Sir, I’m Godwin a school certificate holder. I would like to commend you and the eggheads for the wonderful career mentorship service you are all rendering. May God keep on elevating you from grace to grace.
I got to know about your blog via a friend..I’m a science student with a high proficiency level in math, further math and sciences generally and whose intelligence can be taken to the bank. My interest in the said subjects drove my quest for engineering profession. I’ve gone through your archive on engineering and found that chemical engineering is a good field as a result of its wide scope and coverage. In view of the above, I tend to prefer to other engineering fields.
However, I recently undertook a research work on the demand of the course from JAMB statistics for 2014 and 2015 and found that Chemical engineering is the least sought after compared with the other fields like Electrical & Electronic , Mechanical, and Civil Engineering which happen to be the more sought after……I’m currently in a state of confusion as I don’t know which field of engineering to put in for as I don’t want to end up regretting in the future…..I wish to apply for the course in OAU Ife…I will be appreciative if my inquiry is given a favorable consideration….I look forward to getting your response.
Thanks.
Godwin
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TAKERS FROM THE JARUS TEAM
Jarus
Jarus, a chartered accountant, is the founder and Chief Resource Officer of JarusHub Careers Portal
Hi Godwin,
First, I don’t know how the fact that chemical engineering is not highly sought after by UME candidates, not employers, affects your own decision. When I first glanced through your message and saw “sought after”, I even thought you were referring to employers.
The fact that chemical engineering is the least sought after engineering course among prospective university candidates is actually a plus for you, as it means there is reduced competition compared to more highly sought after (by students) engineering courses. That other students don’t like it, should not affect your decision if you like the course. It is largely due to low level of awareness among high school students in Nigeria about the course (personal example: I never heard about chemical engineering until few days to my UME when a friend told me that was the course he chose in his UME) and the fact that only few schools offer it.
If you like the course and think you have what it takes to study it, I advise you go for it.
Jarus
TOPE AJETUNMOBI
Tope is a petroleum engineering graduate of Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, and a first class chemical engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.
Hi Timothy,
I’m quite impressed that you are doing a great deal of research ahead of time before course selection. Many of your colleagues get into courses either by serendipity or simply the course forced on them by the university/parents/or family in general.
Now I will be very blunt here…. What exactly is your passion? What part of the sciences do you really like? What I tell people is: Forget about the job. If you are smart and intelligent, you will always get a job even if you read Yoruba literature in the University. So every engineering field is actually very lucrative…
Just a small summary here:
Chemical : You need to very good in mathematics and chemistry. Your passion should be understanding chemical processes and how they function. Did you find mass/molar conservation in chemistry interesting? How much mass/moles of a new substance is produced when 2 different raw inputs combine in a specific chemical reaction?
Mechanical: Mathematics and physics. Importantly, you need to have a flair for design. Not sure if you did technical drawing in school, most importantly mechanical drawing. If you did, did you find this easy?
Electrical/electronics: Very good in mathematics and physics. You need to have a flair for designing electrical/electronic circuits. Do you have a passion for fixing electrical/electronic gadgets? Did you find the electronics aspect of practical/experimental physics interesting in school? That are the basics: resistors, capacitance, inductors, series and parallel circuits and the likes.
Civil: Physics and mathematics. You need to have a flair for structural design. Not sure you did technical drawing in school, most importantly building drawing. Did you find this easy? How good were/are you in solving for forces/moments in physics? Do you love structures? Have you ever had a look at the 7 wonders of the world and how huge structures have being built? What TV programs do you watch?
In summary, what exactly is your passion? Go for your passion and the sky will be your limit, trust me! Forget about the statistics. I have friends who read chemical engineering and currently make millions every weekend being event organisers (Please google Sanya Adebayo aka Tanto). Trust me, I even went further to read petroleum engineering for masters and I don’t make millions per week!!! I also have friends who read mechanical engineering and worked as IT/SAP consultants for big multinationals in Total and World Health Organisation. When I was doing my NYSC in Maiduguri earning N15000 per month, he was earning millions as a consultant less than 1 year after graduation. That was my mate!! All from OAU Ife. I gave you these 2 examples to show that these guys had 2 different passions(event management and IT respectively) but read chemical engineering and mechanical engineering respectively. They do not earn their living from these at all.
Hope this helps.
All the very best
Cheers
Tope
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Thanks so much for devoting ur time out of ur busy schedule to enlighten me more
Exceptional and refreshing. Which goes to show that having a passion and following it really helps a lot.
Looking forward to be a first class graduate and an entrepreneur.
thank you for time. You have gave someone a relief
God bless you sir i am about to study chemical engineering in university and i am so in love with the course i hope to excel because i have a passion for it sometimes people ask me why bacause i am a female.
The write up and responses are so apt and interesting to follow. I came across the article while checking online for views on the study of Chemical Engineering for my son that has shown interest in this area.
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I am a student of ATBU bauchi,studying pure & applied physics as a couse and i want to change to chemical engineering. Pls advice me.should i/not
Hi, I’m Tolu I’m a student of PTI Warri Delta state, I’m studying Mineral and petroleum engineering but I know and I really feel it that it’s not the course I want to study… I’m finding it hard to discover the engineering course I really want to do. sometimes I even feel I’m not supposed to do engineering, but I’m so so confused I don’t know what to do
I am studying chemistry education at lagos uni..is it possible to study chemistry engineering after I am done with the four years programme coz i’ll be having a BSC in chemistry and what are the requirements or exams to be taken?
Hello Sir,
I find mathematics, further mathematics, physics and chemistry interesting. I also love engineering works that have to do with giving specification of materials in various working environments. Do you think chemical engineering is appropriate for me