<p>I got into Berkeley's College of Chemistry as a chemistry major, but I am thinking of switching to chemical engineering, which is offered by the same college. Would it be difficult for me to do this? Would there be any repercussions?</p>
<p>On a different note, I am planning to do premed. Would it be suicide for me to switch to chemical engineering? I have heard that chemical engineering ranks with EECS and physics as Berkeley's most difficult majors.</p>
<p>First of all, you can easily switch to chemical engineering since many, many people drop out of the CoC as a whole due to not surviving the Chem 4A-4B series, so there are a surplus of open spots in almost all CoC majors.</p>
<p>Chemistry and Chemical Engineering are extremely intense majors, with many students having to take 3-4 chemistry/physics/math classes each semester. In your junior year as a Chem E major you would have to take 5-6 engineering/chemistry classes per semester. There are very few pre-meds in the CoC. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea to major in chemistry if it’s your passion, but be aware that there are bio-chemistry tracts within the MCB major that teach you lots of organic chemistry and biochemistry techniques and concepts with much less rougher course requirements. </p>
<p>Also, look up the Chem E 4 year curriculum to get a sense of it. Also, this is something that will be obvious to you once you look at a Chem E schedule is that, they have almost no time to take non-science courses outside there major. This is true from the 20+ Chem E students I know that have never taken a course not involving Math or Science. Just something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>The course plan for chemical engineering lists an R&C course in the first semester, and H/SS breadth courses in the sixth through eight semesters. Of course, if you come in with AP credit for something like Math 1A and/or Math 1B (but check the old final exams before skipping), then you would gain free elective space.</p>
<p>To do pre-med as a chemical engineering major, you would likely need to add a second biology course and perhaps a biochemistry course (one of these can be the “science elective”; to fit the other, you would need a free elective space from skipping Math 1A, or take an overload semester), as well as use the H/SS breadth courses on those which are sometimes recommended or required by medical schools (e.g. psychology, sociology, etc.).</p>
<p><a href=“http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/cheme_major/index.php”>http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/student_info/undergrad_info/degree_programs/cheme_major/index.php</a></p>