What kind of high school students should consider majoring in chemical engineering in college?
Students who are good in chemistry and math and like both subjects should consider it. You need an interest in chemistry; you will work a lot with chemicals. And nowadays, it helps to have some interest in molecular biology – DNA, the genetic code. And because they work in teams and must communicate well, those science students who like to talk and write will also do well as chemical engineers. I recently spoke to a group of incoming students at NJIT, some of whom are chemical engineering majors. I asked them why they’ve selected chemical engineering. Invariably they say it’s because they had a good chemistry teacher and that they like math. All chemical engineering courses have math, calculus and even higher-level math. Sometimes they say “my dad or an uncle or a friend of the family is an engineer.” But having a good teacher is critical. So if any high school students are reading this, I hope you can find a great chemistry teacher. What is the difference between a chemist and a chemi
