College Discussion - View Single Post

TB54 · 05-07-2008, 11:09 PM

Forget to mention, some people think all chemical engineers either go to petroleum or manufacturing, this is not true.

Some chemical engineers go intern at biotech firms (Genetech/Amgen/Zymogen/Applied Biosystems), some go intern for government (LADWP, Department of Water Resources, EPA), some go intern for food/beverage companies (Coke, Pepsico, Frito-Lay, Anheuser-Bush).

A degree in chemical engineering will take you places, you're not limited at all to chemical facilities.

For example, my job, I work for a civil firm. Another ChemE, his job is working at Cisco Systems.

I was considering doing insurance or real estate at some point if I don't like engineering in the industry. You have the fundamentals of analysis and problem solving, not limited to engineering.

Did you know the chef, Ming Tsai, whom is a very popular and wealthy chef, has a B.S. in MechE from Yale? Despite the fact he has two degrees from the Ivies, the ability to problem solve is the role of the engineer, and he applied this to his multi million restaurants in New York.

As for depressing:
What I liked most about chemical engineering at UCLA: the friendships, the camaraderie and the fun I had when it was difficult.

To give you an idea about camaraderie, in your senior design class, you and your group members will be working around the clock to make a working production plant.

Last Sunday, all the senior ChemEs were in SEAS 2nd floor, people were going insane about the project, having fun also and also ordering massive amount of pizzas for ~40 people. My group got in at 2pm, left at 11pm, we were an early group, our presentation/design was one of the best. For groups that were not so lucky, they stayed till 11pm-4am, some of their designs were great and some weren't.

Defending your senior design sucks sometimes. We had to present our design to Chevron, Biodiesel Commitees and Chair of ChemE. For some groups, they were daring to shove their design into Ph.D.s and industry people like a screw you ordeal (supercritical reactor with 400atms of pressure and 800C, insane amounts of electricity needed). Our group designed a dual reaction system which enabled us to keep pressure and temperature low (15 atm for highest, 1atm majority of times, 60C).

I will be posting a full review of the ChemE department, courses and what not after I graduate, so stay tuned!

- "5 more weeks till freedom" TB54

P.S. - It's true Cal has a better chemical engineering program but don't let that decide why you want to go to UCLA or Cal. Let the environment and which program you feel you can fit in the best decide. I will say ChemE is not an easy major hence why we're paid the highest for starting engineers (haven't head of any EE/MechE at UCLA breaking 70k starting). So regardless if you go to Cal or UCLA for ChemE, it won't be a breeze either way.

ChemE at UCLA prepares you how to work hard and efficiently. Many ChemEs who take non ChemE classes breeze through many of the classes (Chem 156, MIMG 101/101L, etc).

I haven't see any non-ChemEs take ChemE classes for breadths, this could be because ChemE is too structured or just too difficult or both or neither.

05-07-2008, 11:09 PM	#2122
TB54 Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Threads: 4 Posts: 178	Forget to mention, some people think all chemical engineers either go to petroleum or manufacturing, this is not true. Some chemical engineers go intern at biotech firms (Genetech/Amgen/Zymogen/Applied Biosystems), some go intern for government (LADWP, Department of Water Resources, EPA), some go intern for food/beverage companies (Coke, Pepsico, Frito-Lay, Anheuser-Bush). A degree in chemical engineering will take you places, you're not limited at all to chemical facilities. For example, my job, I work for a civil firm. Another ChemE, his job is working at Cisco Systems. I was considering doing insurance or real estate at some point if I don't like engineering in the industry. You have the fundamentals of analysis and problem solving, not limited to engineering. Did you know the chef, Ming Tsai, whom is a very popular and wealthy chef, has a B.S. in MechE from Yale? Despite the fact he has two degrees from the Ivies, the ability to problem solve is the role of the engineer, and he applied this to his multi million restaurants in New York. As for depressing: What I liked most about chemical engineering at UCLA: the friendships, the camaraderie and the fun I had when it was difficult. To give you an idea about camaraderie, in your senior design class, you and your group members will be working around the clock to make a working production plant. Last Sunday, all the senior ChemEs were in SEAS 2nd floor, people were going insane about the project, having fun also and also ordering massive amount of pizzas for ~40 people. My group got in at 2pm, left at 11pm, we were an early group, our presentation/design was one of the best. For groups that were not so lucky, they stayed till 11pm-4am, some of their designs were great and some weren't. Defending your senior design sucks sometimes. We had to present our design to Chevron, Biodiesel Commitees and Chair of ChemE. For some groups, they were daring to shove their design into Ph.D.s and industry people like a screw you ordeal (supercritical reactor with 400atms of pressure and 800C, insane amounts of electricity needed). Our group designed a dual reaction system which enabled us to keep pressure and temperature low (15 atm for highest, 1atm majority of times, 60C). I will be posting a full review of the ChemE department, courses and what not after I graduate, so stay tuned! - "5 more weeks till freedom" TB54 P.S. - It's true Cal has a better chemical engineering program but don't let that decide why you want to go to UCLA or Cal. Let the environment and which program you feel you can fit in the best decide. I will say ChemE is not an easy major hence why we're paid the highest for starting engineers (haven't head of any EE/MechE at UCLA breaking 70k starting). So regardless if you go to Cal or UCLA for ChemE, it won't be a breeze either way. ChemE at UCLA prepares you how to work hard and efficiently. Many ChemEs who take non ChemE classes breeze through many of the classes (Chem 156, MIMG 101/101L, etc). I haven't see any non-ChemEs take ChemE classes for breadths, this could be because ChemE is too structured or just too difficult or both or neither. Last edited by TB54 : 05-07-2008 at 11:28 PM.