Hey, I'm a first year eng like many on this site who needs help deciding which discipline is right for me. I've attended a few eng fairs/sessions, and I've narrowed my choices down to Chemical or Mechanical. I love physics (dynamics/kinematics) and fluid mechanics but I think once I graduate I want to do something related to water treament or petroleum extraction - something more chem eng specific.
Essentially I'm struggling to find a balance between how much I'll enjoy the courses I'll take in the following years and the kinds of jobs that I'll end up with once I graduate.

Can someone give me a walkthrough of the types of courses offered in both? and your thoughts..?


Jon

I agree physics is awesome. I suggest you look at the 08/09 course calender and look over the courses for next year. Regarding what you want to do chemical eng is more on the way on what you want to do, etc. water treament or petroleum extraction. Mechanical being popular this year, expect cut offs. Mechanical you get 1-2 electives for second year which is good. Comparing the courses, i say chemical is more harder than mechanical.

I am now in my third year of Chem Eng and Intl Studies and I have found that the people who do the 4 year "straight chem" are faced with huge amounts of work that is not in line with what they expected. By spreading your degree over 5 years and taking on either mgmt, intl studies or society, you have the opportunity to 1) lessen your course load 2) take more electives and 3) stream a little bit easier.

I am not familiar with how mech works, but in chem you would be able to stream into process control or polymers, but water treatment would be more along the lines of civil. Your best bet would be to set up a meeting with an academic advisor in JHE A214. Those people are the best resources for engineers.

I was initially planning on taking mgmt but then I also wanted to do coop as well. And since last year I was in life science and i transferred into Eng I this year, I would be here for a total of 7 years. I love Mac, but I think that's a lot to take. So I'm not sure if I'm going to do mgmt.

Which stream are you in btw? process or polymers?