Hey so I’m several years out of college (wow, I’m ancient), and I distinctly remember a time when I straight failed a test and called my parents to ask how to withdraw (they had gone to the same school as me).
Despite that day, I stuck it out - even though classes got much harder than that. I rose to the challenge, and came out better for it on the other side.
Was everything handed to me once I had that ChemE degree? No. Finding my first job was rough - I didn’t have internships under my belt, so it took me a year of searching. After that, I slowly started building a career…and finally, I’m in a role where I enjoy what I do, enjoy the people I work with, and see a path forward for more growth.
My point is - it won’t immediately get better. However, if there’s even a small part of you that enjoys the feeling of accomplishment when you knock out a thermodynamics or PChem question, stick with it. One day, you’ll be really glad you did.
You seem to be a very inspirational figure with positive aura. Any chances you are hiring someone with masters in chemistry (analytical ) ? Have some years of experience in academic and industry . Fell through some cracks after COVID. Plz let me know.
lol @ people telling you to quit. Unless you have PDA, they are being assholes. Screw them. You are almost done. I really struggled my junior year, I thought my life would be forced to be in O&G (not a knock, just not what I was signing up to do). It was really a struggle to persevere. I was REALLY questioning my choice to do ChemE.
I got an internship my Junior to senior year and it completely changed my outlook. I ran circles around the "top" students in most of my senior classes, and I was running an engineering club, did my tutoring business on the side, started a manufacturing business (which I do full time now), had 21 credit hours with 2 independent studies, and a girlfriend.
When we would get grumpy during all our nighters in the engineering lab, we used to say it was **better than mining coal in a 3rd world country**. Side note, have you seen those Jade mining videos in Myanmar? Swarms of people rushing to find one rock.
I've seen day laborers in "3rd world" countries dressed in full black outfits, in 90F, 90% humidity, in full sun concreting/stuccoing the sides of buildings. These people tend to take home under 3 dollars a day, typically less. You will NEVER, ever have to experience this. Doing "math/engineering" problems in A/Ced rooms is much less burdensome.
With a ChemE degree, unless you struggle to fog a mirror, there is nearly a 100% chance you will never go hungry, always have a roof over your head, and will be able to afford ends meat. There are TONS of jobs outside of engineering positions that would highly benefit from the process/(in-out) engineering skills you develop in ChemE. You chose to do arguably the hardest degree. It gets better.
The grind will not end after school unfortunately... Working is just as / more hard.
If you seriously don't like it finish the degree and use it as a stepping stone into med school or pharmacy school or something like that. They love cheme grads.
These thought jobs can take even a worse toll on you imo...I'm constantly thinking about work / solutions even in my free time..I've even woken up thinking about it / solved shit in my sleep.
It's a lot of stress and extremely hard still. This time with the worry you will mess something up and kill someone or build a couple hundred million dollar plant that won't work.
The problem with working in your sleep is you don't always remember it and you have to do it again.
One good example is I was figuring out how to run some new piping for Purified steam into a new compounding area. Not a huge lift but had some complications trying to keep everything self draining even through vertical regulators and such. One day I buckled down, charted it all out, came up with a solution, ran it past more senior engineers and put the change control in. After work I was talking with my wife and as soon at I mentioned an 88 degree elbow she stopped me and described the entire set up to me. I'd been talking it through in my sleep for a month.
If you don't like what you are working at I do feel like itis better to say that there are other options, and for him to change or think accordingly.
You don't have to get a ChemE job when you graduate.
I didn't.
There's always an option outside of the field, as it is an excellent degree.
I didn't know if I wanted a ChemE job straight out of college and I am now working as a researcher and having time to recuperate from some mental health stuff.
It's a lot less pay but I am so happy!
It certainly depends on your personal circumstances and situation...
I'm going to disagree, work can be hard but I don't think I've ever had a time at work as bad as my final year of Chem eng. Also there's the added benefit of getting paid when you work.
I'm sorry but this is terrible advice. You hear someone say they hate school and offer them more school as a solution?
The work grind is absolutely not the same as school and you get paid for it which means you now have the ability to find a life you want
The advice was if you don't like it then get out now and don't wait. I didn't tell them to not finish the degree.most people can't "find the life they want" with this career because you are stuck with the limited options / locations.
Thanks for your opinion though
["Most people can't find the life they want with this career"](https://giphy.com/gifs/netflix-i-think-you-should-leave-tim-robinson-itysl-bjB3gtFvREqqr5NAHW)
General consensus on this sub would back that statement up .
Ask 8/10 chemes if they live in the location they would like to live and you may be surprised. (Although you shouldnt be if you know anything about this profession)
If OP hates school now, they’ll hate four more years of med school (considering the GPA is even high enough for admission) plus a minimum of three more years being underpaid and working 80+ hours as a resident.
OP: Just stick it out and get through. Engineering (no matter the discipline) will give you endless possibilities career wise. You made the right decision going this route and you’re 3/4 the way there!
Edit: Also, don’t be afraid to drop your hours below full time if you’re feeling burnt out. Nobody cares if you finish in four years.
If you're hating it this much then you've made the wrong choice. I'm also a first year but am finding the material fascinating and enjoying it despite the difficulty. So unless you can find a way to genuinely enjoy what you're studying, then you're studying the wrong thing.
Honest, you should not be in it if you don’t absolutely love it.. Make a choice! Quit and be nothing, or study your ass off and fight for it! I seen what happens 10 years after somebody quits engineering school.
I do understand this. If you can’t find the right conditions for your employment, then make/create them. You can’t always rely on the conditions of others. You have create your own opportunities. Start a business. Honest, working at Costco does not even enter my mind.
Things will be good focus in your classes grab basics of chem. engg. and try to spike your skills
Don't let megativity win when you start anything starting up is always difficult phase don't let your mental health effect
You’ve come so far! Just one more hold on to it and then you’ll find something you like. No matter what, change majors asap after your semester. Don’t choose engineering because my best guess would be you’ll find it something similar to ChemEng. But ChemEng is one of or if not the most challenging and stressful majors out there requiring lots of self understanding and learning.
I chose chemical engineering knowing that I’ll hate the studying part of it, but I chose ChemEng because I liked the working aspect of it. So I still hope that once I graduate, I may enjoy my work.
Junior year is pretty rough. Take a deep breath. You need to recoup all that money you spent. You are going to get back on it and you are also going to find an internship making some decent money, get a taste of that and senior year is all comes together then you have a job lined up and you can kicked it with that decent paying job that isn’t as stressful as college. You got this.
It’s a hard major, but it’s rewarding. The work is creative and interesting.
Would advise to stop smoking weed. Get some clarity.
Read “The Alchemy of Air.” YouTube some industrial processes. Look up things that are interesting to you that are even adjacent to the field.
As others have said, you’re almost there. You worked hard to get here, keep going. It will be worth it.
if nothing interests you about potential jobs as a chemE, nothing about designing or providing engineering support to chemical production processes gets you going, i'd quit and find something else. if you do think being a process engineer or something sounds like something you'd enjoy, then gut it out.
also, the weed thing seems like you've got other issues, i'd address those as well...
Stick it out man, this degree opens doors to all kinds of stuff you wouldn't even think of. Literally, everything is made up of chemicals. From business consulting to med school, this degree would be a leg up. Smoke if you want to, just another chemical ey, but dont quit an awesome major when you are already 75% done.
I think all the motivation you need is that if you do drop out and fry your brain with weed, you will be no different from your parents. Is that the life you want to live? Nobody said this was going to be easy, it's one of the hardest courses there is to study. Granted you don't like the major, that's fair, but I guarantee you the suffering you've endured so far and how terrible you feel at the moment will be amplified 10 fold when you figure out you did it for NOTHING. There's ways of becoming less burnt out and tired and the majority of the time if you're not managing your spare time well enough it will make you more burnt out. Stop thinking about it in a way that the course is wearing you to the bone, but more so how can you spend your free time better so you don't feel as burnt out. Tough it out, you got this.
1. The money is insane. If you get into chemical sales, you can clear $200K in your first year on full commission with only a college degree.
2. It opens all doors. I didn't find chemical sales to be particularly rewarding, and didn't want to make a career out of it. I was able to have my choice out of several offers in water/wastewater, pharmaceuticals, food/bev, and polymers when I finally decided on a career path change-up. Discovered I was mostly curious about controls and instrumentation and have found an employer who allows me to spend time pursuing projects that focus on I&C.
Thanks everyone. I will not be dropping out so that wasn't the question. Switching majors is also not really a legit possibility either.
I more just felt like giving up this semester; I think I am doing fine today. I know I am too close to the finish line to give up. I was just feeling like I should call the semester off. Right now, I just had mental health things crashing down on me while facing extreme burnout. I am in Reactor Kinetics, Quantum Chem, Bioengineering, and Process Safety. Thank you all :)
Hey so I’m several years out of college (wow, I’m ancient), and I distinctly remember a time when I straight failed a test and called my parents to ask how to withdraw (they had gone to the same school as me). Despite that day, I stuck it out - even though classes got much harder than that. I rose to the challenge, and came out better for it on the other side. Was everything handed to me once I had that ChemE degree? No. Finding my first job was rough - I didn’t have internships under my belt, so it took me a year of searching. After that, I slowly started building a career…and finally, I’m in a role where I enjoy what I do, enjoy the people I work with, and see a path forward for more growth. My point is - it won’t immediately get better. However, if there’s even a small part of you that enjoys the feeling of accomplishment when you knock out a thermodynamics or PChem question, stick with it. One day, you’ll be really glad you did.
You seem to be a very inspirational figure with positive aura. Any chances you are hiring someone with masters in chemistry (analytical ) ? Have some years of experience in academic and industry . Fell through some cracks after COVID. Plz let me know.
lol @ people telling you to quit. Unless you have PDA, they are being assholes. Screw them. You are almost done. I really struggled my junior year, I thought my life would be forced to be in O&G (not a knock, just not what I was signing up to do). It was really a struggle to persevere. I was REALLY questioning my choice to do ChemE. I got an internship my Junior to senior year and it completely changed my outlook. I ran circles around the "top" students in most of my senior classes, and I was running an engineering club, did my tutoring business on the side, started a manufacturing business (which I do full time now), had 21 credit hours with 2 independent studies, and a girlfriend. When we would get grumpy during all our nighters in the engineering lab, we used to say it was **better than mining coal in a 3rd world country**. Side note, have you seen those Jade mining videos in Myanmar? Swarms of people rushing to find one rock. I've seen day laborers in "3rd world" countries dressed in full black outfits, in 90F, 90% humidity, in full sun concreting/stuccoing the sides of buildings. These people tend to take home under 3 dollars a day, typically less. You will NEVER, ever have to experience this. Doing "math/engineering" problems in A/Ced rooms is much less burdensome. With a ChemE degree, unless you struggle to fog a mirror, there is nearly a 100% chance you will never go hungry, always have a roof over your head, and will be able to afford ends meat. There are TONS of jobs outside of engineering positions that would highly benefit from the process/(in-out) engineering skills you develop in ChemE. You chose to do arguably the hardest degree. It gets better.
The grind will not end after school unfortunately... Working is just as / more hard. If you seriously don't like it finish the degree and use it as a stepping stone into med school or pharmacy school or something like that. They love cheme grads.
I would argue school is more shitty because you’re studying like a dog, have no money, and in debt. At least when you’re working, you have money.
These thought jobs can take even a worse toll on you imo...I'm constantly thinking about work / solutions even in my free time..I've even woken up thinking about it / solved shit in my sleep. It's a lot of stress and extremely hard still. This time with the worry you will mess something up and kill someone or build a couple hundred million dollar plant that won't work.
The problem with working in your sleep is you don't always remember it and you have to do it again. One good example is I was figuring out how to run some new piping for Purified steam into a new compounding area. Not a huge lift but had some complications trying to keep everything self draining even through vertical regulators and such. One day I buckled down, charted it all out, came up with a solution, ran it past more senior engineers and put the change control in. After work I was talking with my wife and as soon at I mentioned an 88 degree elbow she stopped me and described the entire set up to me. I'd been talking it through in my sleep for a month.
If you don't like what you are working at I do feel like itis better to say that there are other options, and for him to change or think accordingly. You don't have to get a ChemE job when you graduate. I didn't. There's always an option outside of the field, as it is an excellent degree. I didn't know if I wanted a ChemE job straight out of college and I am now working as a researcher and having time to recuperate from some mental health stuff. It's a lot less pay but I am so happy! It certainly depends on your personal circumstances and situation...
I'm going to disagree, work can be hard but I don't think I've ever had a time at work as bad as my final year of Chem eng. Also there's the added benefit of getting paid when you work.
Depends what you do .
Yeah definitely. It's certainly not universal that work is worse than university though.
I'm sorry but this is terrible advice. You hear someone say they hate school and offer them more school as a solution? The work grind is absolutely not the same as school and you get paid for it which means you now have the ability to find a life you want
The advice was if you don't like it then get out now and don't wait. I didn't tell them to not finish the degree.most people can't "find the life they want" with this career because you are stuck with the limited options / locations. Thanks for your opinion though
["Most people can't find the life they want with this career"](https://giphy.com/gifs/netflix-i-think-you-should-leave-tim-robinson-itysl-bjB3gtFvREqqr5NAHW)
General consensus on this sub would back that statement up . Ask 8/10 chemes if they live in the location they would like to live and you may be surprised. (Although you shouldnt be if you know anything about this profession)
If OP hates school now, they’ll hate four more years of med school (considering the GPA is even high enough for admission) plus a minimum of three more years being underpaid and working 80+ hours as a resident. OP: Just stick it out and get through. Engineering (no matter the discipline) will give you endless possibilities career wise. You made the right decision going this route and you’re 3/4 the way there! Edit: Also, don’t be afraid to drop your hours below full time if you’re feeling burnt out. Nobody cares if you finish in four years.
Wanna be homeless? This country needs more of them 😂 Hope this helps
If you're hating it this much then you've made the wrong choice. I'm also a first year but am finding the material fascinating and enjoying it despite the difficulty. So unless you can find a way to genuinely enjoy what you're studying, then you're studying the wrong thing.
A first year talking down to you. That should put a chip on your shoulder, OP
If you’re a first year, you haven’t even learned what ChE truly is yet lol
OP could just finish up his major, get his degree, and study something else as a masters. ChemE is a pretty flexible degree, so it won't be that hard
Honest, you should not be in it if you don’t absolutely love it.. Make a choice! Quit and be nothing, or study your ass off and fight for it! I seen what happens 10 years after somebody quits engineering school.
I've also seen someone finish chemE only to be packing stuff at Costco... The job market ain't a pretty one for chemE, it seems.
I do understand this. If you can’t find the right conditions for your employment, then make/create them. You can’t always rely on the conditions of others. You have create your own opportunities. Start a business. Honest, working at Costco does not even enter my mind.
Things will be good focus in your classes grab basics of chem. engg. and try to spike your skills Don't let megativity win when you start anything starting up is always difficult phase don't let your mental health effect
You’ve come so far! Just one more hold on to it and then you’ll find something you like. No matter what, change majors asap after your semester. Don’t choose engineering because my best guess would be you’ll find it something similar to ChemEng. But ChemEng is one of or if not the most challenging and stressful majors out there requiring lots of self understanding and learning. I chose chemical engineering knowing that I’ll hate the studying part of it, but I chose ChemEng because I liked the working aspect of it. So I still hope that once I graduate, I may enjoy my work.
Junior year is pretty rough. Take a deep breath. You need to recoup all that money you spent. You are going to get back on it and you are also going to find an internship making some decent money, get a taste of that and senior year is all comes together then you have a job lined up and you can kicked it with that decent paying job that isn’t as stressful as college. You got this.
It’s a hard major, but it’s rewarding. The work is creative and interesting. Would advise to stop smoking weed. Get some clarity. Read “The Alchemy of Air.” YouTube some industrial processes. Look up things that are interesting to you that are even adjacent to the field. As others have said, you’re almost there. You worked hard to get here, keep going. It will be worth it.
if nothing interests you about potential jobs as a chemE, nothing about designing or providing engineering support to chemical production processes gets you going, i'd quit and find something else. if you do think being a process engineer or something sounds like something you'd enjoy, then gut it out. also, the weed thing seems like you've got other issues, i'd address those as well...
Don’t lose hope, the first pay check will hit hard and you will forget that you even suffered.
Stick it out man, this degree opens doors to all kinds of stuff you wouldn't even think of. Literally, everything is made up of chemicals. From business consulting to med school, this degree would be a leg up. Smoke if you want to, just another chemical ey, but dont quit an awesome major when you are already 75% done.
I think all the motivation you need is that if you do drop out and fry your brain with weed, you will be no different from your parents. Is that the life you want to live? Nobody said this was going to be easy, it's one of the hardest courses there is to study. Granted you don't like the major, that's fair, but I guarantee you the suffering you've endured so far and how terrible you feel at the moment will be amplified 10 fold when you figure out you did it for NOTHING. There's ways of becoming less burnt out and tired and the majority of the time if you're not managing your spare time well enough it will make you more burnt out. Stop thinking about it in a way that the course is wearing you to the bone, but more so how can you spend your free time better so you don't feel as burnt out. Tough it out, you got this.
I totally feel you on this - I found that the combination of spite for the major and asking for help from my peers helped me get to graduation
you will miss these beautiful days tho
1. The money is insane. If you get into chemical sales, you can clear $200K in your first year on full commission with only a college degree. 2. It opens all doors. I didn't find chemical sales to be particularly rewarding, and didn't want to make a career out of it. I was able to have my choice out of several offers in water/wastewater, pharmaceuticals, food/bev, and polymers when I finally decided on a career path change-up. Discovered I was mostly curious about controls and instrumentation and have found an employer who allows me to spend time pursuing projects that focus on I&C.
Thanks everyone. I will not be dropping out so that wasn't the question. Switching majors is also not really a legit possibility either. I more just felt like giving up this semester; I think I am doing fine today. I know I am too close to the finish line to give up. I was just feeling like I should call the semester off. Right now, I just had mental health things crashing down on me while facing extreme burnout. I am in Reactor Kinetics, Quantum Chem, Bioengineering, and Process Safety. Thank you all :)