<p>im a jr in hs, graduating early, and taking regular classes. no AP classes. Just a typical student. am i gonna suceed as a chemical eng. or not? Im stressing over it really..</p>
<p>chemical engineers have the highest average salary of any major when graduating. If you go to a decent engineering program and graduate with a decent GPA in chemical engineering, you'll do just fine.</p>
<p>There are many things to stress out about... something 4 years down the line is not one of them. Enjoy your time in high school as best you can, and take the attitude that things will work out somehow so the details aren't worth worrying about. Don't let other people define "success" for you.</p>
<p>then again i hear that AP classes help u in the chemical engineering processn and im not in any of them. I mean I have a 4.0 GPA, but none of the classes will help me in the engineer major. idk if i do have a chance and pass</p>
<p>you will just start with the basics in college and will take longer than kids with ap credits. Don't let that discourage you if it is what you want to do.</p>
<p>If only they had a class called AP Spelling.</p>
<p>come on we all know at least 50% of engineers would fail that ;P myself included thank god for Firefox 2 Beta's built-in spell check :)</p>
<p>Fuchsia, soliloquy, and pigeon:
The three words that blew the school spelling bee for me. (PIGEON! I couldn't freaking believe it)</p>
<p>Anyhow, juliaa, don't worry about not having a solid basis for your chemical engineering career yet... That's why you go to college, and you won't be behind. Others may be ahead, but you won't be behind.</p>
<p>Any particular reason you're skipping senior year...? That was the best year of high school, for me... Life's too short not to go to prom and get all the great senior privileges.</p>
<p>yea. dont worry bout other people being ahead. and ur definately not behind. ur just gonna start from the basics and work ur way up.</p>
<p>me for isntance, im going into engineering. and ive never taken calculus at all in high school. im just gonna take it at the university. ull be fine dont worry bout anything. dont think that u cant become a chemical engineer, or that others will be a better one than u. its nonsence</p>
<p>i guess the people i hang with are in college, and i don't have interest in high school anymore. Just wanna get out of there. Well theres prom in Jr. yr for me Lol. I hear that chemical enginneering has a lot competition because everyone is majoring it, thats why i'm worried if i wont succeed or not</p>
<p>Well... not <em>everyone</em> is majoring in it. ;) It's a good major, though. If you're worried about it being really competitive, talk to some ChemEng students at each of the schools that you visit and see which of the programs are more laid-back. Just because a program's good doesn't mean it has to be cut-throat, and if you've got a good group of friends in your major that you can form a study group with, your undergrad years will be a lot smoother. </p>
<p>That's what we did in our civil engineering program at Rice: there were twelve of us our year, and we studied together all the time. Nobody got weeded out, and we all pulled ourselves through. We succeeded together. </p>
<p>Lots of folks at Rice in other majors did the same thing, and there are plenty of other schools out there like Rice. Just consider whether finding a program like that's a priority for you, and then keep your eyes open and ask questions during college visits.</p>
<p>Good luck! Don't worry! You'll do fine. =)</p>
<p>I graduated several years ago in chemical engineering from a top Canadian school. I was never able to find proper work related to that degree. I was told by the profs as a freshman (and in their literature) that obtaining a process engineering position with a major oil, paper, petrochem, pharma, fine chem (same song and dance as everyone knows) concern was all but assured and that chemical engineers have the highest starting salary. Well, it was not true for me. I spent several years working with a low paid consultancy (no field experience - just lots of endless pump and valve sizing calculations ) before getting out of engineering for good (best day of my life!). My career lasted a brilliant 4 years, as long my underscum degree. </p>
<p>The key to succeeding as a chemical engineer (as opposed to sales or management consultancy) I think is to get good field experience very early in one's career. This means graduating with top grades and getting a top choice of good process oriented jobs. I can see that these days working in Houston area is a good place to start one's career. </p>
<p>If you are going to take chemical engineering, I would think about co-majoring in civil or electrical as well to diversify career options.</p>
<p>Like most international students, I 've never quite understood how important AP exams actually are for top US universities. As you know, in most European countries (France, Germany, UK, etc.), the equivalent of "High School" has an additional year (13th grade) that routinely covers calculus (up to AP Calculus BC level) and physics with calculus (roughly up to AP Physics C level). Kids who want to get into any top engineering program (for example, Cambridge or Imperial College in the UK) are expected then to know those subjects at a level comparable to a grade 5 in the corresponding US AP exams. In the States though, college applications do not directly require AP's (only SAT II tests, which cover material at a much lower level, at least by European standards). However, from what I hear, it looks like a large number (if not the majority ?) of kids who get into Harvard, MIT or Caltech take AP exams (with grades 4 or 5) and generally skip first-year college calculus (differential and integral calculus for functions of one real variable + sequences, series, and improper integrals) to go straight into multivariable calculus or (advanced) differential equations. Others might choose instead to take real analysis in their freshman year (basically a theoretical version of Calculus I, focusing on proofs rather than actual computation of derivatives/integrals). How important are APs then in the overall application process ? Especially calculus for top engineering schools ?</p>
<p>Just gotta mention really quickly that toronto_guy, you're obviously Canadian... We've heard from several Canadians who've gone the chem eng route and have been sorely disappointed. Perhaps chemical engineering isn't a good field to pursue in Canada, but every chemical engineer I know here in the US makes more money than me with only a bachelors degree, and enjoys their job. I think there's a difference between the opportunities available in Canada and the ones available here, so to the OP: provided you're American and considering a career in the States, don't be particularly concerned about chemical engineering opportunities.</p>
<p>aibarr, I tend to think you are correct. </p>
<p>I read yesterday that Dow Chemical is closing 3 plants in Canada. 2 in Sarnia, Ontario and 1 in Alberta. Maybe they should invent the field of "Chemical De-Engineering" and a title of "Chemical Process De-Engineer". </p>
<p>I have spoken to my classmates over the years and many (like me) regret the decision to take Chem E. I know 2 or 3 that went right into Electrical. Others have done all kinds of things but relatively few have done anything in Chem E.</p>
<p>suppose: graduate 1 year early from high school, get into college and take 5 years to graduate. that way the courses are paced out more and more time can be spent on introductory and pre-requisite material.. And yet, not "behind" at all because of graduating at the same time as a 4 year high school/4 year college program would.</p>
<p>Just because you haven't taken ap courses doesn't mean it will take you 5 years to graduate, you're just not going to be able to graduate in 3 years like some kids with tons of ap's may be able to do. </p>
<p>Chemical engineers do typically have high salaries, but it's usually those who have advanced degrees, mostly PhD's.</p>
<p>o really? i thouhgt u dont need a phd</p>
<p>i think you mean masters degrees, usually in engineering the master's degree is the ticket to the $$$. Phd, it depends on the research and if there's corporate interest in it in order to warrant paying a phd to run a research lab</p>
<p>how many math years you need for chemical and what kind?</p>
<p>"aibarr, I tend to think you are correct. </p>
<p>I read yesterday that Dow Chemical is closing 3 plants in Canada. 2 in Sarnia, Ontario and 1 in Alberta. Maybe they should invent the field of "Chemical De-Engineering" and a title of "Chemical Process De-Engineer". </p>
<p>I have spoken to my classmates over the years and many (like me) regret the decision to take Chem E. I know 2 or 3 that went right into Electrical. Others have done all kinds of things but relatively few have done anything in Chem E."</p>
<p>its the opposite for Chem E here.
u should have moved to the US</p>