You asked for comments from chemists. I am a chemist -- organic photochemistry -- and have been for a very long time. Some people have said chemistry is about as useless to someone doing electronics as a vestigial tail. I would disagree. Probably a day doesn't go by that I don't use chemistry somehow, whether cleaning a part from a machine, washing dishes (see earlier thread on Pease's solution to dirty dishes), etching a PCB, or trying to figure out why my thick and creamy salad dressing liquifies. If you have any doubt about the importance of chemistry in the kitchen, here is a useful book:
Food Chemistry, 3rd ed., Belitz, H-D, Grosch, W, Schieberle, P. Springer-Verlag, 2004 (ISBN 3-540-40818-5). You can find it on Amazon. Unfortunately, there is no electronic version. It is a delightful book of over 1000 pages. In brief, it is nice to know why toast tastes like toast.
A tip, avoid organic chemistry if you don't want a visit from the authorities.
While I was in school, more than one student in the liberal arts asked me to make something. They all got a brief six-letter, two-word answer. Yesterday, I read something about a new brew called Crocodile. That is simply crazy. The really sad part is that as the illicit drug culture thrives and fear of terrorism grows, each "advance" they make causes a reaction to place more and more restrictions on legitimate users. Almost 40 years ago, I had to abandon an entire line of research, because one of the starting materials could also be used to make psilocybin.
If you do pursue chemistry, remember there are three large divisions of that field: inorganic/physical; organic; and analytic. Most introductory courses start with basic inorganic and analytical chemistry concepts. The second course often gets into organic chemistry. Then there are advanced courses in almost anything.
John