Maths In Engineering

I have had my heart set on chemical engineering for a year or so now and I am currently in year 12 doing triple science and maths.

Recently I have been thinking wether chemical engineering is for me or not.
Several reasons, firstly ive started to hate phyiscs AS due to my teachers and the content on the syllabus, I enjoy the design part of physics or the extensive problem solving, inlcuidng learing about nuclear plants and reneweable energy etc.

Also althought I have a natural amplitude for maths, I don't think I would like to do do extensive maths every day whilst at uni, I would much rather prefer to do other stuff.

The reason I originally watned to do engineering is because I want to have a new challenege everyday, not a normal office job or university career.

Career wise, anything that keeps my motivated and keeps me interested is a must, and it should have a reasonable pay, althought that is one of my least worries.

So the main questions is , how extensive is the maths at uni in engineering courses, and are they any engineering you reckon I would prefer.

I originally wanted to do chemical engineering due to my love of chemistry, I could do chemistry every day, however I don't want to do a chemistry degree as I see it limited career wise.

The degree contains a few "pure" maths modules, i.e. modules that solely teach maths (as opposed to what mathematicians would describe as pure maths), and these mainly focus on calculus, trigonometry, vectors, complex numbers. So the maths isn't that bad nor is it as extensive as some people tend to think.

Chemical engineering has little chemistry in it, and not liking physics is sort of a small red flag for engineering, as engineering at university is essentially applied physics. What parts of physics is it that you don't like?

thanks for the reply.
I don't mind some maths , even if its high level, just that I don't want to do be doing maths every day, I rather be doing application stuff with engineering etc.


I like the actual subject of phyiscs in terms of mechanics , materials and other things outside the syllabus such are renewbale energy nuclear power, thermodynamics ( which I think comes under chem aswell) and probz other stuff that I'm not aware of of.

The reason I say I don't like it is beucase of the syllabus , mainly due to the waves and electricity section. For waves I just don't see the point and see it as boring except for some of the experiments and electricity I just hate. I'm alright with theoretical physics but don't enjoy it as much because its more about learning facts which anyone can do, I rather be doing more application stuff etc

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I originally wanted to do chemical engineering due to my love of chemistry, I could do chemistry every day, however I don't want to do a chemistry degree as I see it limited career wise.

If you don't like waves or electricity you should be fine as long as you avoid electrical or electronic engineering.

1. There isn't much real chemistry in a chem eng degree, it's mostly physics and maths

2. 80% of grad jobs don't require a specific degree subject, so your point about being 'limited' in your career options with a chemistry degree isn't quite right. Even then, you have lab jobs, R&D jobs, chemist jobs, process jobs etc all geared specifically for chemistry degree holders. Connecting the 80% of generalist jobs to more specialist chemistry jobs available, you're left with a LOT of choice.

3. Do the degree you love (Chemistry), I wouldn't be too concerned about prospects. Prospects are ultimately down to the individual at the end of the day, and are a function of how strong your CV is. Not necessarily just your degree.

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thanks for the reply.

I'm sorry for not being specific, when I said limited graduate prospects, I mean in the field I want to work in. I want to work in energy, the engineering aspect of it, with the flexibility of going into banking/ investmnent banking if possible

Ahh, fair. If you really do want to do engineering in the long run then, by all means, go for it. IB etc fall into the 80% btw.

ive seen your post sometimes about IB , are you an investment banker by any chance ??

I know a lot of them very personally, but I am not yet one.

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how realistic is it to aim to become an IB, with a chemical engineering degree ( a first ) from a uni such as Nottingham, birmigham, bath etc ?

and are the work habits as tough as they have been , 100hour weeks etc?

Notts and Bath are decent, not full on targets but send quite a few in per year. Your real chances will depend on your candidacy (it's not like uni, you need to have a strong CV with leadership and work experience) and how you present yourself at interview. A lot of the incoming interns and analysts at some top tier firms I personally know are from Notts - they're by no means average applicants however. To give you an idea of overall competition, applicant to offer ratios are about 25-50 to 1. Obviously, this decreases if you're from a 'targeted' university as in theory anyone can apply.

S&T and Research (markets side of the bank) tend to be consistent 55-60 hour weeks. Get in at 6am-7:30am and leave anywhere from 5:30pm to 6:30pm.

IBD I take it is where you're hearing horror stories from. Yes, there can be 100 hour weeks but they're not common, the average is somewhere between 70-80 a week as a first year. The overall hours decrease as you move up the food chain though, so it's not like you have to work that much all throughout your career. 9am-10am start til about 11pm-2am finish Monday to Thursday, an earlier finish on Friday (~8-9pm) and then maybe 5-10 hours on the weekend is standard as an analyst. When things get manic, all nighters can happen but again, from what I've seen of my friends that is rare.

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which are the target unis?

are you attending uni atm??, if yes, what course and what uni if you don't mind me asking ?

These are the tiers:

Target (70-80% of the grad/intern intake class):
Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL, Warwick and Imperial

'Strong' semi-target (15-20%):
Nottingham, Bristol, Durham, Bath and Cass Business School

Regular semi-target (the majority of the remaining spots):
Manchester, KCL, Loughborough, St Andrews, Edinburgh and Exeter

Everything else is not targeted much if at all, but it's not a death wish if you don't come from one of the above. Generally, if you fail to make the above the next best option would be a decent Russell Group uni coupled with immense networking efforts and a 'best in class' CV.

I'll be going to Warwick. I don't think what subject I'm studying is relevant to this (generally, it doesn't matter what subject you do) but it'll be Data Science (Maths, Computer Science and Stats).


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When you say intake, is this people who get the job or get the spring week/internship?