Chemical Engineering - need thoughts regarding a disappointing visit

mom2collegekids
Wed, 19 Nov 2014 13:50:04 +0000

My son was a ChemE major at Bama and is now a MS2 (second year med student).

this prof sounds like he’s off his rocker. Or maybe he’s been recently overlooked for a promotion or tenure and he’s in a bad mood.

Who was this? Can you pm me his name?

<<<
he said there are very limited undergrad research opportunities due to the small faculty size












Smalll faculty size? The chemE dept is a good size.






& the ones they do have are highly competitive,






Well of course research opps are limited (they aren’t infinite), but each STEM prof is doing some kind of research.






that she needs to stay in her home state if she was interested in medical school,






^^ The above advice is very strange. Bama boasts a HIGHER med school acceptance rate for OOS students. For instate students, med school acceptance is about 80%. For OOS students it is 85%. OOS Bama premeds are not having trouble getting into med school…at all.






that they don’t have very many engineering electives,






I will need to check this, but there are electives. What does this guy consider to be “many”? And ChemE students don’t have room in their schedules for “many” anyway. Plus a premed ChemE has even less room, because now there are more premed prereqs.






that internships are a thing of the past and employers only want co-op experience,






Internships are not a “thing of the past” and if they were, that would affect all univs, not just Bama. Yes, there probably are some employers that prefer co-ops, but there are some employers that only do internships and don’t do co-ops.
(besides, a chemE premed really doesn’t have to do any co-ops or internships. He/she can do REUs and other medically-related ECs which med schools like just as much.)






that he’s not a fan of the STEM/MBA program,






the above, in my mind, really gives away this prof. He’s a super-negative person. He’s “not a fan of the STEM/MBA program”…lol…it’s new, it’s too new to even have an opinion yet. The fact that he is already negative speaks volumes to me.

<<<< consider UAB if she wanted a biomedical/biological focus.>>>>

lol…uh, UAB is in the state of Alabama…so if she should go to school in her own state, how does the above square.

And, frankly, BioMedE is way too risky of a major…especially for a premed. What if the student never goes to med school? Or what if the student doesn’t get “grad school qualifed” grades? What is he/she going to do with a biomedE degree? Few employers will hire a BS BioMedE. however, if the student has a ChemE or MechE degree, he/she can get a job.

I suggest that you contact Dr. Wiest. He will be able to provide more accurate info.
jwiest@eng.ua.edu