I wouldn’t try any of the professional schools if you aren’t passionate about them. Med/law school is expensive and even PhD is expensive if you consider opportunity cost. Just get a job and get paid while you figure out what you want to do. The internship will help a little with letting you know if you’re even interested in manufacturing. Sounds like you’re a little bookish from your write up- may be in for a shock working at a plant.
I’m paying almost nothing for my BS degree, so I have a fair bit saved up for higher studies if necessary. I work in a mill right now, so I’m pretty involved with all the machinery. I’m hoping I should be fine working in a plant setting. In fact, even if I haven’t had the experience, I would like to push out of my comfort zone and do new things.
Both med and law school would be $100-200K depending on where you go. He’s also talking about the opportunity cost, meaning that the years that you are in school/residency or waiting to get a good job after med/law school you’re losing out on valuable compounding/growth. The earlier you start with investing and retirement the better. Regardless, do what you want or feel intrigued by because you might as well enjoy your career.
Question: Why are you so set on graduate/professional school when you have no idea what you are interested in? This seems to 100% be coming from your parents. You don't need to take the career path your parents want you to. It's not like a BS in ChemE is settling.
>I have NO idea what I’m really interested in.
If you have no idea, the worst thing you can do is spend $ on a graduate program that you're going to drop out of. Go find any job in industry over losing both money and time (opportunity cost) by going to graduate school.
>my GPA isn’t gonna be that high compared to the neuro and bios applying
MCAT score matters way more than GPA, and you're at a 3.7. This isn't an issue if you want to go to med school. You got a 3.7 GPA at a notoriously difficult ChemE school, you can get a great MCAT score if you truly want to go down this path (and maybe didn't suck at bio).
Do you want to be a doctor? Do you fully understand the difficulty of the path ahead of you? 4 years med school, 4-6 years residency making 50-60k/yr, 0-3 years fellowship. You won't be an attending (or have much time for a life) until you're 30-35 depending on specialty, and have 400-500k in debt to start out. Residency is called residency because the thought was that you live at the hospital. You're working 80+ hr/wk for that 50-60k/yr.
>PhD is not off the table, but I’m not sure what exactly I would study.
If you don't know what you want to get a PhD in, definitely don't start a PhD for the sake of it. PhD is one of the few paths that does pigeon hole your career.
Based on everything I read, I'd say go to industry. Find the industry and type of role that you're interested in. FYI - paper is one of the worst industries, so please don't equate industry to what your experience is at the paper mill.
Part of it is definitely what my parents have said. I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m not going to get a job, and I feel like professional school somewhat solidifies that I will. I feel like if I really bust my ass, I could see where med school takes me, but I’m not fully sure on that. I totally agree with you on the PhD part actually, it doesn’t really make sense for me. I’m leaning towards the industry too, just exploring the other options before it’s too late.
You're an incoming junior and already have had 2 experiences and are going to graduate from a top engineering school with a good GPA. The only one that thinks you won't get a job is you. There are tons of opportunities and different paths you can go down and you are only starting to scratch the surface of what chemical engineering is.
> I could see where med school takes me, but I’m not fully sure on that
Don't do medicine if you aren't passionate about it. A close friend just got his MD and in hindsight wouldn't have done it (probably be a middle practitioner instead). Have you ever volunteered at a hospital? Do you know the work environment? Have you experienced the emotional side of healthcare? It's very hard and not for everyone.
Small world - I have almost the same story as you, went to Tech, and worked in the Prausnitz lab for4 years. I went through all the options. Thought I wanted to be a doctor, switched to wanting to get a PhD, then patent attorney at the end (even took the LSAT). I now work in Pharma consulting (design build firm) and just passed my PE test, so I’ll be licensed this summer.
Two good pieces of advice my dad gave me, who is also a tech alum:
1) going back to school is harder if you take a break. You get used to making adult money and being a student again isn’t appealing. I saw this while studying for my PE. It was brutal giving up my evenings to studying again.
2) after becoming wishy-washy on law school, he said “here’s an idea: why don’t you get a job??” Honestly, fair point. Hadn’t even considered that haha.
You can always go back to school if industry isn’t your jam. See how you like your internship and take it from there. There’s a million and one options for ChemEs in a plant setting, from cosmetics to semiconductors. Message me if you want to talk more!
Wow, that’s insane. Right down to the professor lol. This is very reassuring to hear, and yeah I figure going back would be harder, that’s why I’m trying to sort it out now. Thanks so much for ur input!
hi i'm also a chbe at tech right now (though not in prausnitz lab haha) -- how did you get into pharma consulting + where are you located rn if you don'y mind answering? 🐝
I kinda picked it at random, and happened to like it after my first few classes. I’m just trying to see if doing higher studies will open more doors up. If I don’t pursue any more education, I’ll be perfectly happy just working in the field!
Don't go to medical school just cause your parents want you to. Continuing education will always be there. Go get a job when you graduate and see what shakes out. You've already got an impressive resume from a great school, with academic research and an industry internship on it. Go make some money and see if you like money
If you don't know what you want to do, start working. Professional school and grad school should only be pursued if you truly have a passion for those things. Both of those require a higher level of commitment than college and you also want to be sure you want the exit opportunities those provide. I myself actually started working after college when I didn't get into grad school, and over time, I found two areas of work I liked and was good at (management and project management). Neither were in my plans for careers, but I'm not sure I'd have ever tried them had I just gone to grad school. That's how life is sometimes...
Why not just see what kind of MCAT score you can get and then GRE and see what your options are then? You don’t have to put all your eggs in one basket and choose right now.
I wouldn’t try any of the professional schools if you aren’t passionate about them. Med/law school is expensive and even PhD is expensive if you consider opportunity cost. Just get a job and get paid while you figure out what you want to do. The internship will help a little with letting you know if you’re even interested in manufacturing. Sounds like you’re a little bookish from your write up- may be in for a shock working at a plant.
I’m paying almost nothing for my BS degree, so I have a fair bit saved up for higher studies if necessary. I work in a mill right now, so I’m pretty involved with all the machinery. I’m hoping I should be fine working in a plant setting. In fact, even if I haven’t had the experience, I would like to push out of my comfort zone and do new things.
Both med and law school would be $100-200K depending on where you go. He’s also talking about the opportunity cost, meaning that the years that you are in school/residency or waiting to get a good job after med/law school you’re losing out on valuable compounding/growth. The earlier you start with investing and retirement the better. Regardless, do what you want or feel intrigued by because you might as well enjoy your career.
Question: Why are you so set on graduate/professional school when you have no idea what you are interested in? This seems to 100% be coming from your parents. You don't need to take the career path your parents want you to. It's not like a BS in ChemE is settling. >I have NO idea what I’m really interested in. If you have no idea, the worst thing you can do is spend $ on a graduate program that you're going to drop out of. Go find any job in industry over losing both money and time (opportunity cost) by going to graduate school. >my GPA isn’t gonna be that high compared to the neuro and bios applying MCAT score matters way more than GPA, and you're at a 3.7. This isn't an issue if you want to go to med school. You got a 3.7 GPA at a notoriously difficult ChemE school, you can get a great MCAT score if you truly want to go down this path (and maybe didn't suck at bio). Do you want to be a doctor? Do you fully understand the difficulty of the path ahead of you? 4 years med school, 4-6 years residency making 50-60k/yr, 0-3 years fellowship. You won't be an attending (or have much time for a life) until you're 30-35 depending on specialty, and have 400-500k in debt to start out. Residency is called residency because the thought was that you live at the hospital. You're working 80+ hr/wk for that 50-60k/yr. >PhD is not off the table, but I’m not sure what exactly I would study. If you don't know what you want to get a PhD in, definitely don't start a PhD for the sake of it. PhD is one of the few paths that does pigeon hole your career. Based on everything I read, I'd say go to industry. Find the industry and type of role that you're interested in. FYI - paper is one of the worst industries, so please don't equate industry to what your experience is at the paper mill.
Part of it is definitely what my parents have said. I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m not going to get a job, and I feel like professional school somewhat solidifies that I will. I feel like if I really bust my ass, I could see where med school takes me, but I’m not fully sure on that. I totally agree with you on the PhD part actually, it doesn’t really make sense for me. I’m leaning towards the industry too, just exploring the other options before it’s too late.
You're an incoming junior and already have had 2 experiences and are going to graduate from a top engineering school with a good GPA. The only one that thinks you won't get a job is you. There are tons of opportunities and different paths you can go down and you are only starting to scratch the surface of what chemical engineering is. > I could see where med school takes me, but I’m not fully sure on that Don't do medicine if you aren't passionate about it. A close friend just got his MD and in hindsight wouldn't have done it (probably be a middle practitioner instead). Have you ever volunteered at a hospital? Do you know the work environment? Have you experienced the emotional side of healthcare? It's very hard and not for everyone.
The world is yours brother
Small world - I have almost the same story as you, went to Tech, and worked in the Prausnitz lab for4 years. I went through all the options. Thought I wanted to be a doctor, switched to wanting to get a PhD, then patent attorney at the end (even took the LSAT). I now work in Pharma consulting (design build firm) and just passed my PE test, so I’ll be licensed this summer. Two good pieces of advice my dad gave me, who is also a tech alum: 1) going back to school is harder if you take a break. You get used to making adult money and being a student again isn’t appealing. I saw this while studying for my PE. It was brutal giving up my evenings to studying again. 2) after becoming wishy-washy on law school, he said “here’s an idea: why don’t you get a job??” Honestly, fair point. Hadn’t even considered that haha. You can always go back to school if industry isn’t your jam. See how you like your internship and take it from there. There’s a million and one options for ChemEs in a plant setting, from cosmetics to semiconductors. Message me if you want to talk more!
Wow, that’s insane. Right down to the professor lol. This is very reassuring to hear, and yeah I figure going back would be harder, that’s why I’m trying to sort it out now. Thanks so much for ur input!
hi i'm also a chbe at tech right now (though not in prausnitz lab haha) -- how did you get into pharma consulting + where are you located rn if you don'y mind answering? 🐝
I’ll message you!
WTF did you bust your butt to study ChE if you don’t want to work in the field?
Academia validation or parents validation
An engineering degree opens more doors (and higher paying ones) than any other undergraduate degree
Yeah and medical school is incredibly competitive. It is nice to know that even if you don’t get in that you won’t be homeless.
Can easily get into a business or consulting role.
I kinda picked it at random, and happened to like it after my first few classes. I’m just trying to see if doing higher studies will open more doors up. If I don’t pursue any more education, I’ll be perfectly happy just working in the field!
Don't go to medical school just cause your parents want you to. Continuing education will always be there. Go get a job when you graduate and see what shakes out. You've already got an impressive resume from a great school, with academic research and an industry internship on it. Go make some money and see if you like money
If you don't know what you want to do, start working. Professional school and grad school should only be pursued if you truly have a passion for those things. Both of those require a higher level of commitment than college and you also want to be sure you want the exit opportunities those provide. I myself actually started working after college when I didn't get into grad school, and over time, I found two areas of work I liked and was good at (management and project management). Neither were in my plans for careers, but I'm not sure I'd have ever tried them had I just gone to grad school. That's how life is sometimes...
Why not just see what kind of MCAT score you can get and then GRE and see what your options are then? You don’t have to put all your eggs in one basket and choose right now.
also a rather confused gatech chbe here !! i'm so concerned about like where chbe jobs are located