I'm a chemical engineering graduate and I hate this degree. I've always wanted to be a doctor and even after doing well at school, i was unable to get a place to study medicine. Now I'm stuck with this degree and I dont know what to do. Please help.

Hey KN,

I’m glad you asked this question as tough as it must’ve been – you’re at a crossroads in life that you clearly didn’t expect. Things got messed up on the path you were on so you need to sit down and rest for a bit. Based on the question and background you gave I know you didn’t fail because you were smart enough to earn a degree in a very difficult discipline and were strong enough to ask for help when you needed it.

I understand that your first choice was to be a doctor but med school was not available, and it sounds like you tried one or more options to stay close to medicine with the last attempt being ChemE and pharmaceuticals which didn’t work out either. I did find an aspect of ChemE and pharmaceuticals that sounded like it applied to other industries, and that is the good manufacturing practice (GMP) skill. The first two sites below are from a worldwide job recruiting agency that places ChemEs in the pharmaceutical industry. I have no idea how much it costs to retain their services nor do I recommend that you do, but there is some helpful information for jobseekers. The second site is a current opening in London for a good manufacturing practice (GMP) assurance specialist. I’m not suggesting you necessarily apply for it but I include it for perspective and to suggest that perhaps you could find a temporary job in manufacturing of pharmaceuticals or health foods (vitamins, dietary supplements, energy drinks) or foods in general just to give you some GMP experience. The third site is more pharmaceuticals information and the fourth site is for ChemEs in general.

Staying with pharmaceuticals for a moment, sales and marketing groups (particularly for large companies) have their salespeople and marketeers, but they also need technical support as they create their literature and go on their big sales calls to answer the tough questions. I met some of these people from TEVA and Serono at several public seminars they sponsored for people living with multiple sclerosis (MS). These seminars happen all the time but over a two-or-three-year period in the late 90s I was invited five-or-six times to participate with 100+ attendees where my neurologist talked about medical stuff and I gave a personal experience and motivational talk about living with MS. I was on a cane back then but now I’m in a power wheelchair – they made me retire from mechanical engineering work and now I get to write to students like you about engineering, which I really enjoy. Anyway, I would talk to these guys during breaks, mostly about the FDA.

Big companies have many of their own suppliers, and each one has a contract and a schedule and a bunch of product they’re supposed to provide that needs to be tested upon arrival in what is called acceptance testing. Suppliers who seem to have trouble meeting their contract and schedule often have an engineer from the big company visit for a while and take their observations back home.

You didn’t say what part of ChemE that you hate, but in the off chance that the answer isn’t everything, I’m sure you know that this discipline is very sought after because of the breadth of the subject matter and the many skills that practitioners acquire, some of which you don’t know you have yet, and among the most important is engineering. You’re aware that the process of engineering, of applying discoveries in natural and physical sciences and making products and processes to help people, is not taught anywhere except within the general prosaic categories of mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc. Do you realize that even if you put aside all the chemistry things you learned, you are a walking critical thinker and problem solver?

One of my nephews got about halfway through an electrical engineering program and then dropped out. He had a natural interest in computer stuff so he applied for work at a small retail business that made and fixed and sold computer stuff. Once he got going, the things he had learned about computers and engineering in school started coming out and he became one of their top employees. His job doesn’t pay nearly what an EE graduate working as an EE would earn, but he’s earning enough and he enjoys the work. And I’ll bet he could earn more if he focused on advancing within his adopted industry.

I assume you would be more interested in medicine or pharmaceuticals or perhaps other industries, and you of course already have your degree so you could look for real ChemE jobs or maybe jobs that required any degree and like my nephew, work in a field you enjoy although not in the positions you were thinking about, at least for now.

Finally, work at a chemical plant, which I understand you would not enjoy if it involved overalls, might have other types of jobs you might enjoy such as working in a test lab at the plant, in an infirmary at the plant, in an independent test lab closer in. I’m sure there are local or national govt agencies that regulate chemical plants that you could work with.

Please know that these job ideas are intended to spur your thinking about types of work you could get into quickly and start bringing in some money, perhaps on a temporary basis, at least until your world stops spinning. Once things calm down and you begin to assign some priority to your goals, I hope these will help you reset your goal-ometer, even if their only use is to help you confirm what you don’t want to do.

I wish you all the best.

https://www.proclinical.com/blogs/2018-2/get-a-chemical-engineer-job-in-the-pharmaceutical-industry

https://www.proclinical.com/job/quality-gmp-assurance-specialist-in-london-jid-3291

https://www.lsu.edu/studentorgs/ispe/Welcome_files/PHARMACEUTICAL%20ENGINEERING.pdf

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/careers/college-to-career/chemistry-careers/chemical-engineering.html

First, you are not "stuck" with a degree in ChE, you successfully completed the requirements for what is considered one of the toughest engineering fields.

Second, your ChE degree probably gave you most of the prerequisites for Medical school.

Getting into Medical school is very competitive, particularly here in the USA. That is way many students end up going abroad to places like Mexico or the Dominican Republic to pursue their studies in medicine. Afterwards, they come back, do their equivalencies and take their boards.

You could consider an alternative route if you are truly interested in healthcare: you can be one an ENT, and then a Paramedic, or become a Nurse Practicioner. There is also other medically related careers like "regular" nursing, Physical Therapist, Optometry, etc that would allow you to achieve your desire to help your fellow human beings.

Finally, if you don't want to completely give up on Engineering, you can get a Masters, or maybe even a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and help create or improve all those systems that are so critical to medical care nowadays. Things like ultrasound, MRI, CAT and PET scanners, diagnostics and biochemical analysis, or maybe be the person that invents the artificial Kidney or Pancreas.

You have demonstrated you have the drive and intellect to get a degree in ChE, keep going and see what else you can do.

Hello KN,

I am glad that you have asked this question ! It appears that you are in a kind of jacked up situation, as if you are in thick jungle and lost your way. Right! But fear Not! Even in the darkest of hours there is glimmer of hope for the 'dawn'. If you think that everything is over and nothing can be done about it than hang on! I am quoting a similar case of Dr. Chris Boba, who was like you feeling desperate but he didn't leave hope to change the destiny. His story is as under:

" He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rhode Island in 2013. But he wanted to pursue medical science. He didn't leave to chase his dream and currently an MD/PhD student at the Ohio State University pursuing his PhD in Biomedical Engineering."

Does that make some sense to you ? You can read his story at

https://www.aiche.org/community/sites/young-professionals-committee-ypc/blog/engineering-medicine-road-less-traveled/

It may be true that you have to arrange funds for it. Well, one has to keep trying for it rather than brooding and doing nothing about it. Please believe that you are "not at all in a Loss and nothing can happen situation'". In fact, you are having an advantage by being an engineer to explore many other complicated models which requires knowledge of mathematics and analytical skills of an engineer specially to study Molecular Biology and Genome theories. So don't get disheartened. You have started on the right path by putting up this question on this portal and I am sure you got the first clue. Have faith in yourself and the Lord (nature), strive for it, you will succeed. Following steps are recommended:

1. May be you get in touch with Dr. Chris Boba or people like him. Seek guidance and help.
2. Look for opportunity in Bio-Medical Engineering for your MS/MD worldwide. There are many universities.
3. https://www.mastersportal.com/study-options/268615710/bio-biomedical-engineering-germany.html

A chemical engineering is one of the most sought after and versatile degrees you can earn. Go out there and interview for a job you want any job you want!!! Take your chemE degree with you and tell them why you will be a great fit for the job! Meanwhile pursue your dream of becoming a doctor they can both happen, but you have to make it happen!!!