<p>I am currently at a top 20 engineering school doing ChemE taking the sophomore sequence of courses. </p>
<p>In the CHBE301 course (Material and Energy Balances), a lot of people of dropping out of ChemE to go into chemistry, econ, MechE, etc. And I am considering the same. </p>
<p>Reasons are:
1) Too much work/stress, and these guys don't want to miss out of college life
2) MechEs at our school get out with same salary, job offers, and are generally a lot happier (not killing themselves to do the work) -- a lot of upperclassmen attest to this
3) ChemE is too competitive since most of the best math/science students go into it, and they'll be in the bottom of the class for the next 3 years
4) Have to learn archaic programs such as Fortran that aren't too user friendly
5) Coming from a top school, other easier majors will yield similar job offers without the workload
6) Oil industry is dieing and ChemEs will not be in such a demand as before</p>
<p>Personally, I am neutral as to whether I actually enjoy the stuff. A lot of it is interesting but gets tedius easily. What do you guys think about the comments made?</p>
<p>"Personally, I am neutral as to whether I actually enjoy the stuff. A lot of it is interesting but gets tedius easily."</p>
<p>That last comment you made is the really telling thing. If you're rather "eh" about chemical engineering, why not shop around a little bit? Talk to some people in some other majors, see if you'd like another major a bit better. If you're neutral as to whether or not you actually enjoy ChemEng, then do you <em>really</em> want to do it for the rest of your life...?</p>
<p>You're higher up than me but everyone at any top 20 school will ask themselves this. I like the degree but if you dont and find other stuff interesting then don't do it. Personally I like the challenge so if you're dropping out b/c of the challenge you should have done that a while ago. Btw it's nice to see other people think this at other places. I'm gonna stay but I definitely thought about what I wanted and where I wanted my career to lead.</p>
<p>"6) Oil industry is dieing and ChemEs will not be in such a demand as before"</p>
<p>Hehehehe...sorry, gotta laugh at that comment. The oil industry is not dying for one, as a geologist I am heavily recruited by ExxonMobil and other major oil companies for employment. As oil supplies decrease, the chemical engineers and geologists have to become more creative to exploit what is available and go back to reserves that were once deemed "un-economical". This country is going to be using oil for a long long time and getting into an oil company is a life-time job, they really take care of you nicely with good pensions and great benefits. Plus, when we do start getting into serious trouble with reserves, you can help be on the forefront to pioneer new technology and alternative energy sources. Don't worry, you'll have a job with an oil company until retirement if you get in straight after college.</p>
<p>As for what you should do, do what makes you happy! Don't necessarily go where the job market is (but make sure you can get one...), but do something that you can enjoy and challenges you. </p>
<p>Heck, even though I'm getting recruited by big name oil companies, I really really want to go into academia and will pursue my PhD next year in hopes that my pipe dream will come true. If not, oil companies are an ok alternative (won't drive me too insane........).</p>
<p>Sorry for the ramble...good luck! PM me if you have any questions about oil companies, I can try to answer.</p>
<p>Hey, NumMeth, long ago and far away, I faced the same issues. I think we all did. You may be ready for a change, but choose wisely!</p>
<p>IMHO, the sciences have been grossly oversold as good colllege majors. There will be stiff competition from those struggling to make medical school and graduate school. The last thing you want is to switch from being in the bottom half of the ChemE class to the bottom half of the chemistry class. (Experience speaking, here!)</p>
<p>I like your idea of switching to an engineering major that does not have such tough competition. I understand that, if all the heavy hitters gravitate to the ChemE department, you will have a tough time getting the professors to explain things "down" to your level. </p>
<p>(You may be smart, but you're not a genius, right? Then we are brothers!)</p>
<p>So be sure that where you leap is a viable field. Mechanical is the original engineering. It has been hit hard by the drop in manufacturing, but there are still niches for some MechE's. </p>
<p>From my personal perspective--in government and the defense industry--the future seems to belong in the broad area of 'knowledge engineering'. Figure out how to help people make hard decisions about complex, technical processes, and the world will beat a path to your door.</p>
<p>And, by the way, you'll get no sympathy from us old timers with the Fortran complaints;-)</p>
<pre><code> I really don't think Mechanical has been hit hard by a drop in Manufacturing. I think Industrial has, but Mechanical is way more broad.
</code></pre>
<p>i'd say stay w/ chem E my friend. its the same case up here at RPI.</p>
<p>btw i'm an EE which has the exact same case as chem E, EE classes stress the hell outta ppl up here. up here, u hear the chem E ppl and EE ppl constantly ***** about the workload.</p>
<p>I am in almost exactly the same position as you are. I go to a top engineering college and am I majoring in ChemE. I love organic chemistry and find p.chem to be interesting as well. Indeed, pure chemistry courses are great. However, I absolutely detest and loathe Energy and Material Balances. The class is truly awful. I have twenty students in my class and every one of them hates it.</p>
<p>Good news: </p>
<p>All the chemE students (upper classmen including graduating seniors) abhored Energy and Mat. Balances. You have to be mentally ****ed up to like this class. Then why stick with chemE? </p>
<p>The reason is because chemE is not reflective off of Energy and Material Balances. Think of chemE as more...........applied p.chem - thermodynamics. Energy and mat. is designed to be a skills sharpener. Nothing more. It isn't designed to "teach" you anything. </p>
<p>I would say that if you want to really see what chemE is like, take P.chem I and take chemical engineering thermodynamics. These two courses, fair to say, are very reflective off of chemE.</p>
<p>Do NOT drop out of chemE because of energy and mat. balances.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the encouraging replies. It is not that I completely hate ChemE, there are just a lot of aspects about it that make it a hard major to love. </p>
<p>For that reason, I was considering the switch to MechE since at my school is offers the same salary (a little less) without the maddening stress. So I have to ask myself, what does ChemE offer that MechE does not? And I guess ChemEs offer a lot of the MechE courses plus chemistry which is sometimes interesting. Upperclassmen I speak to often sound bitter and ****ed -- likely because they did ChemE for the last 3 years lol. </p>
<p>I am a person who likes a challenge but am not sure if this major is taking it too far. I can relate to some people here in that I am smart but no genius like many in ChemE are. Taking these classes, I can see that genius in some people and am not sure if I am cut out for this stuff. ChemE is regarded as the toughest major at my school. I have spoken to some seniors here who tell people not to go into ChemE because it gets worse and worse every year. They say the difficulty/workload increases and skyrockets senior year when you take senior design. One story I heard was a senior getting hours of sleep a night for weeks to finish her project. </p>
<p>Personally, I have no problem with the chem/math courses. It is those engineering classes that drive me insane. There are problems sets every week, tests that need to be done takehome, and projects to finish. All of this while taking orgo, diffe, etc.In mat/energy balances for example, problems are so vague that few understand it. And the TA sessions are always full of confused and worn out students. I have never taken a class that left me so annoyed and stressed after each problem set. People I have spoken have said that mat/energy balances prepares you for the next class which is even more stressful. </p>
<p>It is nice meeting others who are/were in the same boat as I am. What do you think about people saying that this major gets worse and worse?</p>
<p>I dont know I just take things as they come. I'm a little worried about thermo. Diff eq and acc orgo 2 and quantum not so much. The problem sets are the worst. I too see my classes getting smaller and smaller. I feel I'm losing the buffer between me and the last "dummy" who dropped.</p>
<p>I hate my Mass Balances class too. I am actually doing alright in it (below average first test and A on the second, which I actually knew less on . . . whatever). It is almost impossible to word the problems and the worst part is that we have a HORRIBLE professor. He is an amazing researcher (I worked in his lab) and got top 100 young researchers award and went to MIT to recieve the award but he cant teach. He stutters and looks at his feet. It is irritating and awkward to watch. I feel like shaking him and telling him to chill the **** out. Jesus! He is also gone and has one of his semi-coherent TAs teach. Thats just BS. We had an awesome person last year who taught it over the summer. I loved her. This class blows.</p>
<p>I just think chemE offers more versatility than mechE and I want to work in the pharmeceuticals industry. Also no chem labs next semester!!! Worst part for me.</p>
<p>Actually the sight that keeps me in the major is the nerds and people I thought were smart starting to come crashing down this semester. They did fine for the first two because they went to good high schools and a lot was review. I think I am the only person I know in the major whose GPA has gone up since first semester. And stupid nerds. I hate them so much because the arent social and its great when they dont get it and I do (or maybe I dont as well but it still levels the playing field).</p>
<p>There are many things I dislike or think could be better about the major: chem labs, the profs who cant seem to understand students, grad students in chemE (for some reason chemE grad students don't have any compassion for their students at all, this is was the worst overall TA group I've come across), the number of different classes at once.</p>
<p>The only thing I hate about the major: Arrogant nerds who I can't seem to understand or please. I'm sick of being told I'm a moron by people who I am just as smart or smarter than because I act/look dumber than them. I mean I knew there would be some but the staggering number of them in increasing amounts worries me. All of my friends are transferring to an easier orgo class (MCB 450 rather than Chem 436). When I look my classes around I dont see people I want to work with or call my colleagues. I go to the AIChE meetings, and everyone is either completely weird or as my friend "Grace" put it "such lamers" (that still makes me laugh). Does anyone else feel this way? Is there anyway to get around this?</p>