Hey y’all,
I’m trying to narrow down my areas of interest before I get to college because I don’t want to get into it without a declared major. I’ve arrived at chemical and electrical engineering, but I’m having issues deciding between the two.
My interests: As a child, I was obsessed with snap circuits, mixing random chemicals together, and quantum physics(as much as I could get into without the calculus). I was homeschooled and I was curious enough about chemistry and physics to learn a lot on my own. Biology, not so much. Now that I’m in high school, I took AP bio last year, am taking AP chem, and will be taking AP physics C(both electricity/magnetism and mechanics) next year. I am way stronger in chem and physics then I am biology, but I managed to do well in bio with a lot of hard work. Also, math has always been one of my strongest subjects and I’ll be entering college with introductory calculus and multivariables under my belt, most likely
Job preferences: I don’t care about money all that much, I just want a stable job that I can at least tolerate. If one of these fields is significantly more secure than the other, that could definitely be a deciding factor.
Basically all I need to know is which of these fields best fits the above info. Thanks for your help!
Both chemical and electrical engineering have lots of physics in them. To choose between the two, I’d say would you rather work with chemicals or electronics? It’s such a basic question, I know, but I think it would help. Also, a lot of chemical engineers work in either petroleum or in pharmaceuticals. Are you interested in either field? Entering undeclared isn’t bad. Lots of people do it as the intro coursework for any engineering major won’t be that different. While on campus, try to get a better feel for the programs on your campus to learn more about what the professors do and where alum have went. Before that, Google to learn as much as you can about each major and corresponding job opportunities. No one can tell you which field interests you more. They’re both great majors which will give you many career options.
I hope this helps!
Lots of Freshman engineering students change their major after their first or second year. Some discover that their initial choice simply doesn’t interest them anymore.
Depending on where you want to go, declaring may or may not be important, because changing may or may not be difficult. With that said, I would think the job market is a little better for EEs right now than ChemEs. Others will chime in though.
I was top of my class in ChemE and I found it a challenge to make B’s in the two mandatory EE courses that were part of our engineering core. My mind just doesn’t work that way. Yet my best friend ate up all things EE and went back for more.
I agree with the comment to let your industries of interest be one of the guiding factors as well. My experience was that ChemE’s often encountered more geographic limitations because major chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing tends to be clustered in certain regions.
Maybe it’ll be easier to decide what I’m better at once I’ve taken physics C…
Ohiovalley16 said…“My experience was that ChemE’s often encountered more geographic limitations because major chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing tends to be clustered in certain regions.”
Keep in mind, however, that the ChE degree is quite versatile, such that many very different kinds of industrial firms hire ChE majors, based on specific needs. In addition to food, big pharma and chemical companies, the auto manufacturers and makers of sophisticated electronic equipment hire ChE majors for things like environmental quality control, process manufacturing, and R&D. Lake Jr. is a ChE major. He responded to a solicitation from a computer chip manufacturer who was looking for ChE majors and others for an internship in quality control.
^^^ Totally agree, @LakeWashington . I myself went into the medical device industry and now work in consumer products. There was a lot of semiconductor manufacturing near our school and they picked up some of our grads. Two went into process control at a snack manufacturer, a couple into A/E firms, some into tech sales, one pursued a doctorate. I was speaking of the general pattern than the majority experienced.
I totally agree. I did my internship with a big chemical company, but now work for a large semiconductor company. ChE major is indeed versatile.