/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.7239070]

So I'm going to university next year, and for the life of me, I can't decide between pure chemistry or chemical engineering. I'm fairly certain I'd be capable at both courses.

I'm interested in studying pure chemistry, I find it to be a very interesting subject, yet I'm worried about it's prospects. While I do like chemistry a great deal, I don't want to end up in academia.

Having said that, I feel that I'm only considering studying chemical engineering as a result of the good career prospects, rather than the interest/passion. I am interested in it, yes, but I'm more interested in chemistry, than the engineering/mathematics side to the course.

Could anyone give me some advice? Uni websites are shit, I think it'd be more beneficial to get feedback from people studying the actual courses.

And yeah, I do realise I've probably just opened up a huge can of worms.

[Anonymous No.7239086]

neither

do neurology and be happier with your life. it's what you actually want to study

signed,
a chemical engineer washout

[Anonymous No.7239090]

>>7239070
From your post you should definitely, 100% do Chemistry. Honestly from what you've told us you shouldn't think twice about it.

The job prospects in chemistry aren't bad, just know that you will have to do a PhD, but you should think of it as part of the natural career progression of a Chemist. It does not mean you will "end up in academia" it's just a requisite to getting a job as a researcher in industry and national R&D labs (the job market for actual chemistry researchers is great, it's for people with only a B.Sc. where it's harder). Alternatively you could do a Masters and make a fair salary doing analytical chemistry. The point is there are a lot of job prospects. Even with a bachelors you can get industry jobs in QC though I would NOT recommend it.

>And yeah, I do realise I've probably just opened up a huge can of worms.
I'm a chemical engineer, though there is inevitably going to be some undergrad autists, when there's no trolling and major shilling politics the truth comes out that your undergrad degree is less important to your career than you think. Don't worry too much about it, it's easy to change programmes if you change your mind after some experience.

[Anonymous No.7239092]

OP do you like physics a lot? Because ChemE is a lot of both physics and chemistry. Also go with ChemE you take all the courses pure chem does. When you get into uni you can also try get into research at a chem lab if you like pure chem that much. Also what uni are you going to also gl on AP exams if you have those? Imma second year ChemE major if that helps

[Anonymous No.7239105]

>>7239090 Here

>>7239092
Right on queue.

And no we don't >everything< chem does, maybe the first two years at most and none of the specialized senior electives, he shouldn't do a shitton of other courses he has no interest in. BSc degrees have a lot more open electives and freedom than engineering which means he can pursue his interests easier. You'll see how shitty your 3rd year gets when there's less pure science courses and more econ, business, management and enviro/patent law bullshit.

If you want to be a chemistry researcher you shouldn't waste your time on a cheme degree.

[Anonymous No.7239107]

>>7239086

Fuck that

>>7239090

Thanks for the advice man.

One thing that had me worried was that when I sat in on a talk on ChemE. I was talking to a masters student in chemistry. He was telling me that after all his work, he planned on switching over to engineering due to lack of jobs. Maybe he was just shit, I dunno, but he was willing to do a 4 year bachelor for it.

>>7239092

I study physics at the moment as well, yeah. It's interesting, I'll admit, especially the particle physics. I'm pretty good at mechanics too, which has got me interested in the process side of ChemE.

Any chance you could show me some of the typical problems/topics you do?

[Anonymous No.7239121]

>>7239107
>Maybe he was just shit
He was. There's a shitton of jobs for chemists, he was probably an under performer, I doubt he'll get a job in engineering either (yes; the job market isn't perfect). I work with both PhD and masters chemists all the time and I've never heard them complain about salary or lack of employment prospects. In general the complaint seems to come from crappy entitled students without a PhD, especially bachelor level.

>typical problems/topics
This isn't high-school, typical problems are 100+ page design briefs or a research topic problems that would take me years to explain to you. Real life work doesn't consist of textbook problems.

[Anonymous No.7239162]

>>7239070
ChemE is practically a super set of a Chem major with a MechE minor. Take Inorganic Chem + Analytic Chem and you have a double major.

[Anonymous No.7239166]

>>7239070
Your degree has less of a bearing on your future career than your interests. Study chemistry, and decide what you want to do later on.

[Anonymous No.7240648]

>>7239107
I just finished a class on transport phenomenon( some of the ChemE classes might have crazy names) a typical problem would be consider fluid between two flat plates with a pressure difference of P between both ends of the plates at time t=0 the lower plate starts moving with a velocity V. Now calculate the velocity of the fluid between the plates as a function of time and position. If you actually want to try solve this problem on your own u'll need to know a little bit about tensors and separable partial differential equations. If you want I can give you a simpler problem that you might be able to solve( I don't really know what classes you've had like if you've had physics with calculus or just an algebra based physics course)

[Anonymous No.7240667]

OP if you're interested in actual chemistry then do pure chem. ChemE is barely chemistry from what I've seen.

>chem eng friends can't even into NMR
>they will never know the joy of spotting your reaction on TLC and getting perfect purity, then getting 95% yield

[Anonymous No.7240688]

I was in the same boat as you OP. I went with pure chemistry. Haven't regretted it once.

[Anonymous No.7241194]

Biochem Eng.

Yea or nay?

[Anonymous No.7243028]

>studying chemistry

mathfag here, work on wall street as analyst when im not studying math.

chemfags are shit tier

[Anonymous No.7243045]

>>7243028
>work on wall street as analyst when im not studying math

Translation: I'm playing video games when im not studying pre calc in highschool

[Anonymous No.7243047]

>>7243045
observe the aspies who are learning a field that is constantly having its main fundamentals challenged and 0 job prospects

[Anonymous No.7243060]

>>7243047
who are you talking about? please be clearer

[Anonymous No.7243262]

>>7239121
>typical problems are 100+ page design briefs or a research topic problems that would take me years to explain to you
this is bullshit

confirmed for never having worked in the field

[Anonymous No.7244895]

>>7239070
Chem Eng here with decades of work experience. It was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades degree when I did it - elements of math, chemistry, physics, Elec Eng, Mech. Eng, Structural Eng, Civil Eng, Comp Sci, Economics, Industrial Law together with the core Reaction Engineering subject that addresses the practicalities of taking a test-tube reaction and building a plant to make 1000 tonnes/day of product. Back then employers liked it because a Chem Eng graduate was equipped to have a good try at just about any task. I have, for example, done process design for offshore oil rigs, run a drill crew extracting methane in a coal mine, designed a Rapid Intervention fire vehicle for the RAF, done conceptual design for a custom RISC processor and later the software for it, written Discounted Cash Flow financial analysis software before spreadsheets became de rigeur, and on and on . . .

You can probably still have an interesting and varied career with a Chem Eng qualification.

[Anonymous No.7244908]

If you like chemistry, pure chem degree. If you want to make money and industrial procedes engineering, choose engineering.

-My dad (a chem engineer)

[Anonymous No.7244925]

>>7239070
go for the engineering

academia sucks

you can study chemistry in your spare time if you are interested in it