<p>I'm currently a senior in high school and could use some advice on whether engineering is right for me. I love science (especially biology and chemistry) and my ideal career would involve researching pharmaceuticals or biofuels, but most of that work is done by post-doc students and professors and there are very few jobs in industry for chemistry or biochemistry grads. I want to be able to get a steady, reasonably-well paying job without spending years and years in grad school. </p>
<p>I have a pretty good idea of what chemical engineers do and while engineering seems to offer good job security, I'm not sure if I would be passionate enough about the work itself. While I've gotten As in all my math classes throughout hs (including ap calc last year) and I don't hate math, I don't really love it either. I also took physics last year, but it wasn't a very good class and I didn't get a feeling of whether or not I even enjoy the subject. Biomolecular / Biological engineering interests me, but all of the programs I've seen just lump it in with chemical engineering which would mean that there's just as much high-level math involved in it as in any other field of engineering.</p>
<p>So here are my questions: Can you major in just biomolecular or biological engineering and does it involve mainly traditional engineering work or more engineering biological systems and working in the lab to develop new bio-technologies? Are there good jobs for biomolecular engineers? Do you have to be very good at and really enjoy math to be a good engineer? Are there any other fields that would interest me that don't involve so much math but offer good job prospects?</p>
<p>I realize I'm asking a lot, but if anyone could answer any of my questions, I would really, really appreciate it.</p>
<p>I keep wondering where this canard about “no jobs” for Chemistry majors comes from. Is it really valid? Lake Jr. is a Chemical Engineering major, but many of the internships and co-op applications he investigates advertises for Chemistry majors. There may be a glut but someone is hiring B.S. Chemistry graduates. Now, it may be that companies are hiring ChE grads for pure chemistry positions. I don’t know.</p>
<p>In some places, there really are “no jobs” for chemistry majors. Most of the ChemEs either leave the area or find a more general engineering position. Chemistry and chemical engineering work is very geographically concentrated around large production plants. The vast majority of people who are looking for a job in that field look for jobs in the petroleum industry, as they intend to follow the money. I personally never liked the prospects there, but to each his own.</p>
<p>
- Depends on the school.
- Depends on the job. I don’t think there’s a pattern.
- Yes, but that doesn’t mean that you will realistically be able to get one (you might though).
- Not “very good” but you have to be comfortable with it.
- Having math skills is very useful no matter where you end up. Don’t think of it as some form of torture - it’s just another widely applicable skill to learn, like grammar or computer skills.</p>
<p>At the undergraduate level, my experience has been that the coursework for chemical, biomolecular, and bio-engineering is more or less the same. At the Univ. of Washington, for instance, the bioengineering undergraduate major appears to be mostly the same as the chemical engineering undergraduate major. At UCSB, there is no bioengineering major, but the bioengineering courses rely heavily on transport processes, which is a core chemical engineering topic.</p>
<p>@LakeWashington - Though I’m sure there are jobs for chem majors, I’ve heard that chemical engineering has far better job prospects and I wouldn’t want to risk not being able to find a job when I graduate.</p>
<p>@NeoDymium - I don’t really hate math, I just wanted to be sure that there are other aspects of engineering that I would enjoy, since I’m not one of those people who just loves to do math all the time.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>Lake Jr. hasn’t shown any interest in beginning his career in the petroleum industry, but some of the internships he’s applied to are with Petroleum companies, doing other things; Quality Assurance and Safety and Environmental Monitoring, for example.</p>