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>To become a chemical engineer, you first have to complete the course work for a degree in chemistry. That is incorrect. Look at the programme of study for a

>To become a chemical engineer, you first have to complete the course work for a degree in chemistry. That is incorrect. Look at the programme of study for a chemical engineering undergraduate degree [1]. It doesn't cover anywhere near the same content as an undergraduate chemistry degree [2]. [1]: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemical-engineering-department/chemical-engineering/ http://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemical-engineer... [2]: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemistry-department/chemistry-bsc/#structure https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemistry-depart...

zelos 9y ago
I was typing a similar response. I did a 4-year MEng in ChemEng and there were only a few non-elective courses in organic and physical chemistry. The bulk of the content is fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, vessel design, safety, control systems, mathematics etc.
- LanceH 9y ago
  To quote a Chem eng friend, "I don't know chemistry, all I know are flow rates."
jandrewrogers 9y ago
I probably over-generalized from my own experience. The only chemistry degree coursework we could avoid was a class about lab operations, basically safety/hazard management. This turned it into a de facto 5-year degree even though they stripped most of the non-related coursework to a bare minimum; you still had two years of coursework for the engineering program after the chemistry. People that lost their appetite for chemical engineering after compressing all their chemistry into three years could switch to chemistry, which meant they spent their last year taking the filler non-technical courses that the engineers were allowed to avoid.
HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago
Way to miss the forest for the trees...
screye 9y ago
Yep. My classmates from Chem.E had more classes in common with us mechanical engineers than any other branch. Thermo, fluid dynamics, CFD and heat transfer is where it is at.
- TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
  There are huge overlaps between the different kinds of engineering - not quite enough to support a single unified core curriculum, but enough to make it obvious that there's a lot of similar math across all the disciplines, and only the emphasis varies. The big problem with engineering isn't the specialisms, it's the name. Outsiders still think engineers are people who wear oil-covered overalls and are essentially mechanics. Not one person in fifty understands that the job is mostly mathematical modelling of complex systems.
  - screye 9y ago
    I completely feel you. I had EE friends being asked to fix light bulbs and MechE being asked to fix cars.
bdcs 9y ago
It was nearly correct in my case: While getting a BS in ChemE at CU Boulder, I also earned a got a minor in chemistry and biochemistry (and inorganic chemistry, but I was only allowed two minors for whatever reason).

zelos 9y ago

I was typing a similar response. I did a 4-year MEng in ChemEng and there were only a few non-elective courses in organic and physical chemistry. The bulk of the content is fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, vessel design, safety, control systems, mathematics etc.

LanceH 9y ago
To quote a Chem eng friend, "I don't know chemistry, all I know are flow rates."

jandrewrogers 9y ago

I probably over-generalized from my own experience. The only chemistry degree coursework we could avoid was a class about lab operations, basically safety/hazard management. This turned it into a de facto 5-year degree even though they stripped most of the non-related coursework to a bare minimum; you still had two years of coursework for the engineering program after the chemistry. People that lost their appetite for chemical engineering after compressing all their chemistry into three years could switch to chemistry, which meant they spent their last year taking the filler non-technical courses that the engineers were allowed to avoid.

HeyLaughingBoy 9y ago

Way to miss the forest for the trees...

screye 9y ago

Yep. My classmates from Chem.E had more classes in common with us mechanical engineers than any other branch. Thermo, fluid dynamics, CFD and heat transfer is where it is at.

TheOtherHobbes 9y ago
There are huge overlaps between the different kinds of engineering - not quite enough to support a single unified core curriculum, but enough to make it obvious that there's a lot of similar math across all the disciplines, and only the emphasis varies. The big problem with engineering isn't the specialisms, it's the name. Outsiders still think engineers are people who wear oil-covered overalls and are essentially mechanics. Not one person in fifty understands that the job is mostly mathematical modelling of complex systems.
- screye 9y ago
  I completely feel you. I had EE friends being asked to fix light bulbs and MechE being asked to fix cars.

bdcs 9y ago

It was nearly correct in my case: While getting a BS in ChemE at CU Boulder, I also earned a got a minor in chemistry and biochemistry (and inorganic chemistry, but I was only allowed two minors for whatever reason).