<p>I didn't really know where to ask this, so this seemed like a good place...also, pardon my still poor understandin of colleges for this question..</p>
<p>If you major in engineering (lets use MechE as an example) and minor in chemistry (or biochem), and you decide to pursue chemistry after completion of BS, how will you do it? You can't go to grad school right away, right? What do you do? Also, is it easier if, say, you decide this during sophmore year, or even junior year? Thanks.</p>
<p>An engineering who likes chemistry, I didnt think one existed.</p>
<p>My friends who are ChemE all hate chem, this is a first.</p>
<p>I'm in chemical engineering right now and I'm quite upset about the lack of chemistry in the program. I'll be focusing my technical electives in areas related to biochemistry. Hell, I'm now questioning whether I should be in engineering, although I want to have an engineering degree.</p>
<p>Ok, but lets just say you have a minor in chemistry with engineering major...What would have to do to also get a BS in chemistry?</p>
<p>Transfer to the college of arts and science or whatever it's called at your particular school and declare a major in chemistry. I have a friend who's a double major in aerospace engineering and spanish. He's actually getting two degrees at once because Spanish is an A&S program and to major in an A&S program you have to complete their core distribution requirements. So he's getting a BS in AE and a BA in Spanish.</p>
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An engineering who likes chemistry, I didnt think one existed.</p>
<p>My friends who are ChemE all hate chem, this is a first.
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<p>Well, I'm a ChE and I have no issues with chemistry. I'm even getting a minor in chemistry myself.</p>
<p>That's what I explain to students - there's not as much Chemistry as you might expect in ChemE.</p>
<p>collegefreak12, at every college there are a certain amount of classes a student needs to take in order to receive a minor in, lets say, chemistry, and a certain amount of classes that need to be taken in order to receive a BS. If you have a minor in chemistry and decide that you now want to get a BS then you just take the additional courses required at your institution. As far as grad school goes, you can apply once you get your degree or you can get a job and apply at a later time.</p>
<p>Try to major in something that you will pursue after your BS. That would make it easier. If not, you can get another BS afterwards in Chemistry, which is more time-consuming.</p>
<p>Typically a minor won't give you the breadth of knowledge that a full fledged degree can. So if you want to pursue chemistry after getting a minor, it would be better to go back to school or take the necessary coursework for a chemistry degree.</p>
<p>Will someone please expand on this subject of not as much chemistry as you'd think ? I don't know if that is good or bad and need more information to figure it out!</p>
<p>A good idea comes from looking at the courses.</p>
<p>Core ChemE courses:
Thermodynamics
Fluid Mechanics
Heat and Mass Transfer
Separation Processes
Chemical Process Analysis
Reaction Engineering/Kinetics
Process Dynamics and Control
Process Design (Senior Design)</p>
<p>So starting from the top...thermo probably has the most (physical) chemistry you will be exposed to, but even then, you will be talking mostly about heat exchangers, mixers, nozzles, diffusers, etc.</p>
<p>Fluid mechanics has very little chemistry in it...there is some electrochemical/macromolecular aspects (ion transport, colloids, polymer rheology, etc) but that's mostly grad level.</p>
<p>Heat and Mass is really just an extension of intro thermo and separations is more an application of an intro fluids class.</p>
<p>Reaction kinetics will have some chemistry (rate laws, arrhenius, equilibrium, etc) but you will be focusing on optimizing the reaction, but not explaining why a certain pathway occurs.</p>
<p>The process design/analysis classes again don't have much chemistry. You'll mostly be working with distillation columns, packed bed reactors, heat exchangers, etc.</p>
<p>If anything, I would say chemE is almost closer to mechE than chemistry (minus the statics/dynamics classes).</p>
<p>Of course, you will still take some chem classes as part of the requirement, but notice much of the core engin courses are not very theoretical, other than thermo.</p>
<p>That being said, in grad school and academia, there is a lot of emphasis on molecular/nano engineering these days (microfluidics, nano self-assembly, switchable surfaces, molecular dynamics, etc) where a great deal of chemistry (mostly physical/quantum/electro) is involved. The core classes teach you stuff that's been around for the past 150 years, but if you're thinking about something more than simply a job at a company (starting business, academia, etc), then learning the (physical) chemistry itself is quite important.</p>