<p>Well it will depend on the school a little bit, but they should have it listed somewhere on each school’s website. I briefly searched ABET’s site to see what they wanted for accreditation but it was fairly vague and I don’t have time to keep searching in depth, but you may look around their site to learn a little about accreditation (abet.org).</p>
<p>To me it seems like its all Mechanical Engineers talking. I am doing Process Engineering which is almost the same as Chemical Engineering. I think that Chemical Engineering is harder; I can say this with confidents seeing some of our classes overlap with the mechanicals and my class does better in these classes and always has a higher average.</p>
<p>For the job side of it, it has shown that Chemical Engineers do have higher salaries. There is less Chemical Engineers out there then Mechanical which in my eyes means that it would be easier to get a job as a Chemical Engineer then a Mechanical.</p>
<p>The supply of chemical engineers is not the only factor that determines the salaries of chemical engineers. From what I understand, the salaries of chemical engineers are also greatly affected by the location where they would be employed (generally, low-population, somewhat remote areas), availability of positions, type of industry, etc.</p>
<p>If you check the BLS Occupational Handbook you will notice that the top paying industries for chemical engineers are 1) animal food manufacturing, 2) motor vehicle parts manufacturing, 3) scientific research and development services, 4) semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing, 5) federal executive branch.</p>
<p>For mechanical engineers the top paying industries are 1) oil and gas extraction, 2) computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing, 3) scientific research and development services, 4) federal executive branch, 5) spectator sports.</p>
<p>You will also notice that the salary difference between chemical engineers and mechanical engineers in their respective top paying industries is generally less than $6,000. I guess you’d have to pay people a bit more to work on animal food manufacturing but even then the difference is negligible.</p>
<p>Personally, I was leaning towards chemical engineering as my major but after doing more research I realized that I’d rather work on gas and steam turbines than on mixing chemicals in a huge cauldron. To each its own, no?</p>
<p>Yeah that is odd that the BLS OOH didn’t mention oil and gas for ChemE’s, seeing as how I know plenty who went into that industry. A ton of them do…</p>
<p>Technically, yes. Petroleum engineers are specialized chemical engineers. If one does not mind this specialization, then by all means one should pursue it.</p>
<p>The BLS OOH lists them as Petroleum Engineers as opposed to Chemical Engineers.</p>
<p>from what I understand Chem E’s are not Petroleum engineers (petrol is upsteam, more of an ME thing) and Chem E’s work in refinement downstream as, well, chem E’s…just syntax though</p>
<p>Petroleum Engineering is an entirely separate listing on the BLS OOH made specifically for Petroleum Engineers and people in positions traditionally held by Petroleum Engineers. That doesn’t account for all the jobs being held by Chemical Engineers in positions not traditionally held by Petroleum Engineers. Sure, if a ChemE is out doing field work, then their salary is probably rolled up into the PetroE portion of the site. That would make sense. It doesn’t make sense that the rest of the ChemE’s in the oil and gas industry in places such as refineries are not even mentioned.</p>
<p>First, circuits are part of EE primarily, and their role in ME disciplines is fairly superficial. You don’t usually have to design a circuit but you do have to occasionally know how some electrical components go together, particularly if you are researching.</p>
<p>Second, machine design is a tiny fraction of what ME encompasses. There are 3 main branches: dynamics and controls, materials and structures, and thermal fluid sciences. Machine design is kind of a cross between mainly D&C and Materials. However, there are tons of opportunities in each of those main areas, plus many different hybrid fields. Name an industry that produces something and you can basically be a mechanical engineer somewhere in that industry. I was a thermal fluid sciences guy. I was all about fluid mechanics and heat transfer when I was doing my ME undergrad. I couldn’t have cared less about machine design, and I had job offers to work places like General Dynamics designing fluid systems on nuclear submarines/aircraft carriers, but I ended up going to graduate school for aerospace engineering instead.</p>
<p>Too many people on here like to spew nonsense about how a ME’s career prospects are tied to the auto industry and all they will do with their degree is design car parts. That simply isn’t true; it isn’t even close to true. ME’s are spread out across nearly every industry in many different parts of each industry doing all sorts of jobs, ranging from the mundane and downright boring all the way to some of the most exciting jobs out there.</p>
<p>I think that chemistry and chemical engineering are distinctly different skills. I’ve heard people who say that they hate general chemistry but do well with chemical engineering. It might be analogous to physics and mechanical engineering. They have a similar subject but different approaches.</p>
<p>As a ChemE, I would say that our job opportunities are not necessarily better than ME. ChemE is not really more broad than ME. I think the “broad” word is thrown around for every engineering degree. The salary difference is insubstantial. The difficulty difference is insubstantial.
I am sure finding jobs with either degree is not hard. However, many ChemE’s do not become process engineers after graduation. And don’t count on working in a specific industry, like pharmaceuticals, unless you get a graduate degree in that field. Out of school you will probably take whatever is available. You will be working on the production and process engineering of the industry, not the interesting parts.</p>
<p>ChemE is NOT chemistry. “Chemical engineering” is a gross misnomer. It is actually process engineering.</p>
<p>Personally, I wish I had been a software engineering major. So look at all kinds of majors as a freshman, even the ones you might ignore.</p>