<p>I'm confused as to what a chemical engineer actually does. I've asked others about it and they tell me it's a very broad major that has a lot of different job possibilities. I'm an incoming senior and I'm still undecided as to what I want to major in. I'm interested in pharmacy but some people have suggested I major in chemical engineering and then go into pharmaceuticals. That way, I graduate faster and have more options if I can't land a job as a pharmacist. Besides pharmaceuticals, what other fields of work do chemical engineers normally pursue? I'm not interested in working with waste or anything similar to that.. So can anyone give me a description of what a chemical engineer typically does once he/she has graduated? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>You’ll probably get a better answer from someone who actually knows, but my impression is that most ChemEs work on chemical processes, like “I want to make XXX, how do I do it as cheaply as possible.” type of stuff. I knew a guy who got a degree in Pharmaceutical Engineering (Masters) after a bachelors in Biomedical, so maybe BME is the better field to go into for that. </p>
<p>But hopefully by the time someone knowledgeable comes by, you have clarified whether you meant Pharmaceutical Engineering or Pharmacy, which are two very different things.</p>
<p>Also, if I were an employer, I don’t know that I’d want to hire someone for their bachelors degree in X when they have an advanced degree in a completely different field Y. It seems to say that you were hoping to do Y and are falling back onto X.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response. Even though it wasn’t too specific, I have a better idea about chemical engineering. The reason I’m hesitant about pharmacy is due to the fact that it’s relatively job specific. I liked the idea of having a major where there’d be a wide variety of jobs available, and many people have told me that based on my interests that chemical engineering would be a good fit. However, I am not interested in working in the energy or oil industries and I have been told a lot of chemical engineers end up working in them. To clarify, I am aware of the differences between pharmacy and pharmaceuticals. I would be happy pursuing either of the two. The thing I want to know is what kind of jobs do most chemical engineers end up working after graduating. Also, I have considered Biomedical engineering but I’m still undecided.</p>
<p>Most ChemEs, upon graduating, end up in a manufacturing plant troubleshooting and optimizing the process and the facilities. The processes a ChemE works on are generally those that produce chemicals, liquids, and/or biopharmaceutical products. Though they can work on most any manufacturing process. Differenting a MechE who is a process engineer from a ChemE who is a process engineer comes from the fact that MechEs will focus on equipment design (what am I capable of doing) and ChemEs will focus on process design (what do I need to be doing).</p>
<p>Out of operations, or after graduation for some, ChemEs can move into Project Management (overseeing the construction of large process facilities) or into Project Design (P&ID and Equipment Specification generation). Though, there is some scale of these roles at the process engineering level.</p>
<p>Some ChemEs also persue research, or developing new processes, though many of these will have PhDs in a specific area of focus.</p>