<p>Finding yourself in a tight situation is never exactly fun now, is it?</p>
<p>In high school, chemistry was kinda easy but kinda hard simply because my conceptual understanding of math was extremely rudimentary. Chemistry topics were extremely interesting to me, so much that I would see chemistry everywhere and try to see if I could describe how it worked in a stoichiometric equation. Biochemistry was exceptionally interesting to me, but probably the hardest since I had trouble identifying what a hydrocarbon was. It was probably also extremely hard because my teacher would delve into concepts that, from what I’ve been reading, are contemporarily disregarded because it frequently occludes the learning process. (For example, the “-ous” and “-ic” naming of compounds dependent on variable charges.) </p>
<p>That being said, I am considering the route of chemical engineering as a potential choice of major. I have not taken the general chemistry sequence yet. I feel kinda ready, but kinda scared because getting a B or lower in it would make me feel like I shouldn’t major in chemical engineering. The only place that I can effectively pursue chemical engineering would be Texas Tech University. Texas Tech offers a scholarship valued at $6,500/yr to transfer students which is a LOT to be honest, compared to the Top 10% scholarship they offered me as an incoming freshman last year. The only stipulation to this scholarship is that you can’t have attended ANY other university other than a community college. If you’ve attended a university in addition to a community college, you’re stuck with paying for university yourself!</p>
<p>However, to bring into reference the thread that I provided above, I’m REALLY good at math and physics, and I find them both incredibly interesting topics. There’s really no telling if I’d make it through the general chemistry sequence and still like chemistry enough to endure it for the next three or four years. I’ve already completed the calculus and physics sequences and I thought they were extremely fun and interesting topics, so much that I considered majoring in mechanical engineering, and to an almost equal extent, math and physics. I liked/like math and physics because it’s easily provable on paper, and you can easily see physics happening (more or less). Chemistry, you can’t really see it–you’ve just gotta believe it and roll with it, whether or not it makes immediately justifiable sense. </p>
<p>If I cared to major in mechanical engineering, I would be starting all my engineering classes this fall and another university. Just to reiterate, there’s no telling if I would like chemical engineering, as well as mechanical engineering itself either. I still need to take the first two semesters of general chemistry, but I’d also like to see what mechanical engineering curriculum is all about. Unfortunately in my case, I have to pick one or the other: would I like to claim my scholarship at Texas Tech and have a potentially more interesting job, but graduate at a substantially later date, or would I like to graduate early with something that I already KNOW that I’m good at? The chemistry factor sounds like it would be a lot more interesting to work with rather than building stuff. (I know what you’re thinking: why not just major in chemistry and be a chemist? It’d definitely be cheaper and take less time since I can major in chemistry just about anywhere, including the same university that I would be attending for mechanical engineering. I just don’t quite know if the work I’d be doing would be worth the money I’d be getting.) </p>
<p>I’m completely aware that letting people over the internet decide my academic fate is a very bad idea, but I’m not really after letting other people make my decisions for me. What I’m really interested in asking for today is if there’s any way I can look into what I’ll be getting myself into ahead of time? Is there anywhere that I can preview the material I will be learning, such as the theory, the work, the mathematics, and the concepts? Whether it is “You don’t have to agree with it, just believe it for the test,” or if it’s something that makes sense with an equation or some past intuitive sense. I’ve consulted MIT Opencourseware for some chemical engineering classes, and to a much lesser extent, mechanical engineering, but a lot of the posted classes don’t have much to them. They’ve just got a calendar and a syllabus and that’s it. I’d truthfully like to see if the work you’d do in class is something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life, or for several years at a time. A lot of you will say that picking a major doesn’t decide the career for the rest of your life. I know that is true to an extent and you can quit that line of work any time you want. Unfortunately, I come from a socio-economically disadvantaged family that cannot afford college twice (Much less the first time :P). I have to pick something and stick with it unfortunately. I’d also like to become part of the R&D sector for possibly the U.S. government, which will usually require a Ph.D. That’s a long road ahead of me if I’d like to meet that goal, and I don’t want to delay my pathway there any more than I have to.</p>
<p>(As a bit more of a side note, the University of Houston allows for mechanical engineers to transfer almost seamlessly into their master’s of chemical engineering program which would be a good plan in its own right. I could try mechanical engineering first and get the master’s in the same amount of time it would’ve taken me to get the masters directly after the bachelor’s in chemical engineering. I’d have a degree in both at that point, as well as the best of both worlds there. It’s just that I don’t know if switching majors like that would be detrimental to being able to comprehend how everything works.)</p>
<p>I greatly apologize for the length and appreciate anything anyone may be able to provide.</p>