Aspiring Chemical Engineer Q's

[cookiemnstr510510]

Hello All!

I am an aspiring chemical engineer. I am currently finishing my sophomore year at community college. I live in California and will be transferring to SJSU, Berkeley or Davis this Fall. I have some questions for chemical engineers, teachers, grad students, or anyone who has more knowledge than I do about what to expect once I transfer. I am leaning more towards Davis (if i get in). Math, Physics and Chemistry don't necessarily come easy to me, but I have a very strong work ethic. To this point I have taken 3 semesters of engineering physics (mechanics, E&M, and physics 3 where i had exposure to optics, thermo, special relativity and quantum), 1 year of gen chem, 1 year of O-chem, calc 1-3, differential equations, linear algebra, 1 semester of materials science, intro to C++, 1 semester of Biology, and MATLAB.

I have looked at some of the potential schedules I will have at these 4-year universities and they include courses like P-chem in my first quarter/semester. I would like to give myself the best chance possible to excel once I transfer and I would like some advice on what I could brush up on over the summer. Out of the courses I have taken, which will be most important to have mastered for my junior year as a chemical engineering student? Are there any courses that I have not taken that would have been useful to have before my junior year? I have the summer to prepare and am up for any advice anyone has on what I can do.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Chestermiller]

Thermodynamics (especially Chemical Thermodynamics) is the bread and butter of Chemical Engineering, so it would be advisable to have good mastery of this subject. In addition, transport processes such as momentum transfer (fluid mechanics), heat transfer, and mass transfer are critical to designing and operating industrial scale chemical processes and equipment. So these would be worthwhile studying in advance. Finally, chemical reaction engineering (involving reaction kinetics) is important.