<p>I'm a Junior, doing the typical freakout over the fact that I don't know what type of college experience I'm looking for. I know that ultimately I want to get my graduate degree (or even a PhD) in chemE, concentration in environmental applications. (sustainable energy, etc) But perhaps I want an LAC undergrad experience?</p>
<p>How well would physics/chem (double major) prepare me for engineering grad school? </p>
<p>Have any of you done this? What would you suggest?</p>
<p>If you went to an LAC for these degrees, was the experience worth having to do catch-up work in grad school?</p>
<p>Assuming I maintain a decent GPA and find some sort of summer internship/research, could I get into top grad schools?</p>
<p>So, the problem is that you want to be an engineer but you're looking for a good LAC experience and are concerned that it won't prepare you for your ultimate goal of getting a PhD in chemical engineering...?</p>
<p>What about an LAC experience draws you to it? It might be easier to find a place that has a liberal arts college-y feel to it but also has a strong chemical engineering program.</p>
<p>Also, what do you want to end up doing for your career that you'll need a PhD in chemical engineering? Developing sustainable energy? I've got some friends in the wind biz and they've just got bachelors degrees... I'm not a chemE, but from what I hear tell 'round these parts, chemical engineering doesn't have a lot to do with chemistry. Durned if I know what it <em>does</em> have to do with, though...</p>
<p>chemE is, from what I hear, largely physics based, with a heavy emphasis on fluids and fluid mechanics. I know someone who did a math undergrad at an lac and then went to do a bme phD and did fine...had some catching up to do with the people who were eng. undergrads, but i would recommend a physics or applied math, etc undergrad, not strictly chem</p>
<p>If you went that route (bachelors in physics), and went to grad school for engineering, would you be able to learn about every field in the engineering discipline you wanted to go into before specializing?</p>
<p>The problem with doing a BS in Physics and then an MS/PhD in ChemE is that you're expected to choose a specialization coming into the graduate program. It's kind of like picking a major during college. So while everyone is taking the basic graduate courses in their specialty area and getting ready for the advanced PhD courses and qualifying exams, and choosing research advsisors, you'll still be stuck taking the undergrad courses and just trying to catch up.</p>
<p>I have a few friends that are in the same boat--natural science majors who are in graduate programs for engineering.</p>
<p>It IS possible but you will essentially have to take MANY courses to supplement your graduate degree--basically redoing an undergraduate major. </p>
<p>As for the admissions, read the applications for your "top graduate schools". Most are quite specific on what requirements you need.</p>
<p>If you do go the natural science route, try to use your electives for ChemE classes or look into a ChemE degree with physics/chemistry minor.</p>
<p>I guess the easy answer is No, that I would have to do so much catchup work that it wouldn't be worth it. Well, my current top choice (Rice) does have a pretty LAC feel anyways. </p>
<p>aibarr: what attracts me is male/female balance, tightknit community, a population of diverse student interests (not just math/science folk), and small class sizes.</p>
<p>Rice would be a good option. Houston is a great place to be for anything chemical related and the companies in the area really pump a lot of money into UH and Rice. I think UH has a better overall reputation for ChemE in the Houston area, but Rice will give you that LAC feel you want and it's in a better part of town.</p>
aibarr: what attracts me is male/female balance, tightknit community, a population of diverse student interests (not just math/science folk), and small class sizes.
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<p>Just be careful about male/female balance. You can look at a university and see a balanced gender ratio, but once you get into more technical fields, you'll generally find them to be segregated along more traditional gender lines. For example, the college of science at my undergrad school had a pretty good ratio, but that's only if you're in biology or chemistry. If you take physics classes you'd usually only find around five girls in a class of 40-50. My department in engineering (Materials Science) actually had 11 girls to 7 guys, but every other department within engineering had way more guys than girls (and my year of grad students at my current school only had 1 girl in the 19 people they invited to the visiting weekend, she wound up deciding to attend, but switched to ChemE within a week of starting).</p>
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Just be careful about male/female balance.
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<p>Agreed. It may look balanced, but pretty much all engineering programs (aside from Olin, which makes a concerted effort to balance things out) are highly skewed male.</p>
<p>It's okay, the guys don't smell too bad. ;)</p>