1. Incorporation of Science and Engineering

Most potential undergraduates tend to look at engineering degrees as a solace, and an escape route from the stress of memorizing contents of descriptive courses. To a reasonable extent, this is factual. Engineering degrees basically involve the application of laws and principles to craft out designs. These laws are simply transformed into equations which are used in most subjects/courses being taught.

Sadly, in Chemical Engineering degree, the idea of working with formulas/equations is not absolute. Without a shadow of doubt, bulk of subjects to be taken in this degree are pure computations, but due to the evolution of science and technology, subjects such as Biotechnology, Material science and Nano technology are now being incorporated in Chemical Engineering Degree. So for those planning to take this major with the mindset of not memorizing descriptive subjects, sorry is the case, because you have tons of memorization to do.For instance Biotechnology is a fusion of Biochemistry and Microbiology, so you just cant escape memorizing functions and nomenclature of bio-molecules such as carbohydrates, amino acids, nucleic acids and fatty acids.

2. MISCONCEPTION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AS CHEMISTRY

Bulk of potential undergraduates in STEM fall victim of this misconception. For the love of Christ, don’t ever jump into taking Chemical Engineering Degree simply because you think it’s chemistry related. To be fair enough, I would say this Degree involves 20-30% chemistry subjects ( organic/inorganic, general, physical, analytical and industrial chemistry) are the main focus as far as Chemistry is concerned in Chemical Engineering

Beloved in STEM intending to take BSc Chemical Engineering, it might interest you to know that this major is APPLIED PHYSICS in disguise. How mean that could be to those taking it because they feel it’s just Chemistry. A simple definition of Chemical Eng’g which I often tell people is, ” Chemical Engineering is APPLIED PHYSICS in CHEMICAL PROCESS “. The CHEMICAL PROCESS in this definition is what make people feel it’s chemistry without paying attention to the APPLIED PHYSICS stated. Subjects such as Momentum transfer, Heat transfer, Mass transfer and Particulate technology are being offered in this Degree, and trust me, you need to be versatile in Physics in order to easily ace these subjects. The nightmare of this course is the fact that there are whole lot of physics based topics still incorporated in descriptive courses such as Environmental Eng’g. Well, don’t be scared, there are just few computations in this subject, but the idea of physics is required, because you will be touching topics which involves of designing sedimentation tanks, and concepts such as flowrates, friction and surface tension are apparently needed.

3. Laboratory intensive

Relatively, I would say this course will crack your knuckles as a result of bulky report writing for laboratory subjects. During my undergraduate days, this aspect really got me. Intensive lab subjects such as Unit operations 1 and 2, physical chemistry lab, Environmental Eng’g lab, Chemical process lab and more I cant begin to state could possibly place a furnace beneath your butt. Most report writings are required to take the format of a research paper, and this is really stressful to compile.

On a final note, Chemical Eng’g degree is not meant for super smart people alone, it’s also a course for people who are resilient and brave enough to be challenged. But one still needs to apply wisdom in choosing this course. Ensure that you have a burning passion for the course, because that’s the only fuel that will propel you in times of trial. Also see to it that you have the skills needed to make you thrive in the course and not just being superficial about it. Once these aspects are checked, then you are good to go.

By: Cleanerg Admin