<p>What schools are you looking at? Are you positive you don’t have any (affordable) options for chemE?
If not, it’s actually probably better to do undergrad as an engineering major (even if not chemE) than chem. Yes, it’s possible to make a switch, but there’s a LOT of courses you’d have to make up before you’d be accepted into a graduate degree program.
There really isn’t all that much overlap between chem and chemE as you proably think. (Same goes for bio and bioE/bme)</p>