<p>I recently earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. I tried to go the health professions route and take my pre-reqs for dental school in addition to everything else, that didn't work out, so then I said I'll take them after I graduate. The policy makes sense, but I had no idea that there would be no financial aid after you officially graduate, I was even thinking about asking to have my degree rescinded because there was no lab with the biology that I took.</p>
<p>I went to trade school for high school and I studied computer aided drafting. I was accepted to Rutgers for their 2+2 engineering program, but I didn't take that route. The community college has an engineering program that is in agreement with Arizona State. I was going to try to accomplish it that way because there are many more scholarships for female, minorities like myself. A BSE in chemical engineering is more valuable than a master's degree in psychology in terms of starting salary. </p>
<p>My question is: should I spend the money on taking pre-requisites for dental school (which is very difficult to get into) OR should I go through 4 years of a tough major (Chemical Engineering) that interests me and could pay off pretty well in the long run?</p>
<p>Haha, not too long ago I was in almost your exact same shoes. I have a psychology degree too but was considering PA school along with Engineering school. I actually took all the PA pre-reqs at the local CC and then did some time shadowing. Shadowing is what told me that the job was absolutely not for me. Every day I went, there would be 10 minutes of excitement, followed by complete and utter boredom. This was at multiple places. I need problems to figure out…things to fix or make better. In my mind I thought the health care field gave that…but in reality it did not live up to the challenge. I chose to go with Industrial Engineering and have been loving every second of my decision.</p>
<p>Also…It will not take a full 4 years. I am doing a spring internship and it is still only taking a total of 3 years. Do what interests you. You will have a lot more success with something that keeps your interests, and like you said it still pays very well.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. </p>
<p>Chemical engineering is sounding better and better each day. Now my main worry is the additional money that I will have to take out to pay for this education because if I can only use the rest of my undergrad loans, I might run out and there will be a lot to pay back. I think the current undergrad limit for subsidized and unsubsidized is 57,500 and I’m already at 33,000 . It would be great to help people in some way, but (as shallow as it sounds) I don’t want to live the rest of my life with a low income. But, oh well.</p>
<p>Don’t lose heart PsychedOut. My understanding from reading in this forum is that if you decide you do want get back in the “healthcare” side you could get a MS in BioMed Engineering. So you never know, in your future you may find yourself helping people after all.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you are located but I highly recommend you look into Boston U’s LEAP program. It leads to a MS in engineering instead of another BS. Looking back I kind of wish I did it. There isn’t ChemE but there are quite a few that you might want to look into that are really interesting. </p>
<p>Here are the Majors offered:
Biomedical
Computer
Electrical
Materials Science and Engineering
Mechanical
Manufacturing
Photonics
Systems Engineering</p>
<p>I know it’s way past due. But thank you for your advice Chucktown and Lakemom.</p>
<p>You are welcome. Good luck!</p>