<p>I know so little about this occupation, but at the same time it seems interesting. What kind of person should be a chemical engineer? And what exactly do they do? I know this could easily be found online, but I kinda want some personal experiences. I'm in high school, and I love math and chem. Is this what chemical engineering is all about...or am I totally off? Any info is appreciated.</p>
<p>I’m currently in the same situation myself and I’m wondering about the same thing.</p>
<p>You are going to get thousands of answers if you ask the question “what does a chemical engineer do”, because there are literally thousands of answers - everything from plant production engineering to environmental consulting to vodka distillation to NASA shuttle design. </p>
<p>Do you have a more directed question? Have you thought about what you want to do? How about at least an atmosphere (office, lab, travelling, plant, oil rig, etc)?</p>
<p>See, I’m not sure. I’ve kind of figured either office or lab, but I don’t have experience working in either atmospheres so I don’t yet know which I prefer. How would I know whether which is right for me? Internships? I’m still in high school.</p>
<p>Internships are the best way. I had a few in high school and they were very helpful. Most of the time high school internships are unpaid, which is nice because it also means that you’re not really responsible for much. College internships should be paid.</p>
<p>But don’t worry too much. The most important thing to do in high school is determine if you want either 1) a math/science-based career or 2) humanities/social science based career. Once you know that, you can pretty much decide on a school and an initial major.</p>
<p>In engineering, all students usually take the same first semester, and probable the same first year. So you can start as one type of engineer (say chemical engineer) and you still have a year of college before you have to really commit to that major. During that year, talk to faculty members, intern (remember that internships normally higher in September of your freshman year - when you first get there - for summer), and talk to students higher up in class standing.</p>
<p>Looking over previous posts, is your intention to ultimately go to med school? </p>
<p>If that’s the case, it will change my answer.</p>
<p>I don’t have an “ultimate intention,” although I can sort of figure out what I want to do in the near future. And that does NOT involve majoring in engineering. I have every intention of majoring in math (or applied math, if it’s offered). I know there are a lot of job prospects for math majors, and they’re each a little bit different. Math majors can easily get a master’s in engineering later on (or so I’m told), but I’m afraid it’ll be very difficult to get a master’s in chemical engineering if I haven’t also majored in chemistry. And in order to fill major requirements for both math and chem, I’ll need to know by my freshman year of college. (Right?) Which is only a year away.</p>
<p>Oh, and I too looked up my previous posts to see where you could’ve possibly gotten the idea that I want to go to med school. I only posted in med school threads to find out specifically how the school’s chemistry department is. ;)</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t say that. It’s possible for a math major to get a professional master’s degree in engineering, but it would likely require going to a lower tier school (the example given in the other thread is an MIT undergraduate going to the University of Houston) and would require a significant amount of leveling coursework (probably 1.5 to two years without the Chemistry double major or 0.5 to 1 year with a chemistry double major). </p>
<p>But this really confuses me: if you plan on a chemical engineering master’s degree, why aren’t you majoring in some form of engineering? A chemistry/math double major is at least 5 years + 3 years for an MS leads to 8 years for a BS/MS. Most engineering programs have a BS/MS dual enrollment program that offers both degrees in 5 years. Those 3 years are worth about $240,000 in salary - $60,000 taxes + $60,000 benefits + say $60,000 in tuition = $300,000.</p>
<p>Well, if I major in chemical engineering, then I have to be a chemical engineer. And right now I’m just considering it…it’s not yet definite. I don’t have any definite career plans, so I want to keep my options open. Having a math/chem double major leaves more options than a chemical engineering major, yes?</p>
<p>Also, you really think the math/chem double major will take five years (not four)? And then the master’s will take three (not two)?</p>
<p>no. DEFINITELY DEFINITELY go with a chemical engineering major if you want to keep your options open…after all you only need 3-4 more classes to do a chemE/chem double major…</p>
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<p>No. A chemical engineering degree is one of the most versatile degrees you can earn.</p>
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<p>Double major in 4 years? Let’s say it’s 120 hours for your first major (and that’s the minimum, it’s usually more). Add in at least 60 hours for the second major (depending on the school, it could be up to 120 additional hours), that’s 180 credit hours. If you take 18 hours/semester (which is a pretty demanding schedule), that’s 10 semesters. To get it down to 4 years, you’re going to need to come in with a year’s worth (30+) hours from AP/IB. And in that scenario, you could have a BS ChE in 3 years.</p>
<p>The master’s takes two years for a BS ChE -> MS ChE. With a non-ChE degree, you’ll need to take a series of undergraduate ChE courses - at least Process Control, Separations, Reactor Design, Thermo I and II, Fluids, Heat Transfer, and Mass Transport = 25 hours or about an extra year.</p>
<p>And, again, you’re dropping down in quality. If you could go to, say, Georgia Tech for your MS if you had a BS ChE, you’ll instead go to a school like Houston. That’s worth at least $10,000 - $15,000 per year. </p>
<p>Now, I’m not saying that you should pursue a BS ChE. Pursue math if that’s your desire, but keep in mind, that the inefficiency of then pursuing an MS ChE is worth about $300,000 after taxes. If you’re a 4th year BS Math student, and you decide to get an MS ChE - that’s one thing (a sunk cost), but if you’re planning things ahead of time, you need to think long and hard about what you’re going to do.</p>
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<p>At what school? It’s true that a ChE student takes all but 3 or 4 classes required for a Chem major (the opposite is not true, which is why a Chem degree is 120 hours and a ChE degree is usuall 142 hours); however, most schools have policies to prevent someone taking a couple of classes and getting another degree. Usually, you need some minimum number of hours in the other major school (usually around 30), which would mean that you’d need 10 Chem classes not required for the ChE degree (which may or may not even be possible). Further, some schools will not allow you to count a class for two separate degrees. So you’d need 142 hours for the BSChE and 120 separate hours for the BSChem (262 total hours).</p>
<p>here is a good site for students exploring careers in engineering, math, science or medicine</p>
<p>[Sloan</a> Career Cornerstone Center: Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math & Healthcare](<a href=“http://www.careercornerstone.org/]Sloan”>http://www.careercornerstone.org/)</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for all the info! I’ll scratch that math + chem idea. I guess I should figure out whether to pursue math or chemE, instead.</p>
<p>I think racnna means 3-4 classes for a minor, not another major.</p>
<p>If I’m really not sure, would it be a good idea to get a minor? Or do I really just have to choose–math or chemE?</p>
<p>you’re a girl. Have you considered electrical engineering?</p>
<p>…wait, what? Isn’t there another thread right now that claims electrical engineering is susceptible to outsourcing?</p>
<p>Hope you don’t mind me using an old standby, but…</p>
<p>“You don’t hear about people switching out of EE because they’re worried about job prospects.”</p>