<p>Would it be worthwhile to dual major in both Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering? There is enough overlap with full semester schedules and 1 class every summer I can get done in 5 years. The reason is I'm not real sure which I want to pursue out of graduation but these are the two that really interest me and I like. Is it worth it or should I just try and pick one? Thanks!</p>
<p>This question comes up about three times a day on here. The answer is no, it really makes no sense to double major in engineering. Time would be better spent focusing on a graduate degree.</p>
<p>ChemE has its ties to the oil/gas industry. No point in majoring in both.</p>
<p>Go for it. Why not.</p>
<p>If that sparks your interest then do it. While there is no serious reason not to do it, I will point out that, in terms of jobs, you should a do BS in ME or ChE and then a MS or PhD in PE. That path would be much more useful and would work out better for an employee.</p>
<p>If you take one class every semester, that sounds like you will not have many opportunities to do internships. Work experience would be more worthwhile in my opinion.</p>
<p>In a way, I would be hypocritical to say “don’t double major” (since I was a math/CS dual major) but I would say this…</p>
<p>Pick ONE major…and let the 2nd one come naturally. As a computational math major, I did not set out to also take 90% of the computer science curriculum. As each quarter went by, I somehow found myself in the computer science dean’s office asking for yet another approval to take an upper-level CS course.</p>
<p>So I would not “plan” on a double/dual major…just see how you feel during your college career.</p>
<p>I’d plan sooner rather than later. Scheduling can get to be a concern if you do not.</p>
<p>The responses seem kind of mixed. I know that ChemE’s have a tie in the oil and gas industry, but my adviser had told me that a ChemE degree would simply draw me job offers in the more downstream oil and gas industry in more of a refining role in a plant. Whereas the Petroleum degree would allow me to work in the upstream part of the industry, such as a reservoir or drilling engineer. As I had said I would also be interested in other areas of chemical engineering outside of the o&g industry. The interest in both led me to think that it would be most beneficial to spend the extra year and shoot for both so all my windows of opportunity would be open upon graduation. When I said a summer class every summer that is merely so I can shoot for semester course loads of 14-15 instead of 17-19 and still finish in 5. They’re not required, so I would still have time for summer internships which I’m hoping ill be able to find next year, as I’m going into my junior year with a 3.7 gpa. Thanks for the help guys, I’m sorry I’ve just always been incredibly indecisive.</p>
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Precisely correct. PE is more tied to ME than to ChE. In fact, a BS in ME provides a stronger support for a MS/PhD in PE, while a BS in ChE doesn’t really offer too much of a foundation for further studies in PE. A PE is involved with drilling techniques and such, not so much the refining part, and is therefore closer tied to ME.</p>
<p>That is why I am having such a hard time deciding. I want to keep my options open for the upstream oil and gas opportunities as well along with the broader chemical engineering opportunities. I feel like I couldn’t accomplish that without double majoring in both or pursuing graduate school, and I feel like spending 5 years to double major would be a little quicker and more worthwhile. You guys would know better than me though.</p>
<p>IMO, “worthwhile” would be getting the BS in ChE and a MS/PhD in PE. Not the best foundation for a PE, but it’s still possible and allows a great deal of versatility/options. Double majoring won’t do much for you as an employee, really. After you get your two majors, if you decided to become a petroleum engineer, your ChE degree would now be almost a waste of money in terms of how much you would benefit from it, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Yeah thats the one reason I’m having trouble making up my mind. I like both and without really knowing what life after school will be like for both I don’t really have the info I feel like I need to decide. I like chemical engineering, but I also like the thought of being a reservoir engineer. I’m not sure how much I would like being out in the field everyday in a drilling or a process engineering role, thats why I want the ChemE degree. But if I only get the ChemE I most likely won’t have the chance for the reservoir or other upstream jobs once I graduate.</p>
<p>I have to admit I like the ChemE BS with the PE MS I just don’t know how I feel about grad school. One reason the double major interest me even more is because I have a lot of engineering friends who are minoring in something else and that are a year younger than me, so the 5th year allows me to enjoy another year of college with them. I have heard mixed things about grad school so I’m not sure what kind of commitment it would require day in and day out. I’m in a real pickle. And I’m about to enter my Jr year so the ChemE and PetE curriculum is starting to shift from the same classes to the more specific classes so I really need to try and make up my mind.</p>
<p>I’m in the same shoe as you mate. Not sure if this is possible, but you could check if this is possible at your school, you could see if you could get a “concentration” in PE somehow? I’m not sure how possible that would be as PE is pretty much ME with focus on knowing how to search & extract reservoirs, not much like ChE. But who knows, maybe it’s possible? That would also allow you to spend 5 years if you didn’t want to squeeze them in within your 4 years (you sure you wanna do that?). Furthermore, it’ll enter you to the world of PE as well, so you could have a better view & comparison of things.</p>
<p>They do offer a ChemE degree with a Petroleum concentration. But with the Petroleum concentration you only take the 2 intro Geology classes, Reservoir Engineering I and Reservoir Engineering II. You don’t get the Waterflooding, Drilling, Production, Well Logging, PE Design class and so forth. The concentration just fills in your engineering electives with the basic PE classes and a few extra, but you don’t get the more advanced classes. Thats why I am hesitant to switch fully to ChemE.</p>