How Difficult is Chemical Engineering?
Chemical engineering is notoriously one of the most difficult courses available, but if you have a strong foundation in science from subjects like Physics and Maths, it might be the right choice for you. Most people find chemical engineering so challenging because it heavily relies on concepts learned in Physics and Maths. At higher degree levels, students need to pass numerous exams, making chemical engineering one of the hardest options out there.
If you’re able to handle the workload, then chemical engineering is a great field to get into because the salary is extremely competitive. We are so-called universal engineers, with much diversity of careers for us, from semiconductors to creating new organs!
What is a Chemical Engineer?
A chemical engineer, unlike most other engineers, works in a very distinct way. The field of chemical engineering is all about learning how to transform raw materials into useful items.
Fabric, food, beverages, energy, and a variety of other items are just a few examples of useful things that may be produced. The goal is to design processes through what we call unit operations and processes in order to achieve the desired end product.
A chemical engineer, like a lot of other science-related professions, is concerned with innovation. They may improve an existing product or create a new one. These professionals would be taught how to use the tools available to them in order to minimize damage to the environment.
Chemical engineers are concerned with the safety of people and the environment. These individuals are constantly working on improving things in order for regular people to profit from them. Apart from using resources, it also requires careful management toward optimum usage.
Does Chemical Engineering have loads of chemistry subjects?
Just as the name suggests, over 50% of this course will focus on mathematics and physics. The chemical engineering course briefly touches on chemistry, but its main focus is Physical Chemistry with one Analytical and Organic Chemistry course. So, chemistry is not really the focus but rather applied physics.
However, if you want to pursue a degree in this area, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the topics and syllabus of the institution. Universities might add more subjects or reduce existing ones based on their curriculum. As a result, it would be beneficial to learn about them ahead of time.
Chemistry may be a tough topic, but understanding basic chemistry is required for chemical engineering. Even if you have a decent understanding of the chemistry subject from your past schools, it will come in useful. Chemical Engineering courses also borrow topics from biology, this only happens in specific cases focused on mass production using microorganisms. Most of what you have learned before will still be relevant if you decide to study chemical engineering.
It’s difficult when students are uninterested in the topics because of the course’s wide breadth: from Maths to safety up to biochemistry. You may go further if you remain enthusiastic and interested in the topics. The course might be tough, but it will be fantastic in the end because of the diversity of the careers you can pursue once you are graduated and duly licensed. Yes, chemical engineering can pose many challenges, but these difficulties should not act as a deterrent to your studies. On the contrary, they should motivate you to move further once you have decided to study chemical engineering.
Chemical engineering is a field with many options and great job prospects. Chemical Engineers are always in high demand, so don’t hesitate to pursue becoming one. In the future, chemical engineers will be even more in demand than they are now, so there are plenty of opportunities for you to pursue if you’re interested in this area of study.
