<p>As my REU is winding to a close, I've decided that I absolutely do not want to go to grad school for Chem E. I'm going to be a junior in the fall and am curious as to where this leaves me. I go to a good school, have one year of research experience, and will soon be done with a REU at a tippity top school. I won't go into all of the reasons that this summer has made me realize grad school isn't what I thought it would be, but I'm definitely glad I found this out before grad school (which I was 100% sure I wanted to do).</p>
<p>I'm curious as to how I should finish out my undergraduate career. I <em>slightly</em> enjoy the research I do at my home institution and will likely get a paper soon. Should I continue this research? It takes up a lot of time that I could be working or doing leisure activities. Does industry like or dislike academic research? At the least, I will get an excellent letter of recommendation (do industry jobs even need these?!) I've heard junior year is a killer work wise in chem E. </p>
<p>Will it be hard for me to get a good internship next summer since I have no industry experience? Most of my friends of the same year have had internships after freshman year and now after sophomore. What GPA should I aim for? I have a 3.8 now. Is this too high? Too low for good intro level jobs? I've heard some people mention a high engineering GPA suggests all you do is study. This isn't the case with me. Should I concentrate in an area (biotech, biomolecular, nano, etc.), or should I take as many different types of classes as I can? I really want to work in the field of clean energy, possibly getting an MBA after several years in the field. I've realized that I prefer working with people over machines.</p>
<p>I am asking all of this online because I feel my advisor will lead me astray. Last time I talked to him, he really pushed me toward grad school.</p>
<p>Too high? No such thing. A 4.0 will never stop you from getting an interview. If all you did is study and nothing else (to your detriment) then that will show up in the r</p>
<p>Going directly from a BS to grad school is great if you know the field you want to go into. It is an easier transition (actually more of a continuation than a transition) than once you start working. However, if you are not sure which direction you want to take your career, which I got the feeling you don’t, then it is better to get out and taste the “real world”. Then you can go to grad school on your companies dime and not yours.</p>
<p>Spend some online looking a job descriptions for what you might be interested in and see what the companies are that hire those people. Sign up for the on campus interviewing and make an effort at it (dress the part, do your research before the interview, etc.).</p>
<p>A high GPA is good thing to have. What can be bad about a high GPA is if you have no research or industrial expreience, then the question of “book smart” with no practical knowledge will come up. Your research experience will be very helpfull then.</p>
<p>Have you thought of going to work for one of the oil companies? I know that sounds strange to say since you mentioned you want to work in clean energy, but they do have to follow environmental standards. I don’t know what area of the country you’re in, but since you are only halfway through undergrad, you still have time to research companies and apply for internships working in the oil industry. Try Houston, or any place in Texas. There are tons of opportunities there.</p>
<p>Continue the research but try for an internship next summer. Keep doing well in your classes (higher grades are better, if everything else like research and internships are equal).</p>
<p>In senior year, consider applying to both graduate school and jobs. If the job market in your industry crashes but you get a funded graduate school offer, then funded graduate school might seem attractive compared to the unemployment line (ask any recent civil engineering graduate, or a computer science graduate class of 2001-2003).</p>
<p>Yes, employers like to see students who have research experience, and it can be a good topic of conversation during interviews. Yes, many companies ask for references from former employers, coworkers, or professors. They won’t ask for a formal letter of recommendation, but they may try to schedule short phone interviews with your references, or they may have a web site set up so that your references can log in and answer some questions about you online.</p>
<p>3.8 is great. If you know what areas of study you want to focus in, go ahead and gain depth in those areas. I think that will benefit you more than trying to acquire broad knowledge of a wide range of topics. If you aren’t sure what areas you want to focus in, my advice is to talk to your classmates to find out what are some of the best courses offered at your school for your major. There will always be several courses that are enthusiastically recommended by other students, either because the professor teaches it well, or because the projects are really cool, or because the material covered is really useful, or whatever.</p>
<p>Finally, you may change your mind about grad school, so I encourage you to keep your grades up and continue working as an undergrad researcher. I also thought that I didn’t want to go to grad school but changed my mind after several years of working in the industry. So… you never know.</p>
<p>You might also look into a co-op position. This will give you job experience, contacts in a company and a better idea of what being a working chemical engineer is like. Then you will be able to make a more informed decision on your future. Your university must have a Career Center which has contacts and posts positions. Go see what is there.</p>