I am currently switching back and forth between several majors. I am very interested in the sciences and have all A’s in my high school courses so far. I especially have liked my Acc. Chemistry class (even though it was a little challenging) and the portion of Biology dealing with cells and how they interact/their structure. I prefer to have a job that positively impacts the environment (this isn’t required for me, though). I have been thinking of jobs like hydrology, environmental engineering, chemical engineering, and biochemistry, but I can’t choose one for sure. Am I missing a potential job? Please recommend a major based on this info…
You’re still a high school student? I wouldn’t stress out about it too much at this point. You’ll have a lot of opportunities to explore once you get to college, and it is usually quite easy to switch between different science majors early on. (They usually have most of the same intro classes.)
Additionally I have all A’s in my high school math courses, like to research/experiment, and want a major that will be able to land me a job right out of college.
If you want a career with no graduate school, your best bet is probably an engineering field. Chemical engineering might be a good choice. Battery technology is really a strong field right now, for example, and chemical engineering is an ideal field for getting into R&D in that area.
I wouldn’t mind graduate school if it would provide me with an advantage. I am going to be a senior in high school. Thank you!
I was researching a little more into chemical engineering and I have found some people saying that a major dealing with chemistry isnt worth it because people simply cant find jobs. Is this true?
The job outlook for chemists and chemical engineers is not particularly good according the Bureau of Labor Statistics (job growth about half that of the average for all occupations).
Am I right to say that environmental engineering is a hybrid of both chemical and civil engineering? I have read that this will be a job in demand for the next decade…is this true too? It seems to make sense with all of the recent environmental awareness.
I find a couple of University of California campuses treating environmental engineering as a specialty within civil engineering, kind of civil engineering with environmental consciousness. And a few environmental engineering jobs I looked at on Indeed.com (which is advertising more jobs for “environmental engineering” than for “civil engineering” or "chemical engineering) showed close association with civil engineering, a little with geology, but none with chemical engineering.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects civil engineering as the engineering field to have the most openings during 2012-2022. The BLS treats environmental engineering as a separate field, much smaller than civil engineering, with somewhat smaller, but still definitely above average, job growth expected.