Chemical Engineering
What you'll do in college
Chemical engineers learn to design processes that turn raw materials into useful products at industrial scale—everything from gasoline and plastics to drugs and food. Coursework includes thermodynamics, reaction engineering, transport phenomena (heat and mass flow), separations, and process design. The major has a reputation for being one of the hardest engineering disciplines because of the heavy combination of math, physics, and chemistry.
Labs let you run mini-versions of industrial processes, and many programs include co-ops at chemical or pharmaceutical plants where you spend a semester working full-time at a real factory.
What you'll do after college
Grads work in oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, food and consumer products, biotech, and increasingly clean energy and battery manufacturing. Day-to-day work involves designing or improving processes, troubleshooting equipment, and figuring out how to make production safer, cheaper, and cleaner.
Starting salaries are among the highest of any engineering major, and many grads work at large industrial sites or research labs. Many move into management or consulting after a decade.
Famous graduates
- Mae Jemison — First Black woman to travel in space; B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University
- Andrew Grove — Former CEO of Intel; B.S. in Chemical Engineering from CCNY
- Jack Welch — Former CEO of General Electric; B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UMass Amherst
Selectivity vs. earnings
By acceptance rate
By SAT median
Majors in this category
| Major | Colleges | Degrees ▼ | Male/Female | Intl | 5yr Earn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical Engineering | 174 | 8,105 | 58% / 42% | 7% | $100,829 |
| Chemical Engineering | 164 | 7,535 | 59% / 41% | 7% | $100,498 |
| Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering | 6 | 269 | 47% / 53% | 11% | $111,173 |
| Biochemical Engineering | 3 | 134 | 46% / 54% | 2% | $96,864 |
| Chemical and Biochemical Engineering | 1 | 48 | 38% / 62% | 0% | $98,212 |
| Chemical and Molecular Engineering | 1 | 36 | 64% / 36% | 8% | $92,987 |
| Chemical Engineering (Course 10) | 1 | 32 | 31% / 69% | 3% | $115,417 |
| Chemical and Biological Engineering | 1 | 29 | 31% / 69% | 21% | |
| Chemical-Biological Engineering (Course 10-B) | 1 | 17 | 53% / 47% | 18% | $115,417 |
| Chemical Engineering (Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering Track) | 1 | 5 | 40% / 60% | 0% | $88,397 |