<p>I'm a junior transfer student and I've been accepted to two schools with two different majors.</p>
<p>UCLA - Chemistry/Materials Science
UCSD - Chemical Engineering</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Chem Eng for sure. ChemE’s get nice jobs with benefits for $60k
Chem majors get crappy contract jobs for $15-20 per hour with no benefits and no career stability.</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering -> Good
Chemistry -> Bad</p>
<p>If the materials science type of program is joint with an engineering degree then it’s really up to personal preference as to what you want to study. They both can wind up with somewhat similar jobs, though they’d be doing them on very different kinds of materials.</p>
<p>ChemE by far. ChemE is starting to take a hit, so be aware. In fact, engineering isn’t immune to the same things that have killed science in the US, it’s starting to begin. Be prepared to move on a global scale.</p>
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Is it? I attend a pretty average state school, and I have ChemE classmates with very well-paid internship/job offers at a whole bunch of companies, including Intel, ExxonMobil, GE, Schlumberger, P&G, Dow, Advanced Air Products, and other more regional places. </p>
<p>In fact, I don’t know of any other major where second-years can get such well paid internships/co-ops, and graduating seniors can get such high starting salaries. Care to enlighten me? Most of my business/liberal arts/other engineering (non-ChemE) friends are either taking summer classes or working the same jobs they worked in high school over the summer, due to not being able to find anything better to do.</p>
<p>ChemE might be declining slowly, but it will be around for at least another half a century or so. Until the United States decides to take its focus away from foreign oil or fossil fuel seriously, there will still be a need for chemical engineers. Even civil engineers will still be needed. Why? Buildings deterioate. Bridges, Dam’s, highways, all of these things wither along with the sands of time. But job prospects do differ depending on where you live, and if you are willing to move to another destination to take that job. I am an optimist though, as opposed to being a pessimist, even amidst these troubling times, because there are always clear skies after a storm.</p>
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<p>Chemical engineering job prospects are inevitably tied to the health of the chemical industry overall, which has been in steep decline in the US. What does a major player like BASF have to say?</p>
<p>[BASF</a> Report 2009 - Trends in the chemical industry](<a href=“http://www.report.basf.com/2009/en/managementsanalysis/businessdevelopment/globaleconomy/chemicalindustry.html]BASF”>http://www.report.basf.com/2009/en/managementsanalysis/businessdevelopment/globaleconomy/chemicalindustry.html)</p>
<p>Even the vaunted (on these forums) BLS has a decline projected for chemical engineers:
[url=<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm]Engineers[/url”>http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm]Engineers[/url</a>]</p>
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<p>And this is the part that gets continually swept under the rug by places like the BLS. More and more places continue to outsource or hire cheap foreign labor to come here and do science and engineering jobs. Petro chemicals will be healthy, but you don’t think that almost every single chemical engineering student out there currently has their sights set on the petro industry in order to find a decent job? Competition will be very tight. </p>
<p>Just because you have a $150,000 K degree from a US university doesn’t mean you are any more valuable than the one of the billion James Lee’s in China holding an engineering degree.</p>
<p>Yahoo listed ChemE as one of the disappearing professions</p>
<p>[disappearing-jobs:</a> Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110958/disappearing-jobs?mod=career-worklife_balance]disappearing-jobs:”>http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110958/disappearing-jobs?mod=career-worklife_balance)</p>
<p>[From</a> Engineering Major To Cater Waiter: Grads Enter The Job Market](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>From Engineering Major To Cater Waiter: Grads Enter The Job Market | HuffPost College)</p>
<p>I also want to go to UCLA’s CHM. Could I know your GPA and some background, if you do not mind? because I am not studying in CA, I have no idea what UCLA requires for a out-of-state student. Thank you! I will appreciate it !</p>
<p>another vote for ChemE</p>
<p>What can you do with a chemistry degree that you can’t do with a chemical engineering degree?</p>
<p>both are being globalized. Every sector is being globalized and when you globalize something in a wealthy country wage depression sets in. Welcome to the glorious multicultural rainbow the babyboomers left us with. The same thing is happening to every r&d job in America though, not just chem.</p>
<p>UCLA, switch majors to Ch E and materials double major, IMO.</p>
<p>How easy is this switch though?</p>