I am a senior in high school, and when I applied for colleges I put my major as a Chemical engineering. However, recently I have thought about if I should aim high and try to go to med school after undergrad. However, I know that chemical engineering is very difficult and a respectable GPA for engineering students is nowhere near competitive for medical school. Therefore, as I enter college, should I switch into chemistry?
I know taking premed courses will still be difficult but I see everywhere on here that chemical engineer is extremely difficult and is not something that can be thought of as just a backup because the major is so hard. My main dilemma is that I am only 17 and I actually do not know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I do not know if I can commit to the schooling and training needed to become a doctor but I am not sure that I would enjoy chemical engineering. I actually do enjoy chemistry but all I have experienced is AP Chem from high school and that is not enough to decide my whole future. I only know that I am miserable in English and history classes. What exactly do i do?
Every pre-med needs a back-up plan because your odds of actually getting accepted to med school are low. (75% of freshmen pre-meds end up never applying to med school and 60% of those who do apply don’t get accepted.)
ChemE is a difficult major to maintain a strong GPA in, but it’s not impossible. Still it’s wise of you to think about your major.
How are your math skills? Engineering is very math-intensive.
You don’t have to declare your major as a freshman. Most colleges make students wait until midway through sophomore year to officially enroll in a major.
Maybe take gen chem, calc 1, an intro to engineering class plus a gen ed like sociology or psych or writing for your first semester and see how it goes. If you don’t like (or don’t do well in) intro to engineering, you can pursue some other major. Also if you don’t do well grade-wise your first semester, you still have plenty of time to redeem your GPA.
The big issue is that engineering has a very lockstep curriculum. If you don’t start out in engineering it will be quite difficult to switch into later.
I would not recommend bio as a pre-med major. Job prospects for bio majors are not strong. Maybe chemistry, data science, applied math, public health?
@WayOutWestMom
So I already know my strengths lie in math and sciences. That is for sure. I have taken Calculus 1&2 (or like AB&BC because I am still in high school) and AP Chem and I felt very comfortable in those classes. They were extremely difficult but I did feel comfortable in those classes compared to any English or History class I’ve ever taken. I also have taken a general psychology and developmental psychology at a local community college, and I still feel that I was less miserable doing calculus homework. However, the only thing that is really holding me back from diving into engineering is that I also took physics at my local community college too and I really struggled. I am not sure why but physics was so difficult to comprehend compared to my chemistry and calc classes. I did get an A in the physics class, so I know I can master the material but the concepts were so difficult for me to understand, so I am scared of the subject.
I am sorry as I probably should have given more context in my original post, but with my strengths in just chemistry and calculus, should I still aim to pursue chemical engineering? I know chemistry does involve physics at the molecular level but in purely physics concepts, I cannot seem to understand.
Let me pass on the wisdom that my husband gave to my daughters. He was a PhD physicist with a significant research career. He told them physics is hard for everyone. It takes much effort and practice to do well in it because many ideas are non-intuitive. He also told them that physics is a very powerful tool because it allows you to understand how the universe works.
In many ways, engineering is applied physics; however, engineering is more interested in using the concepts in real life situations than really digging down & understanding the concepts themselves. I don’t know if that’s helpful or not.
I’m not sure what to tell because I don’t entirely understand what you mean by not understanding “concepts” in physics. What concepts gave you difficulty? Classical mechanics? Fluids & fluid dynamics? Electricity & circuits? Electromagnetism? Thermodynamics? Optics & lenses? Waves & oscillations? Kinetics/dynamics? Atomic theory & quantum mechanics? As a ChemE, you will be using classical mechanics, dynamics/kinetics, E&M, thermo, fluid dynamics, waves, and circuits constantly. Optics, radioactivity, quantum mechanics–not so much.
If you are truly worried about the amount of physics in ChemE, then don’t be an engineer. Choose another major that doesn’t require physics. Data science. Applied mathematics. Biostatistics. All of these are more math oriented and all have very good employment prospects.
Okay thank you! I think I am juts intimidated by physics because of how difficult I found it compared to other subjects. I think I will probably take physics again when I am a truly a college student and if I still struggle, I will switch my major.
Thank you so much for your wisdom!