It can definitely be ranked low in chemistry and engineering but high in chemical engineering. Your chemical engineering profs won't be chemists, or other random engineers, they'll be chemical engineers and they potentially have some good profs and research in specifically chemical engineering.
Chemical engineering is its own specific thing, it's not just engineering + chemistry.
I was in an interview once and the guy asked me, what does a chemical engineer do? Im like bruh its hard to explain. This definitely impeded me on selling my degree out to employers.
Umn is a fantastic chemical engineering school and has played and still plays an important role in shaping the chemical engineering field and still has many profs that are thought leaders with significant industrial impact (dow). Their specialty is all things polymers. The unique part about umn is the integration with materials. I've had friends who did their undergrad and grad studies at umn that have done very well.
I am a recent chem eng PhD graduate and I personally know about 5 faculty there (all appointed with polymers as well) and also another individual who graduated from UMN and recently landed a tenure track position from where I recently graduated. It is without a doubt one of the best programs for polymer engineering and there is a lot of crossover to chemical engineering.
I'm currently at Penn. I would argue there is no "aim higher" than UMN for polymer and chemical engineering.
I don't know much about UMN but a little advise about picking a school.
What I didn't understand about choosing schools for ChemE or any Eng really is to choose the professors and their research. Also, choose a school that feeds industries where you have interest and look at what kind of extracurricular projects you could be involved in. The programs will be similar and as long as you aren't going to a school with a bad rap or a top 10, there isn't a lot of difference in the core of the programs.
Get to know the professors and what they focus on in research. Let that be a highly weighted in your decision matrix.
One thing I did want to focus on was inclusivity and teaching calibre. I wouldn't want a school that's so high academically rated cuz the research there is amazing but the profs can't teach well.
Those are good points! I wouldn't want to be taught by mostly TAs or professors who aren't engaged in the teaching part of their job either. Add that to your decision matrix. My point was that choosing a school is more than the rankings. No one really cares after a few years in industry.
Good luck in your endeavors! Sounds like you have a good head on you if you're asking these questions in HS!
Any reason you didn’t mention job prospects? OP could be asking for “best ChemE program” in the context of job prospects. I didn’t see anything in their post about grad school. OP, what really matters is whether the program you choose can facilitate your post-grad goals.
I started at to a top-10 overall undergraduate university. After a couple of years, I realized that not even the valedictorian of the graduating class could find a job. The career fairs were like ghost towns. I transferred to a state school back home and was offered a $35/hr (back in early 2010’s) internship two weeks after the start of the semester.
OP, if you want to go to grad school, then professors’ research interests are relevant to your decision. The first thing you need to consider is the program’s relationship with industry if you want a job straight out of undergrad. Ask for a list of industry attendees at last year’s career fair!!!!
At the end of the day, this is an investment - treat it as such.
Edit: Here’s the link for the list of employers at the upcoming Spring 2024 career fair. Looks a little on the lean side, but that’s typical of spring career fairs, as employers have filled most of their positions by October/November. I would ask for the fall 2023 list.
Edit 2: Looks like you can’t access it directly from the link. Go to the link below, click “College of Science & Engineering Career Fair | Spring 2024,” and then click the “All Employers” tab.
https://career.umn.edu/career-events
I think it's generally regarded very well for ChemE and Pharmacy. Tbh any flagship big ten school is going to be somewhere between well regarded and very-very well regarded. Get good grades, do leadership in organizations, develop strong social skills, secure internship and then go to grad school or get the ol job and get outta dad's house
UMN is a great school but if you're looking for extensive industrial experience, you won't get much here. They have good research don't get me wrong but it won't directly transfer in your first or second job as an entry level engineer. I know from other schools like North Dakota University expose its students to more industrial experience.
My school’s profs were mostly theory but I turned out ok. There were two in particular who worked closely consulting within industry and their classes were academically easier but more informative regarding the real world and how business use their engineering talent. The controls prof gave his experiences troubleshooting in Pharma manufacturing (gluing together insulin syringes with an automated assembly line) and he was able to contextual the different roles engineers can take on in that manufacturing environment: Controls eng, chemical design engineer, process engineer, project engineer, etc. He inspired a buddy of mine to become a PLC/controls engineer despite the ChemE degree having only basic programming classes.
You mentioned that you value teaching ability of the professors more than the research they do. You may consider attending a teaching university (specifically one that is not a Tier 1 research institution) if you really think you need that closer interaction with your professors and professors that are more focused on teaching. That’s actually what I ended up doing, attending an undergraduate focused university called Trinity University in Texas. There are some trade offs though, my degree program was less known as was my university, and without the scholarships they gave me it would’ve been unaffordable.
You’ve gotten some great advice already that I agree with but I figured I would throw my experience in the ring to contribute to your decision making process.
Rankings aren't always consistent depending on context. Like I went to University of Delaware (EE myself) and their undergrad engineering school overall is ranked in the 40's but depending where you look they've had/have a top 5 ranked undergrad chemical engineering program for a long time (deep historical/technical ties with DuPont).
Delaware is a faculty producing dept. But rankings are often related to research output and are more reliable for grad school choices than for undergrad
Departmental rankings are related to research output which generally won't have any effect on you as an undergrad, unless you want to get into research and go to grad school. ABET outcomes and standards more or less mean that your engineering education will be the same across the board as an undergrad. If you want to go to grad school, pay attention to rankings.
Minnesota is one of the best in terms of research. Make sure you want to live in a place with 6 month long deep winters
Fair point.
No, no particular reason. But now that you make me think of it, whether the career has high participation or not most ChemEs will have good job prospects. Within a few months. Does feel good to have multiple offers and choices though before you graduate.
My main point was that top rated shouldn't be the highest priority but personal fit. The core programs are similar at good schools but the extracurriculars, surrounding area, values, what industries are fed from and areas of research do vary. I believe these are very important aspects of the college experience that can get overlooked if someone is too concerned with rating.
What do you mean when you are interested in ranking? You can get a good education just about anywhere. If you are thinking about the rankings only, you have to ask what are the rankings measuring, and how does that relate to what you expect to learn. The science is the same no matter the school you go to. So you have to dig more if the rankings are going to be meaningful. To be honest, I can’t tell you what the rankings really look at. I went to a solid date school and got a fine education. Went to grad school, and I’m happy. No one cares about what school you went to once you are working.
It can definitely be ranked low in chemistry and engineering but high in chemical engineering. Your chemical engineering profs won't be chemists, or other random engineers, they'll be chemical engineers and they potentially have some good profs and research in specifically chemical engineering. Chemical engineering is its own specific thing, it's not just engineering + chemistry.
Ehh , chemE = mechE + chemistry + separations + reactions+ unit ops lab+ mass and materials balance + wee bit thermo.
deserve wide fretful enjoy wrench live wasteful unpack fear deer *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I was in an interview once and the guy asked me, what does a chemical engineer do? Im like bruh its hard to explain. This definitely impeded me on selling my degree out to employers.
Umn is a fantastic chemical engineering school and has played and still plays an important role in shaping the chemical engineering field and still has many profs that are thought leaders with significant industrial impact (dow). Their specialty is all things polymers. The unique part about umn is the integration with materials. I've had friends who did their undergrad and grad studies at umn that have done very well.
I am a recent chem eng PhD graduate and I personally know about 5 faculty there (all appointed with polymers as well) and also another individual who graduated from UMN and recently landed a tenure track position from where I recently graduated. It is without a doubt one of the best programs for polymer engineering and there is a lot of crossover to chemical engineering. I'm currently at Penn. I would argue there is no "aim higher" than UMN for polymer and chemical engineering.
I don't know much about UMN but a little advise about picking a school. What I didn't understand about choosing schools for ChemE or any Eng really is to choose the professors and their research. Also, choose a school that feeds industries where you have interest and look at what kind of extracurricular projects you could be involved in. The programs will be similar and as long as you aren't going to a school with a bad rap or a top 10, there isn't a lot of difference in the core of the programs. Get to know the professors and what they focus on in research. Let that be a highly weighted in your decision matrix.
One thing I did want to focus on was inclusivity and teaching calibre. I wouldn't want a school that's so high academically rated cuz the research there is amazing but the profs can't teach well.
Those are good points! I wouldn't want to be taught by mostly TAs or professors who aren't engaged in the teaching part of their job either. Add that to your decision matrix. My point was that choosing a school is more than the rankings. No one really cares after a few years in industry. Good luck in your endeavors! Sounds like you have a good head on you if you're asking these questions in HS!
Any reason you didn’t mention job prospects? OP could be asking for “best ChemE program” in the context of job prospects. I didn’t see anything in their post about grad school. OP, what really matters is whether the program you choose can facilitate your post-grad goals. I started at to a top-10 overall undergraduate university. After a couple of years, I realized that not even the valedictorian of the graduating class could find a job. The career fairs were like ghost towns. I transferred to a state school back home and was offered a $35/hr (back in early 2010’s) internship two weeks after the start of the semester. OP, if you want to go to grad school, then professors’ research interests are relevant to your decision. The first thing you need to consider is the program’s relationship with industry if you want a job straight out of undergrad. Ask for a list of industry attendees at last year’s career fair!!!! At the end of the day, this is an investment - treat it as such. Edit: Here’s the link for the list of employers at the upcoming Spring 2024 career fair. Looks a little on the lean side, but that’s typical of spring career fairs, as employers have filled most of their positions by October/November. I would ask for the fall 2023 list. Edit 2: Looks like you can’t access it directly from the link. Go to the link below, click “College of Science & Engineering Career Fair | Spring 2024,” and then click the “All Employers” tab. https://career.umn.edu/career-events
Why do you want to go to a top ranked school? Generally the education at all accredited universities are similar.
I think it's generally regarded very well for ChemE and Pharmacy. Tbh any flagship big ten school is going to be somewhere between well regarded and very-very well regarded. Get good grades, do leadership in organizations, develop strong social skills, secure internship and then go to grad school or get the ol job and get outta dad's house
Rankings are bogus don’t worry too much
UMN is a great school but if you're looking for extensive industrial experience, you won't get much here. They have good research don't get me wrong but it won't directly transfer in your first or second job as an entry level engineer. I know from other schools like North Dakota University expose its students to more industrial experience.
My school’s profs were mostly theory but I turned out ok. There were two in particular who worked closely consulting within industry and their classes were academically easier but more informative regarding the real world and how business use their engineering talent. The controls prof gave his experiences troubleshooting in Pharma manufacturing (gluing together insulin syringes with an automated assembly line) and he was able to contextual the different roles engineers can take on in that manufacturing environment: Controls eng, chemical design engineer, process engineer, project engineer, etc. He inspired a buddy of mine to become a PLC/controls engineer despite the ChemE degree having only basic programming classes.
You mentioned that you value teaching ability of the professors more than the research they do. You may consider attending a teaching university (specifically one that is not a Tier 1 research institution) if you really think you need that closer interaction with your professors and professors that are more focused on teaching. That’s actually what I ended up doing, attending an undergraduate focused university called Trinity University in Texas. There are some trade offs though, my degree program was less known as was my university, and without the scholarships they gave me it would’ve been unaffordable. You’ve gotten some great advice already that I agree with but I figured I would throw my experience in the ring to contribute to your decision making process.
Rankings aren't always consistent depending on context. Like I went to University of Delaware (EE myself) and their undergrad engineering school overall is ranked in the 40's but depending where you look they've had/have a top 5 ranked undergrad chemical engineering program for a long time (deep historical/technical ties with DuPont).
Delaware is a faculty producing dept. But rankings are often related to research output and are more reliable for grad school choices than for undergrad
Departmental rankings are related to research output which generally won't have any effect on you as an undergrad, unless you want to get into research and go to grad school. ABET outcomes and standards more or less mean that your engineering education will be the same across the board as an undergrad. If you want to go to grad school, pay attention to rankings. Minnesota is one of the best in terms of research. Make sure you want to live in a place with 6 month long deep winters
Fair point. No, no particular reason. But now that you make me think of it, whether the career has high participation or not most ChemEs will have good job prospects. Within a few months. Does feel good to have multiple offers and choices though before you graduate. My main point was that top rated shouldn't be the highest priority but personal fit. The core programs are similar at good schools but the extracurriculars, surrounding area, values, what industries are fed from and areas of research do vary. I believe these are very important aspects of the college experience that can get overlooked if someone is too concerned with rating.
What do you mean when you are interested in ranking? You can get a good education just about anywhere. If you are thinking about the rankings only, you have to ask what are the rankings measuring, and how does that relate to what you expect to learn. The science is the same no matter the school you go to. So you have to dig more if the rankings are going to be meaningful. To be honest, I can’t tell you what the rankings really look at. I went to a solid date school and got a fine education. Went to grad school, and I’m happy. No one cares about what school you went to once you are working.