Nitsche 1 Ryan Nitsche Mr. Beers SLS 1501 11 Oct.

2013 Who are better Chemical Engineers or Aerospace Engineers? In the field of engineering these two titans rule, these being the fields of chemical engineering and aerospace engineering. Chemical and aerospace engineering are viewed in the public as the two most prominent fields; however they are not without out their pros and cons. Each one is good in its own aspect yet at the same time each one differs and can seem flawed. When looking at their good and bad aspects, you can see many trends in their statistics. Three examples of these are the: employment rates, salary, and credit hours that students studying in these field must go through; these are very important aspects to look at when looking for a job. The employment rate of careers is a very important statistic to look at. There are many things that you find out about a career that you are interested in, by looking at statistics like these. One of the most unusual statistics is that, the amount of people currently employed in aerospace engineering is significantly higher than the amount of people that are currently employed in chemical engineering. This is unusual as it is much more common to find articles about chemical engineering in both the news and database searches. Aerospace engineering boast 80,420 people currently employed, while chemical engineering is only at 32,190. That is over double the amount of people being employed by aerospace engineering in the United States (BLS). This being said, jobs in chemical engineering are in many more areas. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 45 out of the 50 states have a substantial amount of people working in this field, the three largest states for this career being: Louisiana at 1930 people employed,

Nitsche 2 California at 2210 people employed, and Texas at 6000 people employed. Aerospace engineering is significantly lower with only 30 out of the 50 states, the three largest states for this occupation being: Texas at 7280 people employed, Washington at 8020 people employed, and California at 20770 people employed. Furthermore, with chemical engineering jobs are available in more counties in these states then aerospace engineering, which has more people employed in a smaller area (BLS) Another very important aspect to look at is the salary you can expect to make when starting a career. A salary for many is one of the most important reasons someone will go into a job, other than being interested in the field. According to the economist at Matt Stalker, and his article on the subject, the average beginning salary for a chemical engineer is $65,658 (Stalker). This is slightly larger than the salary that someone starting in the aerospace engineering field will earn. According to Michelle Fuentes the average annual salary for someone who is beginning in aerospace engineering is $65,417 (Stalker). This makes their beginning salaries basically identical once you factor in that the pay will fluctuate based on what company hires you. However according to Mr. Fuentes the average over all salary for an aerospace engineer is $93,758, where the economist at the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and the economist at Matt Stalkers article agree that chemical engineers have $91,042 as there average over all salary (Fuentes). Despite this the top percent of chemical engineers are still able to make a larger annual salary than aerospace engineers at $154,840 while aerospace engineers in the top percent only make $149,120 (Stalker). In addition to the salary and dispersion of jobs, you also have to look at the education required because students will most likely be paying off for most of there life. According to nanoengineering.ucsd.edu an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering takes 195 credit

Nitsche 3 hours (Nano), this is a long time to be going to college. The classes themselves cover everything from the basic of general engineering to advanced engineering. The courses also require students have several courses in physics; they range from the basics to intermittent level physics. Finally you must have several credits in chemistry to finish rounding out the classes that you need. This being said, an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering takes a substantially shorter time with 128 credit hours, these will be spread along several fields. These fields include several courses in Physics from the basics to the advanced concepts, along with several courses in math going from intermediate to advance. Finally students in the aerospace engineering are going to go through everything from basic aerospace engineering to advanced aerospace engineering. (Michigan). So it is quicker to get an undergraduate degree for aerospace engineering. Due to shorter time that students studying in the aerospace engineering spend in college, they also have the unbelievable advantage of being able to not need as much money to become an aerospace engineer. That means that you will not need as many scholarships or student loans to be able to go through the aerospace engineering field as opposed to the amount of money and schooling that you must go through in order to become a chemical engineer. Of the two options the obvious better choice would have to be aerospace engineering. On average it has a higher salary than what a chemical engineer would make. When you combine this with the fact that there are many more companies that are hiring many more employees it is just able to show how much better of a choice it is. Another fantastic thing aerospace engineering has going for it is that its schooling is cheaper and shorter than that of chemical engineering, this is unbelievably important since things like student loans and paying of your collage schooling can and will affect everything from what house a graduate able to live in to what car a graduate can drive. The only clear thing that chemical engineering would have over aerospace engineering

Nitsche 4 is that they are it is possible for you to become one in many more states, or someones personal bias to the chemistry field. When the only thing that a field is able to have in its defense is someones personal bias or one slightly better beginning pay it is unable to compete with its superior.

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Annotated Bibliography "17-2011 Aerospace Engineers." Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2011): n. page. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. The Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2011 measured many of the statistics about aerospace engineering. They looked at many things including the salary, areas of employment among other things. The BLS is organized by the United States Department of Labor, so it is a very credible source. "Aerospace Engineering." Michigan Engineering. (2012): n. page. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. Michigan University is an accredited college with a very successful engineering program. They show on their web page a breakdown of the credits needed to acquire an undergraduate degree in the aerospace field. By looking at the courses they require students to take you can get an idea of the educational requirements and the cost of the schooling. "17-2041 Chemical Engineers." Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2012): n. page. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. The Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2012 measured many of the statistics about chemical engineering. They looked at many things including the salary, areas of employment among other things. The BLS is organized by the United States Department of Labor, so it is a very credible source. "Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Major Requirements." Nano engineeing: Jacobs school of engineering. (2012): n. page. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. The University of Nano engineering is a very successful engineering program that can also boast high accreditations. They show on their web page a breakdown of the credits needed to acquire an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering. They list the courses

Nitsche 6 they require students to take and from this you can get an idea of the educational requirements and the cost of the schooling. Fuentes, Michelle. How to Land a Top-Paying Aeronautical engineering Job: Your Complete Guide to Opportunities, Resumes and Cover Letters, Interviews, Salary. Emereo Publishing, 2012. Book. Michelle Fuentes wrote his book, How to Land a Top-Paying Aeronautical engineering Job: Your Complete Guide to Opportunities, Resumes and Cover Letters, Interviews, Salary, in 2012. In it he goes over almost every aspect of the job field from salary to interviews. It is a reliable source due to the fact that he has all of his sources listed in the back of the book. Stalker, Matt. "Does It Still Pay To Be A Chemical Engineer?" TCE: The Chemical Enginerr850 (2012): 58-61. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. Matt Stalker wrote Article, Does It Still Pay To Be A Chemical Engineer, in 2012. In it he goes over almost every aspect of the salary of chemical engineering. It is a reliable source due to the fact that he has all of his sources listed in his article.