i’m a sophomore and am exploring engineering fields. i’m not sure which one i want to go into. chemical engineering seems like one of the more interesting ones, but i don’t know if it would be too hard to do.
i can’t really judge my skill in chemistry because i’m currently in chemistry honors with a 95, which seems great, but it’s really not when you consider the fact that my teacher doesn’t teach us because he is retiring after this year (he literally is counting down the days til school ends). he has basically given up on us so everytime there’s a test, we just quickly “understand” enough of the topic to get a decent grade on a quiz (without truly understanding everything) and dump out all the information we “learned”. he just reads off slides, makes us do labs without telling us the purpose of us doing it, gives us worksheets that we figure out ourselves (he doesn’t teach us how to do certain problems and just writes the answers on the back), etc. he doesn’t even check our worksheets and labs, and everything besides tests are mainly completion points. because of this, i’m not sure if i am really good at chemistry and i’ve been really turned off by the way he’s teaching (or not teaching). i hope this will change when i take ap chem senior year, because i’ve heard that the ap chem teacher is really kind and a great teacher.
i’ve also heard that chemical engineering is one of the toughest types of engineering, so i’m not really sure if i should go into it.
any advice regarding engineering majors would be greatly appreciated :)))
This won’t answer your question at first but it should hopefully give some background before I attempt an actual answer.
Quick overview of courses in my experience (may vary by university):
Calculus 1-3, Differential Equations, possibly Linear Algebra
General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, labs (may have a couple semesters of each)
Physics (mechanics, electricity & magnetism)
Material Balances
Thermodynamics
Heat Transfer
Mass Transfer
Probably some reaction engineering and unit operations somewhere in there
Senior Design or Capstone?
And of course electives (I’ve taken a couple regarding energy, a couple that skew biomedical, etc.).
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So you do take a lot of chemistry in your first two years, but the major classes are typically more physics + math than chem. Calculus and DiffEq are super important, and those depend on your algebra and trig foundation.
Any engineering major is likely to have a lot of courses to take and therefore be a lot of work. I also personally find it reasonably difficult but not impossible. The “hardest” engineering major will depend on you; for me it would probably be electrical, because I found E&M hard to visualize.
If your school offers AP Chem with a different teacher, that might be good to take to see if you actually like chemistry. I would also try out a physics class and build a solid foundation in math. Then in a year or so you can reevaluate how you feel about the various options of major.
Good news: even though it is called chemical engineering, your chemistry ability will generally not make or break you. It’s still largely your math skills and physics skills that are more likely to be relevant here.
There’s not really such a thing as a “toughest type” of engineering. They’re all different and different people with different aptitudes will tend to be more cut out for one or another. Of course, if you ask any random person which one is hardest, they are likely to tell you either the one they are currently studying (in effect, stroking their own ego) or else whichever one gives them the most struggle personally.
ChemE is brutal. Think of all the knowledge in your brain right now. Prepare to triple it. Don’t think there is enough room? College will stretch it for you to make room and it will hurt a lot. Nothing prepares you for how fast they stretch that brain.
Chemistry is a small part of ChemE. You will take a class in the first semester and then move into nothing but process classes for the other 3.5 years. Math is huge. Everything is a formula. Every class has a math foundation.
ChemE the hardest engineering major on campus. Ask around. Most engineering majors will start taking exams inside a regular class by second year. ChemE? Every test for 4 years will have to be scheduled in evenings, since exams can take 2.5 hours or more. Other engineering majors will move from tests to project work. Not ChemE. You will have a 2.5 hour exam days before graduation.
On the flip side? Undergrad research opportunities will make others mouths water. Friendships will be beyond strong. There is no competing in ChemE. All pull together just to keep head above water. Employment for life. Anyone will hire you. I have heard of Microsoft hiring ChemE and teaching them tech. They just need big brains.
If you really love Chemistry, you might consider Materials Engineering too. Good luck!
Sorry, friend, but there is no such thing as a hardest engineering major. It really just boils down to personal taste and aptitude.
Whether or not an exam is scheduled in the evening has absolutely nothing to do with how hard the class is. Further, your example is going to vary pretty dramatically from one university to the next.
Any ABET-accredited engineering degree will require a similar minimum amount of project work. Exactly how much individual departments provide is going to vary within a given university and from one university to the next. This is another useless statistic.
This is not unique to chemical engineers. Sorry.
This, again, is going to vary dramatically from one university to another and is likely to be roughly the same regardless of which flavor of engineering one studies.
I gather you are a chemical engineering major who is very proud of yourself. That’s wonderful. That still doesn’t mean your experience has been dramatically different from the average engineer.
As I stated above in my list of courses, this is not true at my school. I don’t see how this could be true anywhere unless you only take half of gen chem or something. What about Orgo? What about pchem? Labs?
I’m a high school senior enrolled as Chemical Engineering major for next year! I don’t know certain things as I am not in college yet, but I can explain why I ultimately chose Chemical Engineering. AP Chemistry was definitely a big driving force for me- we went so much more in-depth on certain topics than honors chemistry, and with the labs I realized I truly enjoyed the processing part. I also had the opportunity to attend an engineering camp over the summer before my senior year, and there we focused on the processing of biofuels (again, I had a lot of fun here and it helped me realize I wanted to pursue ChemE!) If you have an engineering university near/local to you, I would definitely check to see if they offer any summer programs for high schoolers.
This is also more specific to the University I am enrolling at, but I would recommend touring schools and speaking to faculty/students in the program you’re interested in. No two universities will ever be the same; I picked the school I did because the advisors all seemed very committed and invested in my education, the professors were all extremely passionate, and the other students there seemed like they had formed a strong community. There was also a strong support system for female engineers. In my experience, many schools also offer course lists of the classes you will need to take in order to declare a ChemE major.
I think any engineering major is going to be hard and require large amounts of work, but if you find one you’re passionate about and willing to pursue you’ll be fine. Again, I’m not a college student yet, but I hope this helped a little!
@Scou9273 thank you for your advice? would you mind if I asked what college will be going to next year?
I’ll be going to NC State! Go pack!
Have a good foundation in math, physics, and chemistry and you’ll survive. There is no hard engineering major. They are all hard in their own way and it depends largely on your interests and skills.