Chemical vs Civil engineering?

I do civil engineering, therefore it's better

I don't know anything about salaries or job prospects but if you want to know about the course feel free to ask, I've done it at 2 different unis so have a decent perspective on it

Oh hey sorry I didn't reply earlier (just didn't see your message) but could you tell me what your course involves? Like a sort of day in life of a civil engineering student?

Typical modules in first year will be:

Maths
Mechanics
Structural Mechanics
Fluid Mechanics
Soil mechanics/geology
Group design projects
General engineering class (essays, presentations)

So maths will be a-level type stuff, progressing on a little bit from that. Mechanics will be stuff like kinematics, stresses, strains, projectiles etc (I think mechanics is part of maths in England anyway at a-level? same stuff there again)

Then structural mechanics is about beams and trusses. Calculating reaction forces, how much the shear force is and how much the beam/truss bends and where. Also tensile and compressive strength

Fluid mechanics is all to do with fluids obviously. So how pressure varies with depth, calculating forces on an object within a fluid, buoyancy, curved surfaces, viscosity, rate of flow etc

Soil mechanics/geology: learning about rocks and soil. Know what you're building on. Different types of rocks, features/properties/strengths. Then soil mechanics is how strong a bulk of soil is, void ratios, density, compressibility...

There's usually some kind of group project throughout the year. At my first uni we had to create a masterplan of a park. Had to work out what you were putting in it, how much it costed, materials etc. We also had to design a bridge, what type it was, the design of it, materials and then do the calculations for it. Then did building an actual model, made out of wood, paper, card etc and the group who managed to hold 30kg with the least amount of cost won (we came 2nd ). Stuff like that

Then the general subject, you'll get stuff like essay writing, group presentations etc. We had to do a 5000 word essay about a Civ Eng project for example.

Then depending on the uni you may also get modules such as environmental engineering, materials (definitely at some stage), transport etc.

Basically, it's 90% maths, that will be the same as chemical though. You'll also have field trips. Probably a geology type one going out to examine rocks. We also did a mapping one, where you use total stations (electronic device) to accurately map out a site.

Oh wow thank yout so much for suck a thorough response. And I do edexcel maths and I chose the stats option (yeah stupid I know especially cos I'm also doing physics and mechanics would be helpful and interlink with both subjects) so I didn't do and won't do mechanics.

For the first year that seems to be a lot of work but I guess that's uni and every course is like that right?
And we'll done on getting second place in the bridge!

Do you like your course and roughly how many lessons you have at uni? (cos I won't be living at uni and will have to plan some kind of transport)

Again thank you very much (:

You're welcome Don't worry about not doing mechanics, that was just to give you an idea of what it was.

And the modules were a combo of both unis but the ones I listed first will defo be there.

It'll be same workload as everywhere else, probably in uni for 4 hours a day max (excluding breaks in between) and then probably a day or two with only 2 hours or something. I'm enjoying it personally but it is a lot of maths! A little design work too though

Oh great and you must feel relieved and relaxed on days with about 2 hours of work

Also about the design but do stickmen count? 😂😭

Well you might have 2 one hour lectures at some point in the day. Most days will be 4-6 hours though.

And lol, usually more practical stuff like model building so should be fine

Genuinely, I applied to do Chemical Engineering without having a clue what the course entails but I have thoroughly enjoyed the course.

The great thing about Chemical Engineering is that its more diverse than just designing bits and bots like in mechanical Engineering. You take modules in environmental engineering, economics, marketing, project management and all sorts. In my opinion its much more well rounded then the other engineering disciplines.

The course maths concepts are much simpler than the other engineering disciplines. I've seen the maths for Electrical and Mechanical which are complex as ***. Ours is simple, just plugging numbers into equations, mass + energy balances and a few differential equations here and there. More common sense stuff than anything. However the work load is crazy. Makes up for the difficulty.

Barely any organic chemistry. We had one foundation first year module in organic chemistry which was utterly pointless as we have never used any of it again. The kind of chemistry we use is all based around stuff like Hess' law, equilibrium constants, rate of reaction, molar balances that kind of stuff. We don't really care whats going on with electrons bud.

Most of the modules are mandatory. Personally I would pick physics as there are more physics concepts than biology ones. Although there was quite a lot of stuff in second year on bacteria kinetics. I didn't study Biology but had no problems as it was pretty basic. The Physics was pretty basic also tbf.

I do civil engineering, therefore it's better

I don't know anything about salaries or job prospects but if you want to know about the course feel free to ask, I've done it at 2 different unis so have a decent perspective on it

Hello again,
I was just wondering if you had any work experience or read any books that helped you to get offered a place.

Also do you think that masters is worth it over BEng with industrial study?

Hello, I'm a third year chemical engineer and I'd say if you wanted to go into industry, I would deffo do a masters. The quickest and most viable way of becoming a charted engineer is through completing a masters (a charted engineer in the same position as a normal engineer earns an average of 10K more a year).

My course is actually a 5 year course so is an MEng with an industrial study so maybe you should look into that.

Also, don't worry about podcasts and books and stuff, as long as your a problem solver who's passionate about engineering youll be fine!