[truacaldwell]

Hey guys.
I'm here because I have a question (not a doubt )

Well, let me Introduce myself. I'm 18 years old, I study chem eng (first year, I'm a Freshman hahaha) in Madrid (so maybe my English is a bit weird, so, please, correct me in any errors you might observe). I've been having doubts about what to study since I was 15 years old. Last year (my last year in high school) I reduced my options to only two. Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. I tried to research as much as I could, but I lacked time, so I entered Chem (it was a very hard decision).

It's not that I don't like the Subjects, I love them. But I don't know if I'm going to like the work. I've been reading and I've seen that the knowledge of a chem eng about chemistry are very very poor (they know about Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Processes, etc). The work is repetitive, not very interesting... And i'm quite worried.

Firstly, I don't know if changing to Chemistry would be a good option (I wouldn't lose any year, because, at least in Spain, those subjects that you pass and are common to other subjects on other degrees don't need to be studied again). What really puts me back is that maybe I won't like as much the subjects (or maybe yes, who knows). I think the subjects in chem eng are much more practical (I mean practical not in laboratory, but in paper, there's much more about calculating, drawing, thinking, reasoning, etc. than in chemistry).

But if I stay at chem eng, maybe, I don't enjoy the career I develop, you know? I've seen that chemists have much more offers, much more enjoyable, non-repetitive works etc.

What do you guys think. Should I stay, or should I change?
You can ask for more information about my degree, what I like, etc.
Cheers!

[pcm81]

Let me answer your question by paraphrasing definition of a substance from ultimate scientific dictionary:
A substance is something that:
a physical chemist turns into a straight line,
an analytical chemist turns into procedure
an organic chemist turns into foul odor
and a chemical engineer turns into profit.

So, do you want to have fun and stay academically challenged (chemistry or any other pure science is your path) or do you want to make money (engineering)?

I like having MSc in physics, but it is my B.Sc. in engineering that is putting food on my table.