>By the end of HS, I will have completed DiffEqs and Multivariate, so all I need would be Stats and um, numerical methods? I keep forgetting that calculus III and DiffEqs aren't prerequisites for Linear Algebra.</p>
<p>{Which is what exactly?}</p>
<p>Well that would be a boring response, wouldn't it?</p>
<p>I'm not sure what kind of DE and calculus you've dealt with in high school, but I'm pretty sure you will not have dealt with university level material.</p>
<p>What is what? Numerical methods?</p>
<p>I don't know what "university level" entails, but I am stuck with three hours of math everyday and 2 hr Saturday sessions. And I have completed calc I and II.</p>
<p>Ya -- what is numerical methods?</p>
<p>numerical methods is using computer programs to solve math problems...we mainly used matlab. And its a lot harder than it sounds</p>
<p>Oh, Techy233 if you completed your math classes at a community college you might want to reconsider retaking some of them in college. I know some of my friends who had taken some math classes at a community college could'nt cope when they took other math classes at a 4 year college. This is especially true if you go to a good engineering school, because classes probably will be tougher than at cc. Also, your engineering classes and upper level math classes WILL assume a complete understading of calculus.</p>
<p>there's highschool calculus, then there's undergrad calculus, and then there's calculus.</p>
<p>numeric methods allow you to solve engineering problems which cannot be otherwised solved analytically. I agree it's not as easy as it sounds.</p>
<p>when you guys say retake calculus, do you mean all of calculus? Even if you're placed out of I/II with a 5 on the BC? </p>
<p>Should I start college w. Calc I?</p>
<p>Going back to the ORIGINAL TOPIC... =)</p>
<p>Chemical engineering is hard, but if you work hard enough, you should end up with a decent mark like 3.0 (of course, I'm assuming you're not an idiot). As far as I know, marks do not play a significant role once you go past a certain cutoff (high 70s, low 80s is a safe zone). Don't know what it's like for Saudi companies though. I'd sure like to try to work in UAE or something for one of my work terms.</p>
<p>Techy233, if you feel that you have a good handle on differentiation and integration, then start with Calc III.</p>
<p>thank you all, you gave me good informations, and yes i'm not so good in chemistry, but like what i read it's not all about chemistry and by studying hard every thing will be easier,,</p>
<p>i'll ask to join it next week and see..</p>
<p>thank you guys for help..</p>