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Chemical Engineering Applicants - 2017 Entry

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Original post by NeverLucky
We all know you do a ChemEng degree to go into Finance...it's what the top dawgs do :wink::wink:


I don't actually know many people who went into finance from my school, but imagine that is true at better unis. There's enough work to do in a ChemEng degree never mind worrying about how competitive it is to get into finance. They may as well study a degree with no teaching and use their spare time to focus on their career aspirations.
Original post by ChemEngGrad
Just finished reading through this posts, cheers Smack. Why the hell did I choose to study ChemEng hahaha, what a waste.


Glad you like his posts. He also has a blog, and posts over at Elseveir. I would recommend his posts to all potential and current engineering students, particularly chemical ones.

Hopefully you've been able to take away a lot of good advice, especially regarding securing a job, from his posts. Certainly, it is still possible to get a good job as a chemical engineer, it's just that there are a lot of other graduates chasing them. Hopefully the advice given helps you (and anyone else who has bothered to read it) stand out, secure interviews, and, armed with some knowledge of what actually goes on in engineering, impress enough to be offered a job.

Chemical engineering seems to have quite rapidly grown in popularity over the last half decade, thus it doesn't seem surprising that there are a lot more chemical engineering graduates than chemical engineering jobs. There seems to be lots of campaigns and initiatives to get more people into engineering (of all disciplines). I don't necessarily agree with the idea that they should all cease, but I do think that as well as promoting, we should also be dissuading those who have misconceptions of what engineering is about and what the job entails, or have no interest in actually practising as an engineer, from studying it, if nothing else because it saves people from paying £36,000 in fees to study a degree for a profession they probably will not have the opportunity to practice.
Original post by APersonYo
Swansea is neither good nor bad. It's not amazing for chemical engineering, but its not terrible either. It's just average really.


Got a better insurance option?
Original post by Sammy9898
Yeah I have from Surrey. Still waiting for Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield though.


Thats gr8. Goodluck with the rest.
The wait is sooo :angry::unimpressed:

Hopefully itll be worth it at the end
Original post by Angeltiger59
Thats gr8. Goodluck with the rest.
The wait is sooo :angry::unimpressed:

Hopefully itll be worth it at the end


Ty 😊 Yeah it is 😕😕

Where are you applying to? :biggrin:
Original post by Sammy9898
Ty 😊 Yeah it is 😕😕

Where are you applying to? :biggrin:



Unis: manchester Birmingham bath imperial cambridge

Im takin a huge risk coz they all ask for high grades:redface:

Did u get any acknowledgement from manchester? I didnt even get a welcome email
Universities appear to give out Chemical Engineering offers carefully... So far on TSR I've only seen Surrey giving out Chem Eng offers isn't it? Others have no replies whatsoever.
Original post by ML8020
Universities appear to give out Chemical Engineering offers carefully... So far on TSR I've only seen Surrey giving out Chem Eng offers isn't it? Others have no replies whatsoever.


It's still early days remember, the Cambridge deadline only just passed and the deadline for all the other unis isn't until January.
Original post by ML8020
Universities appear to give out Chemical Engineering offers carefully... So far on TSR I've only seen Surrey giving out Chem Eng offers isn't it? Others have no replies whatsoever.


Original post by NeverLucky
It's still early days remember, the Cambridge deadline only just passed and the deadline for all the other unis isn't until January.


And some (many?) have interviews (albeit "informal") before sending offers.
Original post by Angeltiger59
Unis: manchester Birmingham bath imperial cambridge

Im takin a huge risk coz they all ask for high grades:redface:

Did u get any acknowledgement from manchester? I didnt even get a welcome email


Woah those are definitely high choices but I'm sure you'll get at least one offer from them, good luck btw ☺️

And no I didn't get an acknowledgment email but someone on here (on a different thread) said Manchester don't send acknowledgment emails.. 😳
I want to do chemical engineering and i am asking for a AAB prediction when i got BBB last year for my as results does anyone think this is too much
Original post by ChemEngGrad
Just finished reading through this posts, cheers Smack. Why the hell did I choose to study ChemEng hahaha, what a waste.

I have read all the promotional content encouraging studying ChemEng and now have this completely polar opposite view after reading Sean Moran’s posts, as a graduate can you offer a realistic and balanced middle ground view?
Original post by debs20153
I want to do chemical engineering and i am asking for a AAB prediction when i got BBB last year for my as results does anyone think this is too much


I don't think its that bad, a lot of people get predicted maximum one grade up from what they got at AS.
Original post by Makadia
I have read all the promotional content encouraging studying ChemEng and now have this completely polar opposite view after reading Sean Moran’s posts, as a graduate can you offer a realistic and balanced middle ground view?


I don't want to dissuade people from taking the course, but nor do I want to do the opposite. All I can do is offer some insight into what studying the course is like, what content you cover, and university life in general!

Remember a key word from your question is the use of the word 'promotional'. Of course there'll be people that want you to study chemical engineering, they have a vested interest in ensuring they get the pick of the brightest, best students whilst ensuring they don't have to pay large amounts of money to get them. The best way to do that is to increase the talent pool of students studying the subject.

Reading Sean Moran's posts, he seems passionate about making sure you learn the right things to be employable etc, and to an extent, I agree with him. Chemical engineering is a very niche discipline, unlike the other engineering subjects. This is, for example, why very few universities do general engineering for a year then allow specialisation into ChemEng. A reason so many chemical engineering graduates are unemployed is because there's a lot of jobs available for graduate software engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineer etc. and we haven't covered half the basics these guys do.

My broad advice is:
Do ChemEng because you like physics/mechanics, you're good at maths, but you don't want to drop chemistry completely from your syllabus. Remember also that engineering is separate to science though, it is a design discipline. This goes from the exciting 'how big should my reactor be to achieve this amount of product per hour, what method of stirring should I use etc?', all the way to the dull 'how thick should this pipe carrying X litres/hour of sewage be?'.

Don't do ChemEng if all you're after is employability, a high graduate salary, or a career in finance. If that's all you want, do a course you'll enjoy, go to the best possible university you can go to, and intern as much as possible whilst you're there. ChemEng has you working long days and having to deal with lazy group members quite regularly as you get further into the course, and this will only distract your attention from career plans outside engineering. I know far more english students that have gone into finance than people on my course, no doubt because of this.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Sammy9898
Woah those are definitely high choices but I'm sure you'll get at least one offer from them, good luck btw ☺️

And no I didn't get an acknowledgment email but someone on here (on a different thread) said Manchester don't send acknowledgment emails.. 😳


Ok thx :smile:
Predicted UUU Applying to Kingston.
Original post by azizadil1998
Predicted UUU Applying to Kingston.


Thought you were more of an A* guy...
Original post by methoxymethane
I applied a couple of weeks ago and I've received offers from Bath and Birmingham. I've been invited to interviews at Manchester and Imperial too.


When is your interview for Imperial? I got one next week, kinda regret applying so early.
Original post by ChemEngGrad
I don't want to dissuade people from taking the course, but nor do I want to do the opposite. All I can do is offer some insight into what studying the course is like, what content you cover, and university life in general!

Remember a key word from your question is the use of the word 'promotional'. Of course there'll be people that want you to study chemical engineering, they have a vested interest in ensuring they get the pick of the brightest, best students whilst ensuring they don't have to pay large amounts of money to get them. The best way to do that is to increase the talent pool of students studying the subject.

Reading Sean Moran's posts, he seems passionate about making sure you learn the right things to be employable etc, and to an extent, I agree with him. Chemical engineering is a very niche discipline, unlike the other engineering subjects. This is, for example, why very few universities do general engineering for a year then allow specialisation into ChemEng. A reason so many chemical engineering graduates are unemployed is because there's a lot of jobs available for graduate software engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineer etc. and we haven't covered half the basics these guys do.

My broad advice is:
Do ChemEng because you like physics/mechanics, you're good at maths, but you don't want to drop chemistry completely from your syllabus. Remember also that engineering is separate to science though, it is a design discipline. This goes from the exciting 'how big should my reactor be to achieve this amount of product per hour, what method of stirring should I use etc?', all the way to the dull 'how thick should this pipe carrying X litres/hour of sewage be?'.

Don't do ChemEng if all you're after is employability, a high graduate salary, or a career in finance. If that's all you want, do a course you'll enjoy, go to the best possible university you can go to, and intern as much as possible whilst you're there. ChemEng has you working long days and having to deal with lazy group members quite regularly as you get further into the course, and this will only distract your attention from career plans outside engineering. I know far more english students that have gone into finance than people on my course, no doubt because of this.


Cheers for spending time writing this :smile:

One thing that Sean mentions is that about 50% of Chemical Engineering graduates actually get jobs as an Engineer. What about the other 50%? Do they still go on to get decent jobs and where? Unistats etc. still show a high percentage of graduates in employment 6 months after course. So to what extent is this true: is it a case of Unis skewing the data, or do ChemEng graduates still get good jobs just not neccessarily in engineering.

Is the '50%' a glass half empty or a glass half full?

Course enjoyment is obviously the most important thing, but graduate prospects are important to me.

Thanks :smile: anything you know will help
Stop with the negativity lol. From most decent unis the chem eng graduate employment rate 6 months after graduation is between 85-90%, and the average salary is between £25,000 to £30,000 (that's the starting salary)

For any other degree except perhaps medicine, those employment rates and salaries are very hard to come by.

You guys either have too high expectations, or just don't search hard enough for a job.

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