Chemical Engineering

hi I am year 12 student who currently takes maths chemistry and German a level. I am very keen on doing chemical engineering at university but am aware that not all courses will allow me to apply due to the fact I don't take physics or do three sciences. The unis I am looking at are Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Bath. For Manchester, I am looking at the course with study in Europe and this is my first choice. I believe these don't require three sciences or physics and so I am eligible. I was wondering if anyone currently studied chemical engineering at any of these places or was also looking to apply. Any advice or comments would be appreciated!

Hi there - my name is Leah and I am a 3rd year chemical engineering student at Bath

You are correct in saying that you do not require physics or 3 sciences to study at Bath - the entry requirements are chemistry and maths. As physics or another science is not an entry requirement, this content will be taught scratch in the first year with no presumed knowledge. I personally did maths, chemistry and further maths A-level and had no issues by not having physics. If you get the chance to do mechanics in your maths A-level I would recommend ensuring you have a full understanding of these topics as they are very useful in the degree, particularly if you have not done physics. One of my friends on the course at Bath did chemistry, maths and Spanish as her A-levels, so your options are definitely suitable!

Do let me know if you have any questions about chemical engineering or Bath!

Leah
3rd Year Chemical Engineering

Thanks so much for the reply! I would love to be able to get some answers to questions that I have if you’re able to reply?
Firstly I want to ask if it is mainly mathematics as this is something I really enjoy. I decided on this because I felt it was more like the maths side of chemistry which is what I’d prefer. Am I right in thinking this or is there also organic chemistry involved as well?
Secondly is there anything you’d recommend I do before applying for the course or any way you know of which could give me much more of an insight into what it is about. I have looked through the various syllabi and I think I have some sort of an idea but I’m not 100% clear.
Lastly did you look at many other unis for this course and what made you decide on bath in the end?
Thanks in advance!!

Hi

With regards to maths, as an engineering degree, you are correct that chemical engineering does have a lot of maths. In first year, the basic principles of calculus, numerical methods and matrices are taught to bring everyone up to speed. You apply calculus and trignometry in various parts of the degree - I would say the pure maths content never really gets harder than what is taught in further maths A-level but a good understanding to be able to apply it is key. Another key aspect is differential equations and being able to solve them using numerical methods. Differential equations are used extensively in chemical engineering to model reactors, flow in pipes etc. , most of which cannot be solved analytically, so we are taught numerical methods and how to apply them using MATLAB code. There is definitely maths involved but the principles of maths is not taught in too much depth - it is definitely more about the application, as that what engineering is all about!

It is important to note that chemical engineering does not have much chemistry in the course. In first year I was taught some physical chemistry and a small amount of organic chemistry as a refresh to bring everyone up to speed. Organic chemistry is not really used in the degree but it is useful for chemical engineers to have a basic understanding of the concepts, nomenclature and reaction mechanisms if they ever have to work on a process that may involve these reactions. Physical chemistry, such as the ideal gas law, rates of reaction and the Arrhenius equation, are used a lot in chemical engineering when modelling reactions so this is something from A-level which you will use a lot in the degree. Outside of that, the degree covers a range of new content which takes principles from maths, chemistry, physics and biology and applies it to the scaling up of reactions and processes.

In terms of anything you can do before applying, that is a slightly more difficult to answer. Your personal statement should demonstrate that you have a clear understanding of what the course involves and the pathways it could take you and should include evidence of this understanding and enthusiasm. I attended some summer schools, did some mechanical engineering work experience and found a small local company who employed chemical engineers so spent a day there talking to them and discovering the kind of work they get up to. You could also do online courses in aspects of chemical engineering you are interested in (there are plenty on various different websites - try searching for key topics that interest you (eg. clean energy or pharmaceuticals were mine) rather than chemical engineering in general).

I understand the challenge around knowing exactly what chemical engineering is and I think it's took me over a year of my degree to really understand what my degree involves! In 1st year you are taught basic principles of different aspects of chemical engineering: fluid mechanics, heat transfer, reaction engineering, mass and energy balances. These titles can feel abstract when you have not yet been taught the content and even then it is not until you gain a deeper understanding of these basic principles and are able to apply them to an application that you begin to understand what a chemical engineer does. In brief, a chemical engineer must have an understanding of each unit in a process (eg. reactor, filter, distillation column, sedimentation tank) and the flows in and out of these units. They must apply knowledge of health and safety, environmental considerations, legislation, fluid mechanics to understand how fluid flows between and within units, particle technology to understand the behaviour of solids and gasses, heat transfer to understand temperature and energy changes between streams and so on. An understanding of all of these aspects allows you to model the process to determine the yield, conversion efficiency, energy requirements, mass requirements and design specs of the equipment. As an engineer it's all about design, and design projects within our studies allow us to think creatively to tackle problems. I feel it's only once you have an understanding of the basic chemical engineering principles can you see how they would be applied and why they are useful.

As you are probably aware, not a huge number of Universities offer chemical engineering compared to other courses. I would recommend having a look at any specialisms each uni offers and the more niche content (more often in later years of the degree) that you would be taught to see if some interest you more than others. Doing a placement programme for me was a big reason why I chose Bath - the placement team are dedicated to helping and supporting you through the application and whilst on placement. With an ever increasing competitive graduate job market, I knew a year's industrial experience would be invaluable and Bath's record with students securing placements was a big factor in me choosing Bath. I also chose Bath because I liked the community "bubble" feel on campus compared to city unis. I am not a big city person, so the size of Bath, with it having a lot to do without being too big, was also a big factor. I would recommend looking at Univerisites and seeing where you could best imagine yourself!

Apologies my reply is so long but hopefully that answers your questions let me know if you have any further questions!

Leah
3rd Year Chemical Engineering

wow thanks so much for your reply! It’s really helpful to get some insight from an actual student. I have got a couple more questions if that’s ok?
1.I am currently looking at a course where I would study abroad for a year as language is one of my passions and I’d love to be able to have a career in which I was able to apply this. Do you think it would be better for me to do a year in industry instead or will I have equal opportunities from my year abroad? No worries if you don’t know much about this
2. I am currently doing an online course about pharmaceuticals and some of the chemistry behind it. It seems to be much more to do with biochemistry and medicinal science. Is this likely to be of much use? I will obviously continue to do it because it interests me but I don’t know how applicable it is to chemical engineering as such. I guess it may be useful to have some insight into the sort of industries I could go into?
3. I wasn’t able to get work experience directly relating to chemical engineering or really engineering at all this year and it won’t be likely that I can now due to the current situation. I did spend a couple of hours each week throughout the last year in a finance almost accounting environment helping to sort and analyse data using spreadsheets and working alongside those who already worked there. Is this of any use would you say or not really directly helpful?
Thanks so much again! I had previously spoken to a student from Newcastle, I believe, who was extremely negative towards the idea of me being able to do chemical engineering with just two sciences and it had put me off quite a lot so thanks for putting me back on track your help us really appreciated!

Not a problem - I will try my best to answer your questions!

1.I am currently looking at a course where I would study abroad for a year as language is one of my passions and I’d love to be able to have a career in which I was able to apply this. Do you think it would be better for me to do a year in industry instead or will I have equal opportunities from my year abroad? No worries if you don’t know much about this
I cannot say I know much about this, as Bath does not offer a year abroad with chemical engineering so I haven't spoken to any students to get their perspective. If you do the MEng at Bath, you have the opportunity to do your research project abroad - meaning you spend 1 semester studying in a different country. This opportunity is a really good option in my opinion as you are still able to do an industrial placement and get to spend some time abroad without committing to a full year.
In terms of opportunities, I am not sure. I cannot emphasise enough the value of an industrial placement in securing a job in chemical engineering, particularly with larger companies in popular industries. Some people do their placements abroad, so this is also an option, but they are definitely more difficult to secure. I am sure a year abroad is also a good addition to your CV but I won't say anymore as I don't know much about it unfortunately!


2. I am currently doing an online course about pharmaceuticals and some of the chemistry behind it. It seems to be much more to do with biochemistry and medicinal science. Is this likely to be of much use? I will obviously continue to do it because it interests me but I don’t know how applicable it is to chemical engineering as such. I guess it may be useful to have some insight into the sort of industries I could go into?
Any addition to your widen your learning is valuable and by doing an online course will demonstrate to institutions and employers your drive to widen your knowledge. If you are interested in working in pharmaceuticals, the chemistry and mechanisms behind drugs is always useful. While a chemical engineer does not need an in-depth understanding, an understanding of the drug and its properties is useful when designing manufacturing processes, as you need to select steps, processes and equipments to give you correct results. Chemical enigneering is all about scale-up so an understanding of the process you are trying to scale is useful. It is unlikely that you will study what you are learning in the online course, however, unless a research or design project you work on is based on the pharmaceutical industry. For example, I recently completed my research project on drug delivery devices, and I learnt about the mechanism of antibiotics, required dosage etc. in order to give my research context.

3. I wasn’t able to get work experience directly relating to chemical engineering or really engineering at all this year and it won’t be likely that I can now due to the current situation. I did spend a couple of hours each week throughout the last year in a finance almost accounting environment helping to sort and analyse data using spreadsheets and working alongside those who already worked there. Is this of any use would you say or not really directly helpful?

Do not worry that you were not able to get work experience - a lot of people don't and universities recognise that it can be challenging! The numerical and data analysis skills from your work experience would definitely be useful and if you can talk about why you did the placement, what you learnt and how that fed into your decision to pursue chemical enigneering, that is always good!

Hope this helps

Leah
3rd Year Chemical Engineering

Not a problem - I will try my best to answer your questions!

1.I am currently looking at a course where I would study abroad for a year as language is one of my passions and I’d love to be able to have a career in which I was able to apply this. Do you think it would be better for me to do a year in industry instead or will I have equal opportunities from my year abroad? No worries if you don’t know much about this
I cannot say I know much about this, as Bath does not offer a year abroad with chemical engineering so I haven't spoken to any students to get their perspective. If you do the MEng at Bath, you have the opportunity to do your research project abroad - meaning you spend 1 semester studying in a different country. This opportunity is a really good option in my opinion as you are still able to do an industrial placement and get to spend some time abroad without committing to a full year.
In terms of opportunities, I am not sure. I cannot emphasise enough the value of an industrial placement in securing a job in chemical engineering, particularly with larger companies in popular industries. Some people do their placements abroad, so this is also an option, but they are definitely more difficult to secure. I am sure a year abroad is also a good addition to your CV but I won't say anymore as I don't know much about it unfortunately!


2. I am currently doing an online course about pharmaceuticals and some of the chemistry behind it. It seems to be much more to do with biochemistry and medicinal science. Is this likely to be of much use? I will obviously continue to do it because it interests me but I don’t know how applicable it is to chemical engineering as such. I guess it may be useful to have some insight into the sort of industries I could go into?
Any addition to your widen your learning is valuable and by doing an online course will demonstrate to institutions and employers your drive to widen your knowledge. If you are interested in working in pharmaceuticals, the chemistry and mechanisms behind drugs is always useful. While a chemical engineer does not need an in-depth understanding, an understanding of the drug and its properties is useful when designing manufacturing processes, as you need to select steps, processes and equipments to give you correct results. Chemical enigneering is all about scale-up so an understanding of the process you are trying to scale is useful. It is unlikely that you will study what you are learning in the online course, however, unless a research or design project you work on is based on the pharmaceutical industry. For example, I recently completed my research project on drug delivery devices, and I learnt about the mechanism of antibiotics, required dosage etc. in order to give my research context.

3. I wasn’t able to get work experience directly relating to chemical engineering or really engineering at all this year and it won’t be likely that I can now due to the current situation. I did spend a couple of hours each week throughout the last year in a finance almost accounting environment helping to sort and analyse data using spreadsheets and working alongside those who already worked there. Is this of any use would you say or not really directly helpful?

Do not worry that you were not able to get work experience - a lot of people don't and universities recognise that it can be challenging! The numerical and data analysis skills from your work experience would definitely be useful and if you can talk about why you did the placement, what you learnt and how that fed into your decision to pursue chemical enigneering, that is always good!

Hope this helps

Leah
3rd Year Chemical Engineering

thanks again! I am going to try and look at the courses in more detail and have a look at which one interests me most. Its a bit frustrating not being able to physically visit places and ask questions so thanks for all your help it means a lot

Where they any Scottish people studying chemical engineering and if yes how did they cope

No problem - glad I could help! I understand it must be really frustrating not being able to go to Universities in person, so let me know if you have anymore questions

Leah
3rd Year Chemical Engineering

Hi,
I know its been a while but I've been attending some online open days recently and have a much clearer picture of what courses offer etc. I was just wondering about the placement year you talked about previously. Is this something that you applied for once you were on the course or had you originally applied for chemical engineering including the placement year? I am currently considering bath, Leeds and Manchester, all of which offer both chemical engineering courses with and without placement. I was interested in applying for these courses, does it make much difference for the application process? Would I need to sort of mention the idea of industrial placement in my personal statement? Does it make sense to apply to this sort of course for all of the universities I apply to?
Thanks!
Zara

Hi,
I know its been a while but I've been attending some online open days recently and have a much clearer picture of what courses offer etc. I was just wondering about the placement year you talked about previously. Is this something that you applied for once you were on the course or had you originally applied for chemical engineering including the placement year? I am currently considering bath, Leeds and Manchester, all of which offer both chemical engineering courses with and without placement. I was interested in applying for these courses, does it make much difference for the application process? Would I need to sort of mention the idea of industrial placement in my personal statement? Does it make sense to apply to this sort of course for all of the universities I apply to?
Thanks!
Zara