<p>^^ Most chemical engineers do not become doctors, lol.</p>
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<p>Most pre-meds major in biology; some major in chemistry. Those majoring in chemical engineering may be those who would have majored in chemistry, but want a better fallback at the bachelor’s degree in case they do not get into medical school.</p>
<p>Some of the extra pay for petroleum engineers may be “hazard pay” for working in politically unstable countries, or countries that one does not want to relocate long term to. Plus, if you have to go into the field, it can be unpleasant going into messy oily tarry environments.</p>
<p>If you are concerned with getting a job after you graduate, go with Mechanical or Computer Science. Aerospace is a specialized field and I don’t see the job climate for it getting any better anytime soon. There are plenty of mechanical engineers working in the aerospace field so you shouldn’t feel that you specifically need to major in Aerospace in order to work in that field.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus- would that include the engineers who work offshore in the gulf and subsequently work a 3 weeks off, 3 weeks on cycle? (my knowledge of petro is very limited, but I’ve always understood the crappy work life to be the reason behind the inflated pay)</p>
<p>The implication of the 3 weeks off, 3 weeks on cycle is that the person does not want to relocate there to work, but goes there half time because it is needed for work (if someone actually wanted to relocate there, s/he would just relocate there and not do the 3 weeks off, 3 weeks on cycle). It would not be surprising if higher pay were needed to entice people to do that compared to a job in a location that they prefer to live in.</p>
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I wasn’t aware that it was a possibility to live full time on a barge. Strange.</p>
<p>Thought you meant commuting between the home country and the work country every three weeks, rather than to a barge or oil rig.</p>
<p>But either way, it does not seem to be attractive, so higher pay is likely needed to attract people to do the work.</p>
<p>For petroleum related jobs, the work life is not as hard as it is made out to be. My dad works in an oil company and as a part of his job, he has to move around from one country to another, approx. every 3 years. I stayed in Kuwait for 3 years and now I have been staying in Thailand for almost 4 years (1 year extension because i am about to graduate). Next posting is probably Indonesia.
But either way, the offshore-onshore duty is a misconception. It was prominent before but nowadays the engineers do not engage in offshore activities that commonly. Like last year, my dad went offshore twice for around 1 week each. So most of the time, it is just office duty.
The pay is quite high because working in foreign countries yields a 30% increase in salary and excludes taxes.
So I am just throwing it out there what petroleum jobs are somewhat like.
I would probably say computer science and electrical engineering are the best fields now because of the tech boom we see these days.</p>
<p>Guys, guys…future High School graduate here. Would you people say Eletrical Engineering is more fun than Mechanical? I heard a lot that an EE earns more than an ME…is this true? Or does it vary?</p>
<p>Check the BLS OOH. It’s free and authoritative.</p>
<p>chemical eng or computer eng</p>
<p>Why chemical engineering?</p>
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For some people, yes, for others no.</p>
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The average difference between them is pretty small, and is dominated by individual variations. Pick what you WANT to do.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say chemical engineering has the best future. I don’t think it’s has a horrible future, it’s just that it seems uncertain. A lot of traditional manufacturing industries are being outsourced, but a lot of ChemEs are set to retire in the next 20 years. Also, there are other growing industries like biotechnology that use chemical engineering principles in their manufacturing process. Notice how a lot of ChemE programs are turning into CBE programs.</p>