<p>I have heard horror stories about Chem Eng and that is my desired major as a junior in HS. I pulled off a mid B in AP Chem, though have not yet taken the AP exam. I also have a 700 SAT I in the math section, and I am willing to put in the work. Should I be concerned about it or switch majors?</p>
<p>I am also considering ChemE.
I am a senior with a 670 SAT I Math (my lowest section score). Currently taking college Calc I as my last math before I go to a university. I have my first B of my life in it -_-</p>
<p>I’m interested to see the replies in this thread…</p>
<p>Chemical Engineering is a breeze…</p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p>Good one Globe, obviously no engineering major is easy, how would you rate it as far as difficulty goes?</p>
<p>I’m a biochemical engineer (same as a chemical engineer but with additional biology/biochemistry courses). It is tough only in that it has tons of workload, just to weed out most of the students. The math and science ain’t too bad. Difficulty compare to other engineering discipline depends on the school. </p>
<p>Once you’re actually a chemical engineer, the stuff you do is much easier than the stuff you learned. Mostly process designs, research, and mass and energy balances. I haven’t really even touch calculus that much as a biochemical engineer while working for a pharmaceutical company.</p>
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<p>If this is true then you should be fine. The people I generally saw having the biggest problems with engineering were those not willing to put in the hours necessary to understand the subject matter.</p>
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<p>YES</p>
<p>typically is has been, for years, the top 2 or 3 toughest majors in any university</p>
<p>^^^is has been = it has been</p>
<p>i think chemical engineering is the hardest engineering major. unless you really like chemistry, don’t do it. i dropped it after two days.</p>
<p>IMO hard work alone won’t do it. You need a strong math/science aptitude. Without this, you might get through the first 2 years working your tail off and passing classes where instructors have generous curves -but eventually you will be in over your head. So a 700+ SAT math section is a good sign, but a B in high school calculus is not so good.</p>
<p>First two years with generous curves? Generally that’s when all the weed-out courses are and the last two years, when you hit more interesting material, become much easier.</p>
<p>(And, for the record, I got a B in my Calc AB class and still somehow manged to get into a number of top 10 engineering grad schools.)</p>
<p>Yep -plenty are weeded out in the first 2 years. However, I get the impression that third year classes like thermodynamics are harder than more general early classes like general chemistry. If you can barely manage the first two years, I don’t feel it gets easier. Getting a B in AP calculus is obviously not a death sentence, and it won’t prevent you from getting into a great program. However, IMO a really strong math aptitude is essential especially at a tough school so getting a B in AP calc is not as good a sign as getting an A.</p>
<p>It all depends on your study habits and how hard you’re willing to work</p>
<p>800 SAT I Math
800 SAT II Math
780 SAT II Chem</p>
<p>AP Calc AB 5</p>
<p>I work for an oil company. I’m a licensed civil engineer, graduated chemical though. I found chemical engineering to be more physics based (momentum, shear, statistics thermodynamics)</p>
<p>The classes were tough (average 40% on midterms/finals), a lot of the math I had never seen or used before (I received all As in my math and chemistry class - sans biochem, premeds really mess up the curve with previous tests). </p>
<p>I never learned about Euler’s cut principle / tensor till my second class of BSL (Bird, Stewart, Lightfoot, infamous ChemE book). Had to learn both BSL and tensors in addition to a tight class load. You definitely need time management. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ekayasolutions.com/ech256/ECH256ClassNotes/BalanceLaws.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ekayasolutions.com/ech256/ECH256ClassNotes/BalanceLaws.pdf</a></p>
<p>ChemE is more physics based than chemistry based. I took civil classes on the side (hence the Civil PE) - 3.89 Civil GPA, can’t say the same for my ChemE GPA. </p>
<p>Your mileage may vary as I went to a theoretical school / graduate school emphasis versus a practical school / industry focused.</p>
<p>I graduated from Florida in the early 90s. ChemE had the reputation of being the hardest major on campus.</p>
<p>And I disagree with an earlier poster who said the last two years are easier. Hardest classes I ever took were Organic Chem 1 and 2 which we took our 3rd year.</p>
<p>Long story short, yes it is hard. I’m an engineering major but not chemical and they by far have the toughest course load of any other engineering concentration. Our dean likes to say that all engineering majors are hard but there’s different degrees of difficulty. Don’t let his hinder your decision though if chemical engineering is what you want to do.</p>
<p>I personally have found that the actual chemical engineering classes to be pretty straight forward except for thermodynamics of mixing, most of the classes follow the idea of balances or solving simple differential equations. Otherwise the hardest classes have been the OChem series.</p>
<p>I almost have a PhD in the subject. It’s pretty tricky! And it has little to do with chemistry. I hope you like phase equilibria.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s hard. My mind is blown on a constant basis when I have to use Taylor Series and solve differential equations by hand JUST TO SOLVE A CHEME problem. </p>
<p>It’s a lot of work too. I didn’t believe it at first, but now I honestly don’t have time to do all of my work well/completely understand it. It blows b/c I really want to.</p>
<p>I think it’s worth it though. You’ll feel like an absolute moron most of the time, but so will everyone else in the class. It’s a good bonding experience. And just know that the dumbest ChE is likely a lot smarter than the smartest business major.</p>
<p>Hey guys, is Chemical Engineering more calculus or physics?</p>