How hard is Chemical Engineering?

The hardest thing about engineering is engineering.

GradEngineer wrote:

The hardest thing about engineering is engineering.

word.

Engineering is tough yo.

It is easier than figuring out how to get laid on a regular basis.

I'm studying chemical engineering as my major and just got done with my first year. Just make sure you don't mind taking a lot of science and math at the same time. It can get a little overwhelming, but like I always say, college is what you make it. So if you study hard and have somewhat of an interest in the material you're studying in class, you will be fine.

Well my research is mechanical engineering based but the work load for most engineers is the same within their respective fields.

Engineering is something easy...if your interested/ment to be an engineer!

I have no clue how history, english, arts, etc...do their thing because those qualitative subjects are HARD.

areusure? wrote:

Well my research is mechanical engineering based but the work load for most engineers is the same within their respective fields.

Engineering is something easy...if your interested/ment to be an engineer!

I have no clue how history, english, arts, etc...do their thing because those qualitative subjects are HARD.

bullshit, engineering is hard work. If you have the basic mathematical aptitude you can do it, but be prepared to work.

Eh, if you're somewhat smart you don't have to work THAT hard to be successful, at least in undergrad. I earned my BS from a top 10 ME school with a 3.6 and I rarely spent more than 25 hours a week total (lectures, homework, studying, everything). Granted, I tended to procrastinate and thus had a couple really heavy weeks a semester when projects and exams piled up, but most of the time it was pretty laid back. Now if the material doesn't come easily to you and you have to study 8 hours a day just to get it, then it can be tough.

As a chemistry major, I currently study about 1 or 2 hours a week (excluding lab reports). It's not that hard.

I can't imagine chemical engineering will be that much more difficult.

Whats the ranking of difficulty of these majors:

Engineeering ( non specified field)

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

Math (I know its vague)

Computer Science

questionerer wrote:

Whats the ranking of difficulty of these majors:

Engineeering ( non specified field)

Biology

Chemistry

Physics

Math (I know its vague)

Computer Science

My best guess would be the following:

Engineering

Physics

Chemistry

Math

Commputer Science

Biology

But, I have never even taken a computer science class, or a biology class though.

heytheredelilah wrote:

As a chemistry major, I currently study about 1 or 2 hours a week (excluding lab reports). It's not that hard.

I can't imagine chemical engineering will be that much more difficult.

There's a reason why B.S. chemistry majors start at $40K per year while B.S chemical engineers start at $65K per year. Chemical engineering is A LOT harder. Chemistry majors take 2, maybe three technical courses each semester. Chemical engineers take 4 or 5.

Undergraduate chemistry (excluding physical chemistry, which few undergrad chemistry majors take) is mostly memorization and learning a few trivial arithmetic problem solving algorithms. AP chemistry gives you a pretty good idea what undergraduate chemistry is like. Undergraduate chemistry doesn't prepare you for anything except graduate/ professional school or a career as a lab tech.

Undergraduate chemical engineering is about problem solving, critical thinking, and tough math. Chemical engineering is more similar to AP Physics C than AP Chemistry. Chemistry classes are a pretty minor part of the curriculum... the hard stuff is thermodynamics, kinetics, fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, control systems engineering, separation process engineering, and math through partial differential equations.

chemical engineering is hard...perhaps the hardest major out there. (yes, i'd agree it is way harder than chemistry)

as a matter of fact, majoring in any type of engineering (chemical, mechanical, civil, computer, etc.) is tough work. you NEED to be good at math. it is absolutely critical. your humanities friends will be out drinking and you'll be doing hw. don't worry, when they are working at taco bell post-graduation, you'll have the last laugh.

if you can handle engineering, it is worth the effort. you will develop skills that will last you a lifetime. engineers are the highest paid major straight out of undergrad (save for perhaps nursing) and well represented as leaders in society (fortune 500 CEOs for example). plus you'll be able to give back to society in a way that no lawyer or stock broker ever can. maybe i'm a little biased, but engineers make the world go round.

heytheredelilah wrote:

My best guess would be the following:

Engineering

Physics

Chemistry

Math

Commputer Science

Biology

But, I have never even taken a computer science class, or a biology class though.

Put Engineering below physics chemistry and math. As a math/physics double major, the hardest engineering classes were pretty easy for me, in comparison. And math is harder than chemistry for most people.

huffing hydrogen wrote:

heytheredelilah wrote:

As a chemistry major, I currently study about 1 or 2 hours a week (excluding lab reports). It's not that hard.

I can't imagine chemical engineering will be that much more difficult.

Undergraduate chemistry (excluding physical chemistry, which few undergrad chemistry majors take) is mostly memorization and learning a few trivial arithmetic problem solving algorithms. AP chemistry gives you a pretty good idea what undergraduate chemistry is like. Undergraduate chemistry doesn't prepare you for anything except graduate/ professional school or a career as a lab tech.

Why would few undergraduates take physical chemistry? If you're a chemistry major, I don't really see the sense in not taking it.

I know I have to take it, along with it's lab.

Let's put it this way, pre-med is a cake walk compared to chemical engineering. Or to put it another way - crazy effin hard

got hit by... wrote:

What is the hardest thing about Engineering in general. Is it the math, chemistry, or physics.

In general, engineering majors have to take more credits than other majors, and the curriculum is much less flexible and more technical. To meet accreditation requirements and to qualify for the EIT exam, engineering majors are required to take a broad range of core engineering courses that don't leave room for many electives. The core engineering courses are the ones that tend to give engineering majors the most difficulty, if only because they can be pretty challenging and most students wouldn't take them unless they had to, so they aren't so motivated to learn them. I'm thinking in particular of courses like Electromagnetic theory, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics.

The payoff is that engineering graduates are in much higher demand than graduates of almost any other program.

It all depends on what your skillset is.

I'm a ME, and while it was a LOT of work, it wasn't "hard" because I am naturally inclined towards math and logical problem solving. On the other hand, I struggle with classes that require "creativity." Additionally, even the workload could be a lot less than it was for me, if you're enrolled in a less rigorous program and you're more of a slacker (in other words, to do well you have to work hard, but plenty of people don't an still do fine after school).

I'd say that chem eng is probably one of the harder engineering fields, but they're all fairly similar (although civil engineering is a bit of the odd man out due to a reduced load of higher level math). Some of the pure sciences are probably "harder" conceptually due to more abstract concepts, but I think that the workload is similar, and again, it's a matter of inclination. Pure science folks are usually different types of people than engineering folks.

When people drop out of engineering, it is generally because of math.

Different people crap out in math at different levels. It is almost a genetic thing. In high school, there are some people who can't get geometry. Then there are some people who can't get trig or calc.

You already have 80% of the math you need for most undergrad engineering. You will also have to be able to solve PDE's/do some linear algebra, but chances are you'll be able to do it.

areusure? wrote:

Well my research is mechanical engineering based but the work load for most engineers is the same within their respective fields.

Engineering is something easy...if your interested/ment to be an engineer!

I have no clue how history, english, arts, etc...do their thing because those qualitative subjects are HARD.

I knew some ME, and I knew some aerospace engineers, and their workloads did not seem similar.