An Interview with a Chemical Engineering Student

I sat down with my friend Ali Briffa to hear about her experience in the Chemical Engineering program at our university. Check out my interview with her below!

Answer: My name is Aliyah⁠ — I also go by Ali. I’m in my fourth year of Chemical Engineering. A little bit about me: I’ve been pretty involved over the past four years, notably with the Engineering Student Society (external link, opens in new window) , the Chemical Engineering Course Union (external link, opens in new window) ,  EngOut (external link, opens in new window)  and also [the] Engineering Spirit and Orientation Committee (external link, opens in new window) .

A: So when I was actually applying for university, I had no idea what I wanted to do, and Chemical Engineering really spoke to me because the prerequisites were all the courses I love, which is chemistry and math in particular. And also co-op being a mandatory portion of the program was really important to me because I believe that there is only so much learning that can be done in the classroom. It’s really important to get that hands-on experience.

A: My most unique co-op terms were actually at Estée Lauder, which is a cosmetics company. I did two co-op terms there because I really enjoyed myself. The first co-op term, I focused more on improving the stability of some cosmetic products, and I really enjoyed working within a small team of 10 to 15 people and having my own specific co-op project. Quite a few of my friends have done internships where they're more so supporting others instead of spearheading their own projects. That's what made Estée Lauder very appealing to me, and that's why I returned for a second time. 

A: I’ve been pretty involved with the Chemical Engineering Course Union since my second year. In my second year of university, I was the chemical director on the Ryerson Engineering Student Society, and part of my responsibilities was to regularly sit in on course union meetings, provide them assistance when necessary and collaborate on a variety of events. Last year, in my third year, I actually ran in the course union elections and I was elected as the vice president academic. I helped coordinate tutorial sessions for midterms and finals. I also facilitated career weeks, industry nights and a [Microsoft] Excel workshop. This year alongside one of my friends, I was co-president, and I was recently re-elected to be co-president again for next year.

A: Honestly, I found that it was pretty easy because of the variety of events that the Chemical Engineering Course Union runs. You know, a lot of people think that the course union solely just runs events for academic and professional development. However, [we] also organize a variety of social events, notably the annual Holiday Jam, which is sort of a little kickoff party at the end of the fall semester to celebrate the end of one of two successful academic terms. Also, I found that the Chemical Engineering program is a pretty tight knit group, so I found it was pretty easy to make friends in my classes. And [in] first year everyone sort of wants to work together and support one another, and so the friends that I made in my first year I’m still very close with today.

A: The biggest piece of advice that I would have is to not be intimidated by the name. I know a lot of people think chemical engineering must be a ton of chemistry, but that's a very common misconception. Chemical engineering is in my opinion, mostly calculus. Obviously we do have four chemistry courses, but one of them is a general chemistry course, and another is just a chemistry lab. There is a certain chemistry knowledge that you need to have, but it's not anything advanced like you'd be doing in a chemistry-specific program. And really don't be afraid to ask for help. I haven't met anyone in the Chemical Engineering program who is unwilling to help if you have any questions, whether it's your fellow peers in classes, or even profs in the department. I think that chemical engineering is incredibly versatile compared to other engineering disciplines. I think there's a vast amount of industries that chemical engineering concepts and principles can be applied to, so it's really important to sort of look at the end goal of what you want to do post graduation before selecting your discipline.