Thinking about major of applied chemistry for the first year of university

I’m just graduate from high school and got an offer from university. Was wondering is applied chemistry a worthy major for girls or not..?

https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/academics/calendar/docs/chem.pdfYes here’s the link.Actually I’m thinking of chemical engineering.

https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/academics/calendar/docs/chem.pdfYes here’s the link.Actually I’m thinking of chemical engineering.

Okay nice. Now please tell me how that could not be "worthy" as a major? If you wanted to go into the Chemical Engineering field then a Chemistry degree in my mind is more than suitable (I'm not a science expert though).

Regarding your PM, if you're on browser press the quote button. If you're on the app, press and hold my post then press the quote button that appears below.

Okay nice. Now please tell me how that could not be "worthy" as a major?

Regarding your PM, if you're on browser press the quote button. If you're on the app, press and hold my post then press the quote button that appears below.

Okay nice. Now please tell me how that could not be "worthy" as a major?

Regarding your PM, if you're on browser press the quote button. If you're on the app, press and hold my post then press the quote button that appears below.

In general, a Chemistry degree is not in itself a suitable background for Chemical Engineering as a profession. Some courses in Applied or Industrial Chemistry may be suitable for some roles in the sector, but there is a large amount of content a Chemical Engineer will learn that a Chemist won't. Additionally, usually there are requirements regarding accreditation of engineering degrees, and there are roles which may require a specifically accredited degree as such - unfortunately I'm not that familiar with Canadian issues on that front.

However to illustrate the point, a Chemist won't learn any fluid mechanics or heat transfer, and they also won't cover process engineering and reactor engineering normally. These are however core courses for any standard Chemical Engineering degree. In general fundamentally a Chemist will be considering individual reactions in a benchside laboratory environment, while a Chemical Engineer will be thinking about what the most efficient way for those reactions to take place on a massive scale. There is thus a fundamental difference in how the two subjects will approach certain topics.

That said in the NA model, typically they do share a number of earlier core courses (e.g. chemistry through organic chemistry, at least some calculus although the engineers will do a fair bit more than a chemist, and the intro physics sequence usually). As such it may be possible to initially begin on the one course and transfer to the Chemical Engineering programme once you start - I would recommend speaking to the university to see if this is possible however (or if you would need to transfer to another university to do so, check with the other university to see if the Applied Chemistry programme would be suitable for transfer to Chemical Engineering there).

Ultimately though if your goal is to work as a Chemical Engineer, you should pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering. There may be some roles though which either would be suitable to prepare for (some petrochemical roles involving quality assurance or something, for example), so it does depend a little on your longer term plans. As above though, you shouldn't let your gender stand in the way of pursuing that; women are underrepresented in STEM fields, and there is a lot of work being done to try and improve that. You may well be eligible for some scholarships or similar as a result, and even if not it's well worth pursuing if you wish to go into that area

Thank you so much, I got it.
But one thing unlucky is the university I attended doesn’t have bachelor degree of engineering. Is it okay for me to change it once I apply for master degree?

Thank you so much, I got it.
But one thing unlucky is the university I attended doesn’t have bachelor degree of engineering. Is it okay for me to change it once I apply for master degree?

That isn't an issue, but I do think it's a bit too late in the process to switch to another university. What I would suggest at this point is to choose your modules carefully and see what prerequisites are needed in engineering programmes at other universities. I would also speak to an advisor at your university to see what you can do to ensure that you can transfer without having to complete an extra year to finish up your prerequisites. Hopefully that answers your question.

If you are really interested in chemical engineering, I would suggest looking into these universities and look into their first-year modules:

1) UBC
2) UNB
3) Waterloo
4) Western
5) Laurentian
6) Dalhousie
7) McGill
8) McMaster
9) Queen's
10) Ryerson
11) U of Alberta
12) U of Ottawa
13) U of Saskatchewan
14) U of Toronto

There might be some "conversion" programmes at masters level, but this would depend on the accreditation requirements/format in Canada, which I don't know about unfortunately. I'd probably recommend looking into starting your degree there and transferring after 1st/2nd year, or applying to others.

You may be able to ameliorate this by taking related options in other departments (I imagine most of the thermofluid stuff will be available via mechanical or civil engineering departments, which minimises the amount of ChemE specific content you're missing). Also regarding your earlier comments, there is some Chemistry content in a ChemE degree, but it is largely maths and physics. You can probably minor in Chemistry and maybe double major or something; however if your primary interest is in Chemistry, it might be better to focus on that, and look for jobs in chemical labs and similar (i.e. chemist roles, rather than engineer roles), as you'll probably enjoy that more anyway!

Yep I’m doing double major now, applied chemistry and biochemistry.