<p>I am undecided between Chemistry/Material Sciences/Chemical engineering
Suppose I opt for Chemistry,
Universities like Cornell,UPenn,etc are better or Liberal Arts Colleges like Williams and Amherst are better?</p>
<p>There are many threads on this. IMO, one type of school is not better or worse than the other – you should seek out the type of environment where you feel you will be most comfortable and happy.</p>
<p>I agree with that.</p>
<p>Ditto. </p>
<p>But I’d add you need to do more homework with LACs. In the physical sciences enrollment/depth of depts vary much more among the elites than fields like English, Poli Sci or History which tend to be uniformly reliable.</p>
<p>Chemistry at Williams, for example, is measurably stronger than at Amherst where the sciences and math/CS in general tend to take more of a back seat to the humanities and social sciences. In Chem, Haverford and Wesleyan on the east coast better come to mind, Carleton in the midwest, and Pomona out west. If you’d consider small uni’s, Rochester and Rice should also be in the running.</p>
<p>For chemistry, look for ACS approval as a baseline:
<a href=“American Chemical Society”>American Chemical Society;
<p>For chemical or materials engineering, look for ABET accreditation as a baseline:
[Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx)</p>
<p>For small schools, you may want to check course offerings and how frequently each one is offered.</p>
<p>Note that job and career prospects for chemical engineering tend to be better than for chemistry:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-5.html#post15975553[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-5.html#post15975553</a></p>
<p>Northwestern has phenomenal chemistry and material sciences departments, which are ranked #7 and #4, respectively. Despite these rankings, the number of majors per class is only about 20; therefore, you’d get plenty of research opportunities with leaders in the field and expensive toys to play with while enjoying small classes (except the gen chemistry and organic chemistry; they are big because premeds and engineering/bio majors also take them).</p>
<p>Its chemical engineering is also pretty good. By the way, chemical engineering and chemistry are very different at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>General and organic chemistry courses will typically be among the largest courses at any given selective school, due to the large number of pre-meds and biology majors taking them (however, some schools have separate courses for pre-meds and biology majors versus chemistry and chemical engineering majors).</p>
<p>If you want to know actual class sizes, check the schools’ class schedules to see if they list enrollment and capacity. Even if they do not, you can infer that sometimes (e.g. if you see one lecture with dozens of discussions and/or labs associated with it, the lecture will be big).</p>
<p>Is it wise to opt for an undecided major now and choose my major at the end of my freshman year? I am having a tough time in deciding between Chem/Chem E</p>
<p>For you to keep on track for a four year graduation most engineering programs require you start taking foundational classes as a freshman. If you are undecided I would start with Chem E and backpedal to Chem if need be later.</p>
<p>Agreed. Much easier to go from Chem E to Chem than the other way.</p>
<p>Also, if you go the Chem route, you’ll need to think about going all the way to PhD to have much of a career. BS/BA Chem majors are a dime a dozen, Chem E’s can work pretty well with just a BS.</p>
<p>Finally, some of the LACs (Haverford and Bowdoin for example) have 3/2 programs that allow you to get both the Chem and Chem E degrees. I’m sure it’s super-intense, and you probably need to know you’ll be doing it from the beginning, but it’s an option.</p>
<p>What Happy1 and UCBalumnus said.</p>
<p>And yes, many lab guys and gals have said that your prospects are considerably greater in Ch-E than Chemistry, depending on your career interests. The Chemist Job announcements that I have seen posted by big companies like DuPont or 3M or Sherwin-Williams invariably want to interview only PhD holders, whereas those same companies recruit Ch-E Bachelor’s routinely.</p>
<p>Materials Science may be the best compromise for you (if you enroll in electives like Advanced Physical Chemistry, Chemical Thermodynamics, or Polymers), but you really would need to matriculate at an engineering university and not an LAC for that, in most cases.</p>