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Chemical Engineering is Boring and Mundane. Stay away from it folks.

To anyone even thinking about doing Chemical Engineering at university. Think very clearly before you go into this area. I might get some butthurt replies by posting this on here, but first let me explain. I am a student studying chemical engineering at one of the top universities here in Britain. You might be pretty excited to study this course but you won't actually have any idea what chemical engineering is all about unless and until you actually start this course. What the university chemical engineering department and IChemE is trying to advertise you is far from the truth. First thing you will notice is how dull of a course chemical engineering really is. It is not what you would have expected at all. There is literally no chemistry involved. The only physics you will learn is how to play with pipes, pumps and heat. Majority of the calculations in the modules are extremely repetitive, these are things that should be left out for anyone with a calculator to do but not those who got a good set of AAA in A Levels. I have not met a single person in my year who is genuinely interested in the things they are studying right now in the course. Also, you will probably get *****y lecturers who can't speak English probably ( this is the sad truth across many chemical engineering departments in many British universities as not many English native speakers are actually teaching in most of the chemical engineering departments).

If you are interested in money, hear me out. Jobs in chemical engineering are few and there are now more chemical engineers that got into this trap than ever needed to even fill these jobs. You are basically limiting your chances to even go into another area if you change your mind after graduating. At the industry level you have to actually compete with Mechanical Engineers as well, because they are as well suited to do chemical engineering jobs. The average salary for chemical engineers are dropping every year and in the long run the salary of a chemical engineer will just dwarf compared to other engineering/science disciplines. Chemical engineering jobs also depends highly on the economy. Even if you secure a job, you might be one of those who might lose your job in the next 5 years because nobody really knows whats gonna happen to the economy.

But most of all you will never get a sense of satisfaction by doing this extremely dull degree. You will at the end be in the most unsatisfied job working with pipes and pumps to make someone else extremely rich. If you are thinking about doing a PhD or research in this area, you have to be prepared to research things like a piece of equipment in a freaking chemical plant or how to improve the operating conditions of such an equipment. There is nothing really cool about chemical engineering but the universities and IChemE try to make it sound like it is cool and interesting.

Getting into this trap has been so far the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life. I advise anyone to think twice before going into this useless field. Personally I would advice everyone, PLEASE DO NOT GET INTO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING. STAY COMPLETELY AWAY FROM CHEM ENG. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I MADE. I remember a few years ago when I was deciding a course to study, I gave a deaf ear to those who told me not to do Chemical Engineering and now I wholeheartedly regret that decision. Save your AAA in A Levels for a more worthy science/engineering field.

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"It is not what you would have expected at all. There is literally no chemistry involved."
Sounds like you made a grossly uneducated decision if you were expecting a lot of chemistry. It's not surprising you're unsatisfied if you picked a degree you knew very little about, thinking it was something else.

The point about salary/employment is valid. Chemical is probably the worst engineering degree in terms of oversupply of graduates so that's something people should be aware of.
Reply 2
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Texxers
17
Bruhhh. Why are you planting seeds of doubt into me this late into my ****ing application. Please PM me so I can talk to you properly OP.
Reply 3
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∆us
14
I thought the point to chemical engineering is that you could go into different fields from that one degree. And if you didn't know that chemical engineering was maths and physics then you clearly didn't do your research when picking which degree to go into.
Just as soon as I was set on Chem Eng...
Reply 5
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Texxers
17
Original post by VirgoStrain
The drop out rates for chemical engineering are amazingly high. That should give an idea of how challenging the course it... and I’m just talking about Cambridge.


I am legit having a flipping panic attack FFS. What do you mean!?
Reply 6
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Texxers
17
Original post by VirgoStrain
I mean you will literally want to kill your self if you go into this course. Having 4 or more A*’s at A-Level will not prepare you for the torture of the course... that’s the universal conclusion amongst the sixth formers at my school (which, for context, is one of those high-achieving Grammar schools in London). So yeah, I was considering Chem engineering like you are, but after some research it will go in the backseat, and I will pick mechanical (or aeronautical) engineering as a choice if one of my university options next year doesn’t offer general engineering.


Dear lord. I am actually having a panic attack... It's almost december and I thought I had this all planned out, I had my 5 choices, PS all done, everything sound and I'm days away from sending off my application and then this happens. FFS, please elaborate more.
Original post by VirgoStrain
I mean you will literally want to kill your self if you go into this course. Having 4 or more A*’s at A-Level and a full house of A*’s at GCSE at the world at your knees will not prepare you for the torture of the course... that’s the universal conclusion amongst the sixth formers at my school (which, for context, is one of those high-achieving Grammar schools in London). So yeah, I was considering Chem engineering like you are, but after some research it will go in the backseat, and I will pick mechanical (or aeronautical) engineering as a choice if one of my university options next year doesn’t offer general engineering.

I’d carefully consider whether you are entering this course for the job prospects or because the modules you want to do are genuinely fascinating...


This is a massive exaggeration. I got ABB in my A-levels and am in my final (masters) year of a chemeng degree averaging 73%. First 2 years were no trouble at all. 3rd year design project is very stressful, not so much because it's super hard, but it is much harder than previous years. So far final year is easier than the second half of 3rd year.
Reply 8
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Texxers
17
Original post by Student-95
This is a massive exaggeration. I got ABB in my A-levels and am in my final (masters) year of a chemeng degree averaging 73%. First 2 years were no trouble at all. 3rd year design project is very stressful, not so much because it's super hard, but it is much harder than previous years. So far final year is easier than the second half of 3rd year.


Please tell me, is OP right about chem eng????
Reply 9
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Froppy
15
Original post by VirgoStrain
If you want to go into different fields with your degree then do mechanical engineering


Completely agree! :smile: I swear almost every job i looked at for Airbus Defence and Space had "Mechanical Engineering" listed under acceptable qualifications. I was under the impression they would only want Aerospace/Aeronautical degrees...and I don't remember seeing chemical engineering listed at all.
Original post by Texxers
Please tell me, is OP right about chem eng????


I replied to OP above. The issue about there being an oversupply of graduates is true but the rest of their complaints are either not specific to chem eng or are a result of OP not knowing what chemical engineering actually was.
Original post by Student-95
I replied to OP above. The issue about there being an oversupply of graduates is true but the rest of their complaints are either not specific to chem eng or are a result of OP not knowing what chemical engineering actually was.


But what about what OP said about playing with pipes and heat... He is saying that the chem eng course is really boring and it nothing like the course outlines say!
Original post by Texxers
But what about what OP said about playing with pipes and heat... He is saying that the chem eng course is really boring and it nothing like the course outlines say!


What do the course outlines say? Whether or not you find it boring will depend on how interesting you find the content. OPs problem seems to be that they picked the degree because they thought chemeng was something completely different and that fictitious degree interested them.
Original post by Student-95
What do the course outlines say? Whether or not you find it boring will depend on how interesting you find the content. OPs problem seems to be that they picked the degree because they thought chemeng was something completely different and that fictitious degree interested them.


So tell me your point of view on it, how do you find the content of a Chem Eng degree? Is it all about playing with pipes and are the job prospects getting smaller?
My sister is in her second year of chemical engineering and she loves it. Chemistry has always been her strongest and most favourite subject. I agree that the salary isn't super high and the career prospects aren't very broad, but if you research enough into the course and you enjoy chemistry, physics and maths, then it's a great career. It's not about the money at the end of the day, it's about finding a job you love.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Texxers
So tell me your point of view on it, how do you find the content of a Chem Eng degree? Is it all about playing with pipes and are the job prospects getting smaller?


Most of it interests me. Some parts are dull. No, it's not a piping degree. You'll cover flow in fluid mechanics and would have to consider piping in design projects but that's about it. It's definitely not a focus of the course.

There's been an oversupply of graduate engineers (all fields) for years now. Chemical is a bit worse off than the other engineering courses. Not too sure what growth/decline of opportunities looks like but there will always be jobs for chemical engineers and you're certainly not limited to a career in chemical engineering.
Original post by Student-95
Most of it interests me. Some parts are dull. No, it's not a piping degree. You'll cover flow in fluid mechanics and would have to consider piping in design projects but that's about it. It's definitely not a focus of the course.

There's been an oversupply of graduate engineers (all fields) for years now. Chemical is a bit worse off than the other engineering courses. Not too sure what growth/decline of opportunities looks like but there will always be jobs for chemical engineers and you're certainly not limited to a career in chemical engineering.


Yeah, OP was going on about how chem eng grad's basically had no chance of finding any job after gaining a degree. So what's the ratio roughly of chemistry to physics?
Original post by Texxers
Yeah, OP was going on about how chem eng grad's basically had no chance of finding any job after gaining a degree. So what's the ratio roughly of chemistry to physics?


Hard to say. I consider the concepts as engineering as opposed to physics or chemistry. It's also hard defining what is physics and what is chemistry. If you regress it far enough you can argue that chemistry is just applied physics - chemical interactions are the result of a bunch of physical forces etc, then if you do the same with physics you could argue it's all just applied maths.

You won't use much of the chemistry that's covered in the A level syllabus.
Original post by Student-95
Hard to say. I consider the concepts as engineering as opposed to physics or chemistry. It's also hard defining what is physics and what is chemistry. If you regress it far enough you can argue that chemistry is just applied physics - chemical interactions are the result of a bunch of physical forces etc, then if you do the same with physics you could argue it's all just applied maths.

You won't use much of the chemistry that's covered in the A level syllabus.


So in terms of after your degree, what are your plans?
Original post by Texxers
So in terms of after your degree, what are your plans?


Rolls-Royce engineering grad scheme

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