pure chemistry to chemical engineering

<p>what is the likelihood of getting accepted to a phd program in chemical engineering at a higher ranked university? (top 25, mostly the focused on the lower list)</p>

<p>need more details bud, what kind of scores did you get, what level of math did you take etc…Chemistry and Chemical Engineering are two completely different worlds, I hope you realize that</p>

<p>You need a lot of math . . . . more math than a typical chemistry major. Most Chemistry majors stop at Multivariable Calculus/Linear Algebra because this is required for Physical Chemistry. Chem Engineering needs at least Diff Eq and more. Also you would need classes in thermo, kinetics and such. </p>

<p>Also what research experience do you have? Some Chem Eng research is highly dependent on pure chemistry especially nanotechnology or biotechnology</p>

<p>You need a lot of math . . . . more math than a typical chemistry major. Most Chemistry majors stop at Multivariable Calculus/Linear Algebra because this is required for Physical Chemistry. Chem Engineering needs at least Diff Eq and more. Also you would need classes in thermo, kinetics and such. </p>

<p>Also what research experience do you have? Some Chem Eng research is highly dependent on pure chemistry especially nanotechnology or biotechnology</p>

<p>Hmm, at my school, the chem majors were required to take math up to differential equations.</p>

<p>There’s no way one can properly learn physical chemistry without it.</p>

<p>Thank you all of the reply!! I am so excited to hear from people who can help me!!
I have 4 and a half years of research experience in physical organic chemistry where I studied the kinetic breakdown of an organic compound. I finished a master’s at Illinois State University, but they are a small school. Unfortunately, I have zero publications for the research, but I may have a couple pending on some crystal structures I solved in a course.
I have taken courses in kinetics, calculus 1 and 2, physics, pchem, physical biochem, </p>

<p>My gpa was 3.4 undergrad chemistry
3.9 master’s</p>

<p>Gre
480 verbal
770 quantitative
3.5 analytical writing </p>

<p>if any one else has more questions, let me know! ill do my best.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>why do you want to do chem e instead of plain chemistry?</p>

<p>i don’t see how you could do this without taking classes in mass and heat transfer, or fluid mechanics.</p>

<p>Enginearsrfun: I am more interested in chemical engineering because of their practical usages and the mathematical foundation. I am veering away from pure chemistry because the more I learn about chemistry, the more theoretical (geared towards academia) it gets. Let me explain, after learning more chemistry, the typical path a chemist would take would be explore a subject that hasn’t been searched or restudy someone else’s work (contradict). There really isn’t a market for such a high risk potential of exploring a new ideas like coming up with a new chemical reaction and mechanisms…that type of ideas? For an engineer, they would be responsible for modifying something to make things more efficient. In addition, the versatility of a chemical engineer allows them to switch between different industries with ease.</p>

<p>I am more leaning towards the industry and it seems to me that the more pure chemistry I do, the focus goes away from what I really want to do, which is research in energy. </p>

<p>As for courses, are you suggesting that I will not get accepted to a chemical engineering program prior to completing the engineering courses? I want to take these courses, but I don’t want to go back for another BS. From my understanding most phd programs aren’t course intensive, so it should be possible to take more courses than a typical phd student and finish in 6 years. My question is, will I even get that opportunity to catch up? or am I wasting my time trying to get into chemical engineering with my background?</p>

<p>Any feed back is very much appreciated! Thank you all for your input! :)</p>

<p>I did my undergrad in chemistry (3.4) with 2 minors in math (3.4) and computation science (3.4).</p>

<p>GRE (V,Q) : 410, 760</p>

<p>I applied to Cornell, Rice, Purdue, Tulane, and UT for chemical engineering MS/PhD.</p>

<p>I got into 3 of the programs mentioned but only Tulane offered a fully funded TAship, so that is where I will be studying for the next few years.</p>

<p>The most important is the MATH. Take as much math as you can; multivariable calc, linear algebra, ordinary and partial differential equations. Also learn some form of programing or mass computation such as with excel or labview.</p>

<p>You cannot even touch the actual engineering if you cannot get beyond the math, so chemE with a poor math background … = your chem knowledge will never (or rarely) touch application in this field.</p>

<p>However I also has 3 relatively GOOD recommendations from my research adviser, the chemistry dept. chair and a distinguished math faculty member, with 2 years of analytical chem research and an honors thesis. So it is a package deal but the transition from chem to chemE is contingent on the MATHEMATICS.</p>

<p>Agree- you need a lot of math equivalent to a mathematics minor or higher. At least up to PDE</p>

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<p>Depends- I learned Differential equations in high school before I came to university so I did have some knowledge on how to solve Diff EQ. I think most people can figure out how to solve first order and second order equations as presented in PChem (I am sure you mean the thermodynamics part as opposed to the quantum chemistry/theoretical chemistry part) without ODE. I took PChem with ODE but only with linear algebra.</p>

<p>Sounds Great! Thanks for the amazing inputs. I will see if I can enroll into a community college and try to take those courses at night or something. Thanks a million!</p>