<p>hi i want to be a chemE, im in my senior year of h.s. I never took physics in h.s. (focused on chem and bio) and im only in Precalculus atm. Im not sure if i should minor in math since i never had any calculus in highschool, or physics. Which would help me more?</p>
<p>For any sort of engineering major, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’re going to need to take a bunch of calculus and at least a bit of physics. Take the maths/physics required for your major as soon as you can, they’ll probably be helpful in your other courses too, and if you find yourself liking the ones you have to take, make it a minor and take more.</p>
<p>You will be required to take Calc 1, 2, and 3 and Differential Equations. That will take you through sophomore years. You will need to take Physics 1 and 2. That will get you through freshman year. You should be sure what you might be getting into if you choose to take on a minor.</p>
<p>Also, Chem E is a demanding major. You might find that going to the basketball games is a better fit for your college career.</p>
<p>geo1113: about those classes that u listed for the first year, how exactly can I take all of them along with the other humanities freshman take. I wish you dont need to take those classes >.>, so I can just focus on the Calculus and Physics classes as they will be a load themselves…</p>
<p>Here is the ChemE program from UF (I went there but was a non-traditional student). This should give you a better idea what is expected.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.che.ufl.edu/PDF/CurrentUnderGradStudents/BSChECrsePlanFall09.pdf[/url]”>http://www.che.ufl.edu/PDF/CurrentUnderGradStudents/BSChECrsePlanFall09.pdf</a></p>
<p>Don’t make this decision right now, you will probably wind up changing your mind anyway. Why do I say this? Because as an engineering major you will take a lot of math anyway, including the full calculus curriculum and probably diffy qs, vector analysis, and some statistics. On top of which you will be required to take an introductory physics sequence which will provide a simple, single-variable-calc-based version of a physics curriculum.</p>
<p>So you will have plenty of opportunity to study intro physics and math and see which one is more to your liking.</p>
<p>If you want to maximize career prospects, it’s best to ask ChemE majors what minor would have helped them. Based on the conversations I’ve had, it sounds like a minor in some other type of engineering would help. My understanding is they don’t do any chemistry, rather they do “process engineering.” That is, chemists come up with the formula (or whatever) and chemEngs engineer a process to manufacture it on a large scale, and mechanical and electrical and computer engineers actually implement the process.</p>
<p>If you want to someday be involved in doing chemistry, mayhap a minor in chemistry would be advisable, but they probably only hire chemistry PhDs to do things like that.</p>
<p>Hey, what about matSciEng?</p>
<p>reyrey, the best thing you can do to prepare yourself for taking the calc and physics sequence in your freshmen year is to study it on your own. Get a “teach yourself calculus” book and go through it, do all of the problems. Get a basic, non-calc physics book and study it, focusing on things like force and momentum and electricity and magnetism. I don’t mean you have to master all of the material, but having exposure to it first will be of tremendous help to you. By the time you’re at college studying these things in a class (which will be purposefully designed to be extra tough to weed out non-hackers) it will be more like relearning stuff you already know, rather than trying to get a drink of water from a fire hose.</p>
<p>Yes, I am suggesting that you spend your last summer vacation studying math and physics. Doesn’t mean you can’t still have a fun summer, but you will be SO much more confident and relaxed when everybody else is fighting just to keep their heads above water.</p>
<p>TomServo: yeah im currently in AP chem, i just joined the 2nd semester though (was in AP bio for first semester), i tried to read the text to catch up on what i had missed in the first semester. i was thinking of buying a physics book, but never really did cause i assumed ChemE was mostly chemistry…</p>
<p>Hey, and as for the calculus would you recommend just learning it myself over the summer or taking a course to try to get into Calc BC my first year of college. I’m asking because I know there is lots of math classes needed to take in college and I want to make sure I have time to take all, or atleast most,of them during the 4 years (which is why I brought up the math minor)</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>The Math minor is somewhere around 20-22 semester credits. The “usual suspects” are:</p>
<p>Calculus I
Calculus II
Calculus III (also called Multivariable Calculus)
Differential Equations
Linear Algebra
Math Elective</p>
<p>What a minor entails depends on the school. Your past posts mention Cal Poly Pomona; the math minor entails the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>The usual freshman and sophomore math (calculus, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, differential equations). At Cal Poly Pomona, this consists of 7 quarter-long courses for 26 quarter units.</li>
<li>4 quarter-long upper division math courses, probably 16 quarter units.</li>
</ul>
<p><a href=“http://www.csupomona.edu/~math/MinorInMath.pdf[/url]”>http://www.csupomona.edu/~math/MinorInMath.pdf</a></p>
<p>The physics minor there requires 30 quarter units of physics courses, including 12 quarter units of upper division courses.</p>
<p>[Cal</a> Poly Pomona Physics Department-The Physics Minor](<a href=“http://www.csupomona.edu/~physics/academics/phyminor.htm]Cal”>http://www.csupomona.edu/~physics/academics/phyminor.htm)</p>
<p>The chemical engineering major overlaps with 23 units of math and 12 units of physics. However, it has no free electives with which you can take the additional math or physics courses without overloading or taking summer sessions or entering with advanced credit from AP or college courses taken in high school.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/sheets/docs/2010-2011/Roadmaps/Engineering/CHE_roadmap_10-11.pdf[/url]”>http://www.csupomona.edu/~academic/sheets/docs/2010-2011/Roadmaps/Engineering/CHE_roadmap_10-11.pdf</a></p>
<p>I’d study calc over the summer, but if you can take a calculus class over summer school and get college credit for it, go for it.</p>