<p>Hey Everyone,
I was wondering whether there's a significant difference between Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Chemistry? I'm more interested in science than engineering, so I'm thinking that I might want to major in Chemistry, or Biology, or some other liberal arts major. However, the materials science part of MSE sounds pretty interesting to me, so I'm thinking that I might try it out. Is it possible to major in MSE even if I'm not as into the engineering part of it as the science part of it? I'm good at math, so I think that I could handle the difficulty of the courses, I'm just not sure if the major best suits my interests. </p>
<p>By the way, I plan on going to graduate school for whatever major I choose, and getting a PhD, then working in academia, or possibly for the private sector in R&D. I definitely want a PhD, not a masters, and I want to do research in some form.</p>
<p>Now, the reason I'm wondering about the difference between MSE and materials chemistry, is that as an alternative, I could major in chemistry for my undergrad (Which I might find more interesting, since it's pure science), then jump to materials chemistry in grad school. Would I basically end up in the same place, and would I be working on basically the same things? How would they be different?</p>
<p>An advantage that I see in taking the MSE route, is that I might have a higher salary, should I decide to work in the private sector. Would that be true, that a PhD for some field in materials science (biomaterials?) would earn more than a PhD in materials chemistry? Looking up salary earnings, it seems that just with bachelors degrees, MSE trumps chemistry majors in salary by a good 10 k? Does this translate to graduate degrees?</p>
<p>What sort of things are you interested within MSE? It offers very different aspects of materials production than a materials chemistry program would, most likely. MSE mostly focuses on solid materials and ways to manipulate them to get new/better properties. Of course, there’s a ton of science behind these manipulations, plenty of which isn’t quite worked out yet. If you do a MSE program you’d probably have to take a class or two on mechanics, materials selection, and maybe some sort of materials-specific production class (learn how a steel mill works, how to make semiconductors, how to make various ceramics, etc.) which you wouldn’t see in most chem programs.</p>
<p>Well, the specific thing I find interesting in this area is finding the relation between a substance’s composition or structure to its bigger macroscopic properties, and how one can change the microscopic things in order to change the macroscopic in novel ways. I also would like to figure out why the microscopic changes result in the macroscopic changes.</p>
<p>Does this fit both the descriptions for Materials S&E and Materials Chemistry?</p>
<p>I really do enjoy chemistry a lot, and would consider majoring in pure chemistry. I have yet to take a challenging physics class, so I still don’t know how much I like physics. I have taken calculus for a couple years, and I don’t mind it too much, some days I like it, other days it’s just ok.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that Materials S& E is pretty much 50/50 Chemistry and Physics, and I feel like I might enjoy it. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m really more interested in the science of materials than the direct applications to real life situations. The big plus that I see in Materials S&E is that engineering is a better degree, financially speaking, to graduate with than a chemistry degree. Would this still be true after graduate school?</p>
<p>I originally went into MSE for pretty much the exact reasons you’re describing. I wanted a major that’s 50/50 in chem and physics, but with a little bit of engineering thrown in (I wasn’t interested in science for science’s sake). MSE is definitely more physics than chemistry, but it is a completely distinct field from the two. I’m in a PhD program with mostly chem and physics majors from undergrad, and most of them have never heard of very central topics to my field (grains, dislocations, nucleation & growth processes, stress-strain diagrams, phase diagrams, etc).</p>
<p>A graduate degree in MSE other than a PhD is fairly uncommon, and I don’t think many people do it unless it’s part of a 3/2 program with your undergrad school.</p>
<p>I guess what you might want to ask yourself is what kind of materials in particular you’re interested in. MSE has a hand in pretty much everything, but your classes will be focused on metals with a bit of stuff now and then on semiconductors, polymers, ceramics, and biomaterials. I imagine chem will cover a lot more with things at the molecular level and less with macroscopic properties of materials.</p>
<p>(And, for the record, I think MSE is the best field. Ever.)</p>
<p>I looked at the M.S. MSE at A&M. It definitely had a physics approach to the field. I’m a math major, physics minor now. Fortunately, I’ve already taken undergrad QM, CM, and I’m in Thermal Physics right now. It might not be a difficult transition.</p>
<p>Looking at their massive list of allowed technical electives you shouldn’t have much of an issue going into their MSE program and doing well. It might be a little harder if it was a more traditional program (or fewer electives), but having done QM and thermo will definitely put you in a fine position for lots of the grad classes you’d take there.</p>
<p>That list is pretty massive. One could essentially make an M.S. Physics out of it. What’s attracting me to the program is that it lays a science and engineering approach to materials.</p>