Chemical Engineering vs Maths

A maths degree can open up an actuarial career- you can take modules which correspond to the exams the actuarial association would give you and it cuts down on the entrance exams into that association. You would make a lot of money via this career. Have you thought about a maths and physics joint honour degree (as you like both of these subjects). I wouldn't take my advice very highly though as I am younger than you, but any serious suggestion is productive

You don't sound like you'd enjoy engineering at all. Maths is probably a much better fit for you.

Because you much prefer theory. Engineering is a fundamentally practical discipline.

I wouldn't say I'm fundamentally opposed to the practical side of science, it's more just that the sorts of experiments we do in school thus far (in both Chemistry and Physics) are almost always to prove some basic point that has already been proven via theory, so you already know what the result is (except due to very basic, inaccurate methodology the actual result often ends up wrong, having the opposite of the desired effect learning-wise and proving to be a total waste of time). The idea of utilising known theory to create something practical is much more appealing to me, and as far as I know that's roughly the job of an engineer, with the 'something' being determined by the specific type of engineering; would this be an accurate approximation, in your opinion?

It depends on the type of engineering role. A lot of them, particularly in Britain, are more management type roles than actually doing the hard science. And it's also extremely important to prove that the theory is correct via experiments, too. A lot of things, in my experience, are determined experimentally rather than using a lot of theory.

Roughly what would be involved in these 'management' type roles? I would assume knowledge of the science would still be necessary, but what kind of things would someone in such a role be doing?

And on the experiments, the more I think about it, the less I dislike actual experimentation; it's more just the types and methods I've done so far in school that I find irritating. Also, you mention your experience; may I ask what your experience is? Thanks for your help

(I'm aware this is a rather large wall of text, feel free to just skim the gist of it and skip to the bottom )

Hey, first post here though I've been an occasional lurker in the past. I'm having something of a dilemma over which uni course to go for. I'm just starting my (Scottish) Highers, so I don't need to make up my mind for at least another year, but I'd like to have a relatively clear idea before I need to make my final decision.

Bit of background info: the Highers I'm taking are Maths, English, Physics, Chemistry and Product Design. I absolutely adore Maths, especially now I'm starting Higher (the Standard Grade course seemed almost pathetically easy to me). However, I also really like Chemistry and Physics. I plan to do these three subjects for Advanced Higher next year.

I've been vaguely thinking about doing Chemical Engineering for quite a while, but I still don't actually know very much about it; the only real information I've gathered is that it contains a lot of Maths (big plus ), Physics and obviously Chemistry (although I have heard that the Chemistry content is less than one might expect). This seems great since it basically consists of my three favourite subjects.
In addition to this, I've heard that Engineers are generally in relatively high demand, so it would be fairly easy to get a good job in CE, and I've also heard that (especially Chemical) Engineers are generally highly paid, so it seems like a great solution.

However, I do have some reservations; first is that from what I've read about Chemical Engineering, it's very much about industrial reactions and suchlike; that is to say, the more practical side of chemistry, as opposed to theory, and in general, I much prefer theory; this is largely because theory is more pure in that it's more like laws and absolute facts and stuff, but in school, experiments always seem to end up like sort of aproximating the predicted result but it's always really inaccurate and basic etc, so it's just kind of irritating. However, with more advanced, meaningful experiments and proper equipment etc I may find practical chemistry more interesting.
My other worry is that although obviously the course contains Maths, it might be just like basic ratio calculations and arithmetic etc, which isn't really my 'calling'; although I adore Maths, I generally find simple arithmetic rather tedious. However, as I've said I don't really know very much about the course so I could be mistaken here.

Okay that's CE, now Maths (yeah sorry, we're only halfway through ):

My main reasoin for wanting to do Maths is simply that, as I've said, I really really like Maths, plus I've heard it said vaguely that Maths is just a generally really good qualification.
However, despite this, I can't really think of many jobs that a Maths degree would open up for me that I wouldn't be more compatible for with a more specific degree (certain types of Engineering, for example). The only job I've heard a Maths degree is especially useful for is banking, which is admittedly very attractive to me, given that from what I've seen, banking = £££££££. Plus it would obviously be very mathematical which is a big plus.
However, I don't really know much about banking, but I suspect it's somewhat harder to land a good job in than Engineering, and I also don't know how likely it is that I would actually end up making that much money or if it's a case of us only really hearing about the people right at the top. The only other job opportunity I see Maths granting me is being a Maths teacher, which I definitely don't want to do for various reasons.


Okay, that's the summary of the two options over now, the advice I seek from you is basically:



Thank you very much for your time if you actually waded through the wall of text above, and I greatly appreciate any advice you can offer

This thread was started in July-http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1635040

It should hopefully answer most of your questions about chemical engineering. There are lots of similar threads in the maths section too-very popular topic-"what can I do with a maths degree".

Hope it helps.