So I’m heading into my senior in high school and I’m really interested in Chemical Engineering (or some type of engineering field, not 100% sure yet)…
Is there anyone who has advice about engineering careers in general, colleges that I should consider, or anything else in particular?
Thanks. 
As someone with a B Chem Eng (from Australia mind) I can tell you about the course, but not whether or not a particular place is good for you (assuming you are in the US, the mention of college gives it away).
Chem Eng is a very broad discipline, so you really can go anywhere with it. I was a R&D engineer, some of my friends are now environmental engineers, others consultants on railways, others the usual petroleum and metal foundry work. So if you don’t really have any idea where you want to end up (Like me) it is a good way to have access to a lot of places.
However my advice is to try and get as much industrial experience as you can while at university, you can use those contacts to help get a job (I did, so did most people I know), because with the amount of engineers coming out these days it helps to have some advance warning of positions being available.
And don’t assume that Chem Eng has anything to do with chemistry, I know lots of people who don’t like chem yet are chem eng’ers.
Hope that’s of some help
FloChi
GQ is for quesitions with factual answers. Since you’re asking for advice, I’ll move this to IMHO.
The entry Chemical Engineers from the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics may be of interest.
first, i am not a chem e.
i don’t know what part of the country you are in but georgia tech has a great reputation as an engineering school, however, i went there. i took the mandatory chem classes and that was it. none of the ta’s spoke english which made labs very difficult. i started as mechanical but switched to industrial. i would have liked to switch to computer science, but ran out of financial aid. you can start out as undecided engineering and then pick a major later there too (or you could a few years back, i don’t imagine it has changed).
that being said, most people i know that go to gatech hate it, expecially engineering. alot of the engineering profs are there to do research and only teach cause they have to. it did seem to get better in industrial vs. mechanical. the chem classes i took were all lecture halls, 200 students per class, and weed out classes if you will. the chem labs were the hardest part of the class.
industrial engineering is great for versatility, even more so with a masters in something. from what i have seen out there, again i am not a chem e, alot of chem e jobs are in r&d, which is interesting, but a different atmosphere than your average workplace.
i still wish i could’ve gone into cs. what can i say, i am a wanna be geek
My school (on Wisconsin!) has a very good ChemE program (some professors from Madison literally wrote the book on transport phenomenon). Although IANA ChemE, I’ve taken a couple classes. It’s not as much chemistry as you might think–you have to do a lot of math (esp. calc and differential equations) to solve the thermo and transport problems.
In general, the “best” schools are big research institutions, so you may get professors who may kick all kinds of ass at research, but aren’t the best educators. The same goes for the grad students, who will be your TA’s. All in all, your school for undergrad doesn’t make a huge difference in your future. If you go directly to industry, they don’t mind as long as you graduate with your degree (and ChemE’s have no problems getting jobs, even in today’s financial climate). And if you decide to go to grad school, well, your grad school is far more important than your undergrad.