Not sure on what to do in university

I've heard that a lot of universities really like you to have history if you're applying for law, so keeping history would be really good for that. I could be wrong but I don't think I've ever seen a university that specifically asks for (or demands) law at A level. Like I said, I could be wrong because I'm looking to study psychology

If you did go and apply to law I'd recommend dropping further maths, or German.

Posted from TSR Mobile

There is loads more to Chem Eng than just the oil industry.
You have the food industry, clean water, green energy, pharmaceuticals... Loads of things

I should warn you though that there isn't much chemistry involved... It's more like the maths that you use in chemistry.
Like ballencing equations on a massive scale...

The input, the output, the energy needed for the reaction to occur and pump it around your plant, how much stuff is going to accumulate in the reactor, the fricton in the pipes and how much the temperature will drop while stuff is in the pipes, what temperature should the cooling system be to make sure the reactor doesn't explode...

It's all maths, bur based on a 'chemical' plant. And that 'chemical' could be anything.

Thank you for letting me know that chem eng is used in more places than the oil industry, because I had no knowledge of others that gave me reassurance. Yh I hate balancing equations lol I don't mind all the other maths in chemistry though. Would you also go into manufacturing of fragrances, fire works, medicines, cosmetics and new food&drinks.
Do you study chem eng? If you do is it hard? And would you say a chem eng degree is better than a pure chemistry degree.

Yeah you could go into industry's that make any of those things! Shampoo, chocolate, paint - chemical plants and chemical engineers are needed for all of those things

Yeah, I just finished first year of Chem Eng.

Maybe Google thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, mass ballence. If you want to look up what you actually have to do? But be warned, it all looks harder than it actually is They are the three main topics we have done in first year.

There is a lot of problem solving involved, which is difficult until you get used to it. You are given a situation and have to use your knowledge to figure it out in a group.

There are a lot of group projects! But unlike school, everyone wants to be on the course so actually does some degree of work sometimes not as much as you would like, but enough for everyone to pass with a decent grade

There are also a lot of presentations, which, if you wanted to do law, probably wouldn't worry you.

I find it much better than a pure chemistry degree. It's a lot more varied in terms of the teaching and much more social. There is also a lot less reading. Also the job prospects are better. It's one of the best courses in terms of getting job at the end

This is just from my own experience but my dad is a pharmacist (after not getting the grades for Medecine) and he really hates it. I don't know if it's just where I live (NI) but there's wayy too many pharmacists so you have to work really hard/ travel a lot to get work as a locum. And now my dad owns his own pharmacy and that's better as he's his own boss but is still incredibly boring. He's warned all of my sibling off it😁

Hello guys,

I am going into A2 now and I am still not sure on what to do in university. My ideal job would be something that is professional, sometimes office, some traveling and a good income. However I don't think my interests match this. I did Maths, chemistry, History, further maths and German for my AS's and I will most likely drop history. I wanted to do something more towards chemistry than maths. The closest I have gotten to is Chemical engineering. I have a huge interest in Law, however my English isn't the best and I don't think law can be done with my other options.
Here are some facts I have heard about particular degrees please let me know which ones are wrong if any.
pharmacy: boring job, not in demand, well paid
Pharmacology: don't know much but not in demand apparently
Biochemistry: not paid well, hard to find a job
Law: takes quite long, quite hard, well paid
Chemical engineering: oil industry going down

Thank you for your help and time

Hello guys,

I am going into A2 now and I am still not sure on what to do in university. My ideal job would be something that is professional, sometimes office, some traveling and a good income.

I'd say the closest thing to that is civil engineering. Definitely matches better than other things you listed. It can be office based. You can certainly travel depending on the company and your role. The income is good too.

Plus you can do it with your options. But of the things you listed, I'd say chemical engineering.

Whatever one of those degrees you do, do it at a high ranking university eg Durham, UCL, Kings, Oxbridge, Imperial because that's whats going to open the doors of employability for you

So how did you find the first year? Also I don't do physics would that be a disadvantage for me?

Yh not the biggest fan of presentations and group work but I'm quite good at it.

It's just weird that not many unis do it? Which uni do you go to?

I found first year great!
They understand that not everyone has done the same subjects so first Semester was like a crash course in maths, further maths, physics, bio and Chem. No one has done all those subjects at A level. I hadn't done further maths or bio, and my friend hadn't done physics- so we just helped each other out.

When you get a job it will involve working in a group, so uni just prepares you for it.

When I was looking at Unis around 23 places did the course? That's actually pretty average. Apart from pure courses like maths, chemistry, history, most courses only have around 20 Unis that offer them.
It's still a lot so I wouldn't worry about it limiting your choices.

I go to the university of sheffeild.

If you don't mind me asking, what grades are you predicted?

No of course not I dont mind, but I havent been predicted anything yet lol. However my AS grades which I just got are ABBBD if that's good enough lol. A in maths B in further, chem and german D in history

Hello guys,

I am going into A2 now and I am still not sure on what to do in university. My ideal job would be something that is professional, sometimes office, some traveling and a good income. However I don't think my interests match this. I did Maths, chemistry, History, further maths and German for my AS's and I will most likely drop history. I wanted to do something more towards chemistry than maths. The closest I have gotten to is Chemical engineering. I have a huge interest in Law, however my English isn't the best and I don't think law can be done with my other options.
Here are some facts I have heard about particular degrees please let me know which ones are wrong if any.
pharmacy: boring job, not in demand, well paid
Pharmacology: don't know much but not in demand apparently
Biochemistry: not paid well, hard to find a job
Law: takes quite long, quite hard, well paid
Chemical engineering: oil industry going down

Thank you for your help and time

Those are good grades and you should be able to get into a decent uni with them!
Here's a link for the Chem Eng league tables:
http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=chemical%20engineering
I looked up the different Unis thst did the course and what entry grades they offered. It's weird though because some of the Unis that are higher in the tables actually have lower entry requirements.
I ended up with a list of about 9 Unis that I thought I could get into/aim for and went to look round them all.

Thank you for that didnt know so many do it maybe I was comparing it to other engineering degrees e.g. electrical, mechanical and civil which are really popular.

Now I only have one problem which is I don't know if im really interested in it because I dont know what you learn I mean can you give me like an overview lol.

Sure
So what you actually learn is basic stuff.
Like if you know how much reactant went in to your process, and you now how much product came out, you can work out the rate of reaction. Also, if you know how much heat the reaction will produce, and you know the rate of reaction, then you can work out the rate at which your reactor is going to heat up.

Once you understand the basics they start turning it into problem solving...
For example you might be given information like how much product they want produced, the rate of reaction at a certain temperature, and the heat produced per reaction.
From that you would be expected to work backwards to work out how much reactant you would need. You are also expected to realise that if the reactor heats up then the rate of reaction will change (and that your reactor could explode)
so you would also need to work out how much your reactor is going to heat up by and add a cooling system (something like surround your reactor with cold water)


That's just one example though...
Another example would be a burner.
If you know what fuel and how much is in the burner you can work out how much oxygen is needed for complete combustion. Using what you know about the % of oxygen in the air you can work out how much air flow you need to go to the burner.


You also get questions about different pipes combining. For example you have the reactant stream, and a recycling stream flows into it. If the reactant stream contains 80% of X and 20% of Y, and the recycling stream contains 60% of X and 40% of Y, you would need to work out what % of X and Y the resulting stream would contain. Also if the streams were different temperatures you have to work out what temperature the resulting stream would be...


As you can see there are lots of different things to consider in a chemical plant!
Most of the ideas are pretty easy to understand. The difficult bit is working out what information/equation will help you solve the problem.

Thank you for that, hmm seems like a lot of physical chemistry. Does it involve making stuff? And do you think it helps you in every day living?