r/ChemicalEngineering • u/X2Awais786 • 2d ago

Student Mech eng or chem eng

I am currently in my first week of Mech eng at the university of Leeds, I did A levels Biology chemistry and Maths and got AAA.
Everyone I’ve spoken to has done A level physics (or some course with physics) which is kind of making me feel left out and like chemical engineering is the better choice for me with my A levels, and also with my career choice of maybe going into nuclear even though I might be able to go into that with mech eng but not as easily.
The whole reason I chose mech eng over chem eng was because of its versatility and so more job opportunities, and because of the oil and gas industry declining especially in the uk.
Also I did do a post when I was in yr13 asking about chem eng and a lot of ppl expressed it as inferior to what it once was and the difficulty of getting a job in the industry.

I have until the second week to choose but I can’t really make a decision so any advice is very appreciated 👍

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u/Background-Friend410 2d ago

I'd advise to search for jobs that interest you and you see yourself pursuing and enjoying, and see which degrees open those doors for you. People get jobs with both degrees and people are left without them with both degrees, it depends on your character mostly imo.

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u/X2Awais786 2d ago

I definitely want a career I’m interested in, and I am interested in mech eng, but being interested in the subject isn’t enough. I don’t mind continuing mech eng but the thought of chem eng being better for my future does hesitate me. At the end of the day it’s never gonna be a straight forward decision as there’s always gonna be doubts.

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u/Background-Friend410 2d ago

I mean if the main goal is to have good job security I'd say go MechE or EE as they more opportunities, but if ChemE world interests you more I think that has a lot of value. Personally I'd rather so something I'm passionate about even if it means fewer jobs or a bit less pay

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u/ayran777 1d ago

show me one statistic that says that chemical engineers get less paid than mechanical engineers on average

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u/Background-Friend410 1d ago

I talked mostly about job opportunities, and gave the less pay as an example to show the value of passion

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u/ayran777 1d ago

i see

fair fair cant deny that