<p>So I was accepted into the college of chemistry as a chemistry major for fall 2011. How difficult would it be to switch to chemical engineering? Would the courses I would take during freshman year be similar to that of a chemical engineer's?</p>
<p>Very, very easy to switch. You probably have to fill out a form or something, but it’s really just procedural.</p>
<p>ChemEs and Chem majors take the same classes in freshman year. It only starts to branch out in sophomore fall when ChemEs take ChemE 140.</p>
<p>Ok thats good news. Would you go to UCLA for chemical engineering or Berkeley for chemistry?</p>
<p>Berkeley all the way. No question.</p>
<p>Chemistry and chemical engineering have really different career paths after college… Chemistry majors may have to go through graduate school and get various degrees before they can work in good research positions. Chemical engineers can go out and work as, well, engineers for petroleum companies and what-not after college.</p>
<p>I’m leaning towards Berkeley, its just that all the grade deflation talk worried me a little bit. Ultimately, I plan to go into chemical engineering so the fact that switching majors is so easy puts Berkeley ahead of LA even more. I guess we’ll see after Cal day.</p>
<p>I believe the reason it’s easy to switch is because chemical engineering is in the college of chemistry not the college of engineering. Berkeley is at the top of the field in all things chemistry and if you are considering this area of study, Cal is a perfect fit. Don’t let the grade stuff scare you off. My son is a freshman in the college of engineering right now and he is doing just fine. He has to work hard to get good grades (procrastination isn’t okay at Cal) but he he is getting good grades. It can be done! :-)</p>
<p>momfirst3, was your son ever a procrastinator in HS? I’m asking because my HS senior son is somewhat of a procrastinator and he was accepted to Cal for MechE. I’ll feel a lot better if you tell me your S is a reformed procrastinator, now that he is at Cal.</p>
<p>^^^^ hahahaha… Yes, he is a reformed procrastinator. In high school, he had a 4.73 GPA (4.0 UW) with his procrastinating! He drove me nuts, but I just stayed out of it. All it took was one semester at Cal and his first and only B due to procrastinating and not working as hard as he should have (his words), to reform him. He is working his tail off right now and has all A’s. He was accepted to Undeclared Engineering but has since decided on EECS. He’s got a tough schedule. Don’t worry. Your son will reform in no time. Hang in there. :-)</p>
<p>Switching to Chemistry to Chemical Engineering is so easy since both of them are under College of Chemistry. I would be more concerned if he wants to continue chemistry in general after taking Chem 4A and Chem C96.</p>
<p>I’m not too familiar with course names. Care to elaborate UpMagic?</p>
<p>^ 4A is the first semester general/analytical chemistry course, C96 is the “intro to research in the CoC” course. 4A is a challenging “weeder” course, lets’ just put it that way…</p>
<p>So I went to Cal Day and I’m not really sure what to think. The campus was great, but the professor at the college of chemistry said that the chemistry programs at UCLA and UCSD are no different than the one at Berkeley. He said “There is nothing that you can accomplish here that you can not accomplish at UCLA or UCSD, and vice versa.” Can anyone provide insight?</p>