Finally summer is here and we can unwind a little bit, we just finished our exams for second semester a week ago. They were the usual mix of some were OK and some were tough but we got through them in the end. I'm looking forward to getting back to work and earning some money, the only thing stopping me now is a broken hand, and by the way it was not alcohol related as i have been continuously accused of from my friends, "
Johnny, just admit it, you were drunk and you fell! Its OK we've all had accidents when we were drunk..."... its just easier to say that I was drunk...
Looking back on the the year as a whole I think I made the right choice in this course. I can understand when coming into college that people don't know what to expect or even know what their course is really about, the only advice I would give is that to look into the course and find out what the real fundamental subjects that you will be doing, and if you like them subjects then go for it. I would describe the main subjects in the chemical engineering coarse in C.I.T as firstly maths, then chemistry and then physics, biology and in a different way applied maths. I say applied maths because the real main thing about this course is the ability to use your head without the book in front of you. In first semester we did a load of these, being honest, really weird computer puzzles, and at the time i used to think "what is this all about". But as one of our lecturers explained, he was trying to get us to think for ourselves and to lean how to solve problems in a more systematic logical way. And when i look back on it, i can see that 'thinking outside the box' is very much one of the most important things in chemical engineering. In this course your going to get things that your not going to like, but your going to get that in any course you do. You might be thinking 'aw look at this nerd, he has nothing bad to say, this blog is obviously biased' but its not. I'm just being honest and telling it like it is. You are going to have to open your mind, think for yourself and use books as a reference and a tool not as the final answer. This is what the course is like and what first year was like in C.I.T, if this interests you then definitely go for this course. Its honestly very interesting. Just look through the whynotchemeng website and you will get plenty of information about chemical engineering or better still and read the post graduate's blog and the engineer's blog to find out what their work is like... If you cant decide on what discipline of engineering you want to go into seriously consider chemical engineering because if you don't like it when your in it you can always branch into something else because it is so broad there are hundreds of opportunities for everyone... If you want to ask any questions about chemical engineering in college feel free to email me, I'll answer you honestly...
johnny-twomey@hotmail.comJohnny Twomey1st Year Chem EngCork Institute of Technology
