Should I go to Wash U Chem E?

<p>Hi, I am accepted as a transfer student to Wash U chemical Engineering (I am a sophomore in college now), but I am a little bit hesitating whether to go or not... Here's some concerns..</p>

<ol>
<li>I haven't taken most of the sophomore chem e classes,(but I finished the 18 credit hum and ss requirement and did some higher level chemistry courses), so graduating in 2 years might be an issue, especially if I also wanna do a thesis plus some research (publishing paper, etc.)</li>
<li>I do have chance to do 3+2 Columbia Engineering Program in my current LAC, but I dont wanna spend one more year, and that's also one of the reasons why I applied for transfer ad</li>
<li>The major reason for transferring is that I do wanna do some engineering which is not available at my LAC, and pure science is not very appealing to me.. but I got lots of scholarship at my LAC and no money from Wash U</li>
<li>How exactly is the Chem E department both in terms of academics and career opportunities? Do students have promising career if they are on the top tier, and how is the average? How is its graduate school placement? How are the chances of going to a prestigious engineering school, say MIT, Stanford, or Cornell, Columbia?</li>
<li>How does one succeed as an engineering student? I know that in the science area, you need to have high gpa and try to publish papers on scientific journals to demonstrate your research ability.. Is that the same as Engineering? </li>
<li>I do no have any other choices since WU is the one and only one school that I applied. (Seems a little ambivalent, but it was a long story...)</li>
</ol>

<p>The Chemical Engineering major has broad applicability. You study lots of pure science and math, but the emphasis is on the application of that knowledge. You will find employers less interested in where you went than in what you did while you were there. Grad school is probably more of a conventional academic path.</p>

<p>Research is only one path. Internships are another path. Some would say internships are the preferred path as you are producing outside of the academic world.</p>