Chemical Engineering: A Student View

April 18, 2022

International Admissions Unibuddy Ambassador talks about time management and pursuing a Chemical Engineering degree

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Chemical Engineering: A Student View

Chemical Engineering can be thought of as one of the toughest majors to finish in the world. According to prepscholar, the time spent preparing for class per week (cpw) is 19.66 hours for chemical engineering. Only architecture had a higher cpw and ranked highest in that category.

Right now, I have 18 units and two jobs working a total of 19 hours a week including research. I am taking two math classes as well. I think it is fair to assume that I have no social life whatsoever, but I usually manage to make time for my friends and even work out five days a week for a couple of hours.

College is all about time management.

The key to time management is calculation. For example, I like to calculate my total credit hours, add that to other obligatory hours I must spend such as taking clothes out of the dryer, washing the dishes, my hours at work etc. and then I subtract this sum from the total number of hours in a week and get the number of hours available for my degree.

The most important advice I can give to a first-year student right now is to get ahead of schedule as much as you can and learn how to prioritize.

In Chemical Engineering, it is always a good idea to start working on homework as early as possible. The lectures are most likely to be recorded so they should be skimmed through over the weekends to brush up on material taught in class. This practice not only reinforces what was taught over the week, but also saves A LOT of prep time before exams.

The weekends are extremely useful if applied properly. It is over the weekend, when one can truly get ahead. Get all the pre-lecture quizzes done. Get started on all the homework that is due throughout the upcoming week and maybe even finish a few.

Chemical Engineering is no exception. It is a lot of new information to learn in a very short amount of time. This brevity of time becomes apparent when you sit down to finish homework but cannot do so without revisiting the lectures multiple times and sometimes ending up emailing your professor or TA.

The professors we have at UA will not only teach you Chemical Engineering, but also how to succeed at it.

The ways and methods of solving problems you have never seen before are planted firmly in the heads of the students and all they have to do is apply themselves accordingly.


Ahmed's Unibuddy Ambassador Profile

Ahmed is a sophomore from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He speaks Bengali, English and Hindi so can assist prospective students who would like to converse in those languages. Ahmed is pursuing a degree in Chemical Engineering. His favorite courses are Advanced Organic Chemistry and Differential Calculus. He is in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers UArizona chapter. Ahmed loves to watch films and travel. He dreams of working in renewable energies one day, and loves learning new skills. Ahmed enjoys listening to music, and watches a lot of football (soccer) #ManchesterUnited