For those of you who are CHEs…was it worth it? What did you learn that was major specific? I have heard its one of the hardest major and I am not sure if I want to stay in it as I don’t want a low gpa when I graduate (i’m keeping medical school as an option after undergrad).
I’ve also heard the profession is on the decline and its hard to find a job after graduation.
If somebody could help me with this…thanks
I enjoy Chemistry but I am not as good as it as I would have liked to be.
Major topics include thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, reaction engineering, mass and energy balances, mass transfer, and unit operations. Many of these topics can be found in other engineering disciplines like mechanical, but I don’t think other eng majors would have the biomolecular / chemical reaction engineering classes that are in my curriculum. Yours may differ. I have also taken electives in drug delivery and energy.
It’s been challenging for me, but I probably would have struggled equally as much in something like mechanical, and more in something like electrical.
Jury’s still out for me on the job search. I managed to get an internship after junior year and am interviewing with companies now in search of a full-time offer. Nothing yet, but I know of people who have gotten jobs already.
Fun fact: chemical engineering has surprisingly little chemistry involved (at least compared to what most high school students assume).
D15 is a junior studying ChemE/Nanotechnology. She is glad she chose Chem E over chemistry or any other engineering option. It is a hard major, but seems doable (so far so good, anyway). @boneh3ad is correct - there is less chemistry than she expected. She landed a summer internship as a ChemE at a consulting company, but it was harder to find a position than her friends with CS majors. I think the jobs in the petroleum industry are very market dependent, but there are many other options.
My D is senior in ChemE and is looking for job right now. It is not really a tough major for her but the job market was not very good in last couple years. At one point she regretted not choosing IOE instead. Anyway, the job market is getting better this year. She got a couple interviews already and there is at least one coming up soon.