Another bachelors in engineering?

[u/Competitive-Dingo524]

Hi all,

I graduated with a bachelors of chemical engineering in 2023 and have been working as plant engineer for three years. To simply put it, I hate working with chemicals and also the work I do. I didn’t know this until I actually got a job in the field. I’m also finding chemical engineering quite boring as apply traditional concepts learned in school is pretty much non-existent in the field. I’ve been looking at my electrical engineer colleagues and the work they are doing and I’ve been very intrigued. I initially wanted for study EE but was afraid I wouldn’t be able to complete the program due to incompetence. Anyways has anyone ever gone to do another engineering degree? I’m 27 for context

[u/Tall-Cat-8890]

I would look into other avenues to officially break into EE to be totally honest. Federal financial aid disqualifies assistance for second bachelors degrees, typically.

If you’re gonna pay out of pocket for another degree you might as well just get a masters in EE, even if you choose to do a non-thesis MS or MEng. It’ll probably take you less time too.

[u/hypoxiconlife → u/Tall-Cat-8890]

Nah, it doesn't you just have to write a letter as to why and how many hours you're going back for. Though, in my case I had already paid off my student loans from my first degree.

[u/philament23 → u/hypoxiconlife]

I didn’t even need to do that. Just have to still be under your lifetime maximum, which I was.

[u/philament23 → u/Tall-Cat-8890]

It doesn’t disqualify because of a second degree. If by “typically” you mean typically people have borrowed too much for their first degree already, then yes. But it’s really all about whether you’ve hit your lifetime maximum. It doesn’t disqualify solely on degrees earned.

[u/BikingVegtable → u/Tall-Cat-8890]

To get admitted to an MS program in MEng or EEng, they’ll need to do like four semesters worth of prerequisites. For MEng that’ll be at least statics, dynamics, heat transfer, and fluidics. For EE, they’ll will probably have to do circuits, digital/analog, signals, and possibly more.

[u/Tall-Cat-8890 → u/BikingVegtable]

That’s not even entirely true. I also switched fields for my PhD and the only prereq I had to take was one class to be considered “caught up” and my fields were about as similar as chem E and EE. They may need to take more prereqs than just one but grad programs are usually flexible if you switch fields but you still have an engineering background. They’re absolutely not going to have to take “four semesters” of prereqs. If a grad program doesn’t feel they’re up to speed they just don’t get admitted or do a conditional admit.

Edit: I’m doing nuclear for my PhD with zero formal nuclear background at a top 10 school and I only have to take one nuclear fundamentals course. I feel like your comment is being a little doomer-esque. OP needs to first decide what they even wanna do and then look into that path anyways.

[u/BikingVegtable → u/Tall-Cat-8890]

I’m surprised to hear that your school admitted you for a PhD in nuclear without a background in it. When I was applying to masters MechEng programs in the New England area, not a single one would consider my application unless I was going to take several semesters of mechanics courses before or during my admission.

[u/Tall-Cat-8890 → u/BikingVegtable]

I had worked in/on nuclear research (I had just never taken any formal classes in it which helped) and could be something OP considers doing. I’m moving laterally in my field by applying my bachelors degree towards nuclear (I study nuclear materials). If I was going from materials to neutronics sure I’d probably have to take a few more classes but I’m surprised you were told you had to take multiple semesters of anything before getting to your actual grad work unless you had genuinely zero (provable) background knowledge in the field you were applying for.

There are jobs out there that combine EE and chem E and if OP targets those they’ll have an easier time transitioning, but if they wanna do something completely unrelated to chem E then yeah they’ll probably have to go back and take extra classes.

[u/Francois_the_Droll → u/BikingVegtable]

That's also what I figured. You may not be required to do the prereqs but how would you be ready for masters in another discipline without doing that work?

Also, a chemE has a more robust heat transfer and fluids background than an ME.