The Student Room Group

help please

I am in my first year doing a chemistry degree right now and I don't like it because I find organic chemistry and orbitals stuff so hard and nothing is making any sense. At A Level I got 2 A* in maths and chemistry and an A in physics but I didn't do chemical engineering because I did not really like physics. However , now I find that I would like to do more maths in my degree coz I like maths and chemical engineering has a higher pay. I have been hearing that a chem degree is not really worth it for the pay you get out of it and I don't want to be a teacher or a technician. I am so upset and I don't know what to do. I feel as though I have to stick throughout the degree as it is too late to change.
Reply 1
Original post by Jasmine30
I am in my first year doing a chemistry degree right now and I don't like it because I find organic chemistry and orbitals stuff so hard and nothing is making any sense. At A Level I got 2 A* in maths and chemistry and an A in physics but I didn't do chemical engineering because I did not really like physics. However , now I find that I would like to do more maths in my degree coz I like maths and chemical engineering has a higher pay. I have been hearing that a chem degree is not really worth it for the pay you get out of it and I don't want to be a teacher or a technician. I am so upset and I don't know what to do. I feel as though I have to stick throughout the degree as it is too late to change.


I am also thinking of doing a placement so I can see if I like lab based jobs although I am not that good at lab work and always get it wrong. If I do a masters in chemistry and find that I dont like it is it possible to do a masters in chemical engineering
Reply 2
u can drop out if ur not enjoying it and start another course in september, not sure about the masters question tho
Reply 3
Original post by fudgeyx
u can drop out if ur not enjoying it and start another course in september, not sure about the masters question tho


I don't think my mom will let me though and I would also behind. And I have missed the application for this year if i wanted to change course
Reply 4
Original post by Jasmine30
I don't think my mom will let me though and I would also behind. And I have missed the application for this year if i wanted to change course

does ur mum control ur life NO do what u want :biggrin:
behind what? i'm 21 and in my first year, have been doing sod all for the past 3 years and i'm not behind
if you apply won't it just go into clearing (can't really remember how it works)
Reply 5
Original post by fudgeyx
does ur mum control ur life NO do what u want :biggrin:
behind what? i'm 21 and in my first year, have been doing sod all for the past 3 years and i'm not behind
if you apply won't it just go into clearing (can't really remember how it works)


i don't know if i would be good at chem eng. I feel like education isnt for me
Reply 6
Original post by Jasmine30
i don't know if i would be good at chem eng. I feel like education isnt for me


can always take a gap year or however many gap years you want until you figure out what u wanna do

i hated education when i was sixth form, never showed up, was adamant i didn't wanna go uni.
now i've started uni and i love it and never wanna leave. ur opinions on stuff will change over time, if u don't wanna be in education u don't have to be, u can get a job or anything and do whatever u wanna do in the moment.
I'm currently in my second year of Chemical Engineering and can confirm that there's barely any Chemistry. Most the chemistry we use is pretty much A-Level. It is however a brutal amount of physics and by extension, maths.
Reply 8
Original post by briteeshbro
I'm currently in my second year of Chemical Engineering and can confirm that there's barely any Chemistry. Most the chemistry we use is pretty much A-Level. It is however a brutal amount of physics and by extension, maths.


I like maths but I don't really like physics. What kind of physics do you learn?
Original post by Jasmine30
I like maths but I don't really like physics. What kind of physics do you learn?


I didn't study Physics at A level so I honestly don't know where the Maths ends and the Physics starts?

We focus on the mathematical parts of physics though so like Mechanics in A level Maths sort of I guess. That's the only reference I can give. Most of the maths (except the two pure maths modules) we do is all contextual though so I'd say its more similar to physics. A lot of the maths we do is in thermodynamics too which is blatantly Physics.

So to be blunt, Engineering in general isn't the best choice if you don't like Physics.
Reply 10
Original post by briteeshbro
I didn't study Physics at A level so I honestly don't know where the Maths ends and the Physics starts?

We focus on the mathematical parts of physics though so like Mechanics in A level Maths sort of I guess. That's the only reference I can give. Most of the maths (except the two pure maths modules) we do is all contextual though so I'd say its more similar to physics. A lot of the maths we do is in thermodynamics too which is blatantly Physics.

So to be blunt, Engineering in general isn't the best choice if you don't like Physics.


i suppose but I don't like organic chemistry either though, So my thinking was that if I am gonna do a hard degree I might as well do it in engineering coz the starting pay is higher. I don't like my degree now anyway so even if i end up not liking it least there would be something worth it. It feels like I am just wasting my brain power doing a chem degree. And to be fair I was good at maths and the mechanics part of physics
Original post by Jasmine30
don't like my degree now anyway so even if i end up not liking it least there would be something worth it.

hahaha I can't argue with that logic

If you really don't enjoy the course and you can't see yourself liking anything it leads to in terms of employment then I honestly don't see the point in continuing. But that might just be me though.
For example on my course there's tonnes of people who arent over the moon about ChemEng (like myself) and others who are simply using it for the broad range of skills it provides and are planning to do something completely different in the future like finance but what we all have in common is that we appreciate how nicely a degree in Chemical Engineering will set us up in future.

That being said I cannot emphasise enough how intensive this course is. The prospect of earning good money in the distant future is not enough motivation to keep up with the workload and achieve competitive grades. Especially if you're not good at it.
Reply 12
Original post by briteeshbro
hahaha I can't argue with that logic

If you really don't enjoy the course and you can't see yourself liking anything it leads to in terms of employment then I honestly don't see the point in continuing. But that might just be me though.
For example on my course there's tonnes of people who arent over the moon about ChemEng (like myself) and others who are simply using it for the broad range of skills it provides and are planning to do something completely different in the future like finance but what we all have in common is that we appreciate how nicely a degree in Chemical Engineering will set us up in future.

That being said I cannot emphasise enough how intensive this course is. The prospect of earning good money in the distant future is not enough motivation to keep up with the workload and achieve competitive grades. Especially if you're not good at it.


i dont know what to do. I was thinking maybe i could get the first year material for chem eng and try learn it over the summer. If i then find it more doable and interesting then I could change my course

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