<p>Hi all.</p>
<p>I am currently a sophomore MechE (used to be a ChemE) here at Rice and have been seeing a lot of people making new threads about engineering at Rice which makes it a bit difficult for others to navigate. If you have any general or specific engineering questions, I (and hopefully others) will try to answer them here.</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>I plan on being a ChemE at Rice, was there any reason in particular you switched, and how was it in general?</p>
<p>The reason was personal and was in no way because of any shortcomings I felt in the program. I felt that chemical engineering was a lot more about the physics and math behind the chemicals than about the chemistry (which is what I really enjoyed). I have also liked mechanics and constructing things my whole life so felt that MechE suited me better. :)</p>
<p>The program for ChemE is very rigorous and is arguably Rice’s hardest major (as it is in most places). If you can lighten your course load by using AP credits to take Organic Chemistry and advanced math classes your first year at Rice, I would highly recommend it. I took organic chemistry I and II my freshman year and feel it is a very good idea to if you intend to be a ChemE.</p>
<p>I would also recommend getting an internship in a lab here if you get the chance and want to. I feel many incoming freshmen don’t realize that you can get one several weeks into school.</p>
<p>I know Rice has one of the best undergraduate BME programs, but a lot of people say majoring in BME as an undergrad isn’t a good idea. They say you’re better off majoring in EE or ChemE or some other engineering disciple, and then doing BME in grad school. Do you know if this applies to Rice too?</p>
<p>I am sorry to say that I have not heard of this problem. Based on my experience, however, almost all of the BioEs I know are planning to go to medical school. I don’t think it is because getting a BME degree on its own is insufficient for getting a good job. Regardless, Rice’s proximity to the medical center mean you should be able to get a job early on that should get you any connections you need to secure a full-time position after graduation. As you mentioned, Rice is excellent for bioengineering so you should have no trouble in that regard.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, if you aren’t sure whether you want to work in medicine, the other options you mentioned may be more versatile. In that sense, I would agree that you may be better off pursuing those if you find those just as interesting. Either way, switching majors is easy here and you will have plenty of time to decide. For medical school, I believe BioE is the most practical engineering you can take, for everything else, Elec, Mech, or Chem will be more broad and open a wider variety of doors.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! It’s good to hear switching majors is easy, and that so many bioE majors are shooting for med school!</p>
<p>How difficult is Civil Engineering at Rice? Especially with a double major (Economics + Civil Engineering)? I hear the majority of Rice students double major, but is it doable with one of the majors being engineering?</p>
<p>I’m hoping to get in as a transfer from one of the Top 3 Publics, so I do have most of my Economics lower and mid level courses done.</p>
<p>While CivE is no cakewalk, it is often regarded as Rice’s easiest engineering program. There are a lot of requirements, but a lot of them are perceived as being easier than what the ChemEs and MechEs have to take.</p>
<p>Double majoring with engineering is difficult, but with CivE and transfer credit, I think it can be done. If you get accepted, before accepting the offer, I would contact advisers in both departments to see how much transfer credit Rice will award you seeing as they can be pretty stingy at times. Knowing that, and visiting these sites you can get a better idea of what kind of time frame you are looking at for double majoring. </p>
<p>[Degrees</a> Offered : Rice University Civil and Environmental Engineering<a href=“click%20on%20the” title=“sample plans”>/url</a></p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://economics.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=510]Rice”>http://economics.rice.edu/Content.aspx?id=510]Rice</a> University Department of Economics : Degree Requirements in Economics: Students Matriculating in Fall 2010 or Thereafter](<a href=“Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Rice University”>Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Rice University)</p>
<p>Also make sure to check the availability of courses. Some classes aren’t offered every semester. These are all questions for divisional advisers though, but I will stand with what I said and say that it can be done if you are willing to do the work and have transfer credit. If you can’t fit it all into your timeline, you could always take some summer courses or stay an extra semester as a part-time student, though I feel you will be fine.</p>
<p>I have a friend who came in with a lot of AP credit and is on track to do a CivE and Business minor in 3 years. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Thanks so much!!!</p>
<p>Just a couple more questions:
How is the BA in Civil and Environmental looked at (employers)? I realized it isn’t an ABET accredited degree, but at the same time I’m not really looking to become an engineer, just looking to get into finance at an Oil & Gas firm where it would be useful to have a background in engineering.</p>
<p>I was also sort of confused at what the requirements are for the BA as compared to the BS. The BS has whole slew of “Required science and math courses”, whereas the BA doesn’t list them. It seems that only the core and specialty courses are required for the degree? Would you be able to clarify whether the BA degree requires the science and math courses?</p>
<p>Lastly, how heavily recruited are Rice engineering majors? At my current school for all recruiting it seems that there are infinite applicants for just a small number of internships. Rice is almost 10x smaller, so is it generally easy enough to actually get an internship?</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend AGAINST a BA unless you plan on going into Law School or Medical school where you will never need engineering ever again. A BA is not usually well-regarded even if you plan on not doing engineering, but still at an engineering firm. The BA is a lot easier, but it is basically a waste of time for most things I feel (seems like a good way to drop your GPA without significant gain). This is an opinion so maybe you can get some additional ones, but I would stay away from it if I were you. Regarding the course differences, I unfortunately don’t know much regarding BA degrees save for what those links can provide. Sorry :(. </p>
<p>Rice eng majors are very well recruited from my understanding. Sure, there are some companies that get a lot of applications even from the smaller Rice pool of applicants, but I tend to feel that if you are a solid student, you will find a good internship without a problem your junior year for sure. It is more finicky for sophomores and freshmen depending on the department (many companies just don’t recruit freshmen and sophomores), but it is very doable if you are a good student. I got my internship at a petroleum company my freshman year, but I will say that I am a pretty unusual case since you really have to be on the ball to do that. Many students choose to work in labs over the summer (super easy to get these jobs) freshman year. Once you work in a lab, oftentimes your professor can help you find a nice position using his connections.</p>
<p>In short, I believe it should be easier since there aren’t nearly as many applicants and because getting lab experience is super simple.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Have you heard anything about the Materials Science major at Rice?</p>
<p>I have several friends in the program and know a little bit about it. I am actually surprised that the undergraduate matsci program is as small as it is. There are under 12 students who get degrees in materials science each year from what I heard (may be wrong) and while the program is small, it is very well regarded and almost all the graduates end up going to get their Masters degree or PhD from the top materials science programs in the nation. The number of research positions available in the materials science department is enormous and Rice is at the forefront of nano research. These are just some of the things I hear about it. If you have any more specific questions, I could try to answer them. If you want to do materials science and get some outstanding research behind your belt (you can easily do your own projects in the department) Rice would be perfect for you.</p>
<p>Schooladvice -
I have been accepted to Rice engineering for this fall semester. I am thinking seriously about med school after completing my undergraduate at Rice. I hear lot of people saying that it is difficult to get good GPA in engineering and that I should think about majoring in something else to ensure that I have a good GPA for my med school application. How easy is it to maintain a good GPA (3.8 or so) in chemical or bio engineering?*Do you know any ChemEs who are also planning on going to med school?</p>
<p>a 3.8 is generally in the range of the president’s honor roll which his like the top 30% of students.</p>
<p>go to: <a href=“http://registrar.rice.edu/students/aca_honors/[/url]”>http://registrar.rice.edu/students/aca_honors/</a> for more info on gpa and various awards/levels</p>
<p>To be honest, yes, it is pretty darn challenging to do well and get a high GPA in engineering. A 3.8 is well above what I believe the average GPA is so you will definitely need to work very hard for it unless you take a lot of easy classes to boost your GPA and take some of the more difficult courses over the summer (I believe they don’t affect your GPA then). Also, Chemical Engineering is perhaps Rice’s hardest major so I would be aware of that before you make your decision. I know some bio-Es that want to go to med school, but I don’t think I personally know any ChemEs planning to go to Med School though I have heard plenty of stories of people doing this.</p>
<p>I’m planning to study MechE also, and am strongly considering Rice. I’ll have to do work-study, and I’m wondering, how much harder is that? Do you think you could handle 10-15 hours a week at work and is that rare for engineers?</p>
<p>Especially during your first couple of years, you will have no trouble working 10-15 hours/week. Keep in mind that generically, many work study jobs give you time to do your homework, or pay you for research.</p>
<p>Thanks, that’s good news! Do you have any options about your job? Can you pick one related to your major, or are you just assigned one?</p>
<p>Schooladvice and Crazymomster-Thanks for your input. *Is there any information available on the GPA range for Engineering school? *The link in your previous post had GPA range for all majors(not eng. in particular) *What is the average GPA for ChemE? *Is it easier to get a better GPA in Bioeng.?
Schooladvice-You’ve mentioned that you’ve heard about premeds doing ChemE. *Do you know if their experience was good/bad? *Were they able to get into med school ultimately?</p>
<p>@LDaniels: Yes, I think that it would be doable to work 10-15 hrs a week. I did this for a large part of my freshman year and a bit of my sophomore year. It is getting harder for me to do this lately because of the workload, but I wouldn’t discourage you from trying! I worked in a lab, but I am assuming you want to work for a company of some sort. I have a friend who is a ChemE working at Weatherby (I think), an oil service company throughout the semesters. He somehow finds time.</p>
<p>@Texas12345. I am sorry, unfortunately I don’t know any GPA links off the top of my head for ChemE. I also can’t tell you for certain if BioE is going to give you a better GPA. I THINK that it is an easier major based on the limited amount of knowledge I have on BioEngineering, but that is all. I also don’t have any friends who are planning to go to med school from ChemE and it is a little bit outside the norm to do this. I don’t see how it would benefit you if you do do ChemE and then become a doctor tbh. While people do it, I don’t really know why. What are you trying to gain out of doing both? A lot of the pre-med requisites are taken by ChemEs (like Organic) but besides that it seems like the toughest way to become a doctor I can think of. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t stress about it too much yet, however. Both of those programs are very strong at Rice and with the Medical Center literally right across the street, if you put time in and work hard, you will get into a medical school (and likely a solid one). Rice is very flexible with declaring majors so you will have time to change once you get more diverse opinions.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>