<p>I'm a college freshmen right now. I want to start early with planning my career path. My current major is chemical engineering (probably doubling up in math too). </p>
<p>My idea right now is that if I go to grad school, I might as well suck it up and get a PhD. otherwise it isn't worth the money and the time that I can spend working in industry with a Bachelors. Backing it up, I would need to be very specific with my focus of study and I also have to be very interested in that focus in order to have a fighting chance at admission. I also need to ace the GRE in order to get FA offers, and I'm very poor... The list goes on and on and all these factors are all scrambled up in my head.</p>
<p>all I know is that I want to end up with a job that engages my brain. I have no idea what kind of jobs are out there and which ones would be available to me when I graduate college vs when I get my PhD.</p>
<p>So I would just like some long answers (longer the better) to give me a better perspective on things.</p>
<p>While I am not familiar with ChemE (I am an EE), most large companies pursue major research, which they place in the hands of PhD’s. University research is generally more foundational - proving some basic concept, for example - while corporate research is either oriented towards producing a product or advancing some foundational concept towards long-term product development. In my limited experience, this research is both challenging and highly enjoyable - much better than just churning out another design essentially the same as the last seventeen. In most cases, these engineers get to set the developmental directions for the company.</p>
<p>An additional area for PhD’s is consulting - industry, government, and universities all hire PhD’s to provide reviews or advice, either temporarily or full-time. Many PhD’s are also employed by companies to serve as technical “spokespeople”, presenting the company’s work to investors or potential customers, especially in government work - a PhD carries a lot of credibility.</p>
<p>I think it might be a year or two too early for you to start freaking out about grad school. Just keep a solid GPA like you would if you wanted to get a good job in industry and worry about it later.</p>
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<p>Not true at all. For engineering all they care is you well enough at math and can speak English. I have friends that got into top-10 programs while scoring below a 500 on the verbal section.</p>
<p>You need to get involved in research at your university. Before you can seriously consider grad school you have to know if research is right for you, and you will need research experience to get into a top grad school.</p>
<p>I’m looking for a job as a lab assistant. If I manage to get involved with research in my school years, and then maybe get some internships over the summer, I think I should be fine in that area.</p>
<p>As for GRE, I wasn’t talking about admission. A lot of grad school scholarships are based on GRE scores ( I heard ).</p>
<p>None that I remember applying for. They’re just listed as another factor along with research, statement of purpose, recommendations, and your transcript.</p>
<h2>I Am foreign. Besides US chicks are the hot ones, but also the ‘less smarter’ ones (generally), so they won’t be sticking around for grad school.</h2>
<p>Two more things:</p>
<p>My GPA is kind of in the toilet right now. I’m only in my first semester of college, but I took college courses in high school. There was a dip in my motivation. Basically, all went to hell. Bottomline, is it OK to have crappy freshmen grades, but relatively unblemished grades from there on? Keep in mind that I’m at ISU, where the average ACT is like 23-27.</p>
<p>Also, I’m seeing that you need some publications to get into top schools. Can someone give me a header on what some of these publications may be? </p>
<p>I know it’s early for me to think about this, but I made some major mistakes when I applied to college. I’m not making the same mistakes.
btw. I’m looking at more prestigious grad schools.</p>
<p>It’s great that you’re thinking about grad school already. IMO, freshman year is the ideal time to consider grad school because there’s a lot of work that you’ll have to do to demonstrate your preparedness for graduate study. It will really behoove you to start that now. If you do, your profile should look amazing by the time you’re applying.</p>
<p>Your GPA is OK. Grad programs are very forgiving of bad GPAs as long as you show an upward trend. It’s so early for you that I wouldn’t look backwards and worry.</p>
<p>Another nice thing about grad schools is that they accept a lot of students from all over the place, not just top tier undergrads. The important thing is showing that you’re serious about research.</p>
<p>On that note, think about getting involved in undergraduate research now. Don’t be afraid of asking professors for research opportunities. From a PI’s perspective, you’re free labor. Yeah, you’re unskilled, but if they have someone train you as a freshman and you stick around for 3 years, that’s almost like having a free grad student!</p>
<p>You absolutely do not need publications to get into top schools. Getting a publication involves a lot of luck - you have to get in on the right project, your PI has to be either a big name or prodigious, etc. Getting first author? Even rarer. A Science paper? Yeah right. As long as you demonstrate that you’ve done research for a few years and you have something to show for it - a thesis, an abstract, a poster - you’ll be OK. Grad schools don’t really expect incoming students to be all published. That’s something you’re supposed to do in grad school! And even then, lots of grad students don’t even get 1st author publications. So to summarize, go do some research, make sure you’re recognized for it, but don’t think you have to be published for your experience to be considered.</p>
<p>If you mean ‘labor’ in a bad way, that’s not necessarily the case. In the beginning, maybe, but if you stick around you should find yourself involved in a good, challenging project that allows for much independent thought on your part.</p>
<p>To back up the OP, a lot of university fellowships are based almost entirely on gpa and gre. These fellowships are spread across departments, colleges, and even the university as a whole, and the numbers are often the only consistent way to differentiate between highly disparate students.</p>
<p>OP: focus on your grades and research, try to develop a few long-term research/educational relationships with professors, and read a lot - not just in your field but quality literature as well (great gre prep). Wory about gre-specific prep in your junior year.</p>
<p>It sounds like someone already hit the high points- get research experience, interact with professors, keep an open mind. Also, stop worrying about what you will do after undergrad, you started two and a half months ago. You don’t really even know your grades yet.</p>
<p>Oh, and provided you continue to think grad school is where you should go, make sure that you plan out how to get three excellent letters of recommendation. Don’t leave it until it’s too late and you don’t have enough time to get to know professors and work with them.</p>
<p>Money should not be a motivator for graduate school - especially for ChemE.</p>
<p>ACS publishes salary reports every year for graduates with BS/MS/PhD in chemistry related fields. The average salary for a first year worker with a BS in ChemE is somewhere in the range of $60K/year. Consider that a Chemistry BS will earn you only about $35K/year… and realize that ChemE definitely pays off.</p>
<p>Also, my father-in-law is a hiring manager in the chemical fields. He’s extremely turned-off by the attitude of new PhDs demanding salaries in excess of $100K/year. It seems that there is a serious disconnect between the what the market offers and what graduates think they deserve. </p>
<p>Realistically, one can lead a great life on $50K/year, assuming one isn’t driven by material goods.</p>
<p>Go to grad school for the knowledge… that’s all I’m saying. Money is a poor motivator.</p>
<p>A gross generalization which doesn’t hold up. It depends on where you live. In high cost cities, including but not limited to—NYC, LA, Washington, San Francisco, Boston, Honolulu—$50K won’t take you to anywhere near a “great life” even with modest material expectations.</p>
<p>Whereas in Moose Dropping, Oregon or Broken Condom, Arizona or Rebel Run, Mississippi, $50K will do well for you.</p>