r/ChemicalEngineering May 16 '25

Student Chem vs Chem Eng.

I’m currently a Junior in highschool, and I have a college counselor. He told me he doesn’t think I’m ready for chemical engineering in college bc I don’t have AP Physcisc or AP Calc BC (I currently have Calc AB And Chem this year, AP Stats 4 and AP Precalc 5 last yr). I will take AP Physics C and BC in senior year, but he said that is a bad idea bc I will be under pressure when uni gives me conditional offer. Anyway, he is basically telling me that teenagers like me hoping to apply for Chem E are taking much much more harder classes than me and I shouldn’t apply or else I won’t get in. He suggested me to apply for Chemistry instead… He also told me I should stay away from math related majors ( prob bc he saw that I got a C+ in AP Stats but got a 4) and prob thinks I’m rly dumb and just delusional for wanting to apply for chem Eng. But I can think of any reason WHY I want to apply for Chemistry? I like chemistry, but just chemistry as a Uni major … I don’t rly want to. I know Chem E is mostly thermo and physics, and I’m willing to learn. What should I do?

Update: thanks for everyone’s advice. It rly gave me confidence. I’ll try my best to get into Chem E programs.

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u/Dino_nugsbitch May 16 '25

Ignore your counselor. They hinder your potential. Believe in yourself and get that degree  

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u/SadQlown May 16 '25

Yes, absolutely. Do not take serious advice from counselors. The biggest red flag is telling OP to go to chemistry instead. If the counselor was actually knowledgeable on the details of degrees, the counselor would have suggested mechanical engineering.

OP , big red flag from counselor. Completely disregard their opinion. Watch YouTube videos about thermo math if you feel intimidated. I promise chemical engineering is not as bad as people make it out to be.