Photo Source: UARK Chemical Engineering Department homepage
Choosing a major is with no doubt one of the most important decisions that you will ever make. That is why you need to search carefully and take into account factors such as personal interest, self-capabilities, and quality of the department and faculty that will prepare you to be a professional.
I chose my major before coming to the U.S because my scholarship required me to specify a major when applying. Therefore, in order to choose my major I took into account my personal interests. When in high school, I was a very active student who enjoyed to participate in many scientific related activities involving chemistry, math, and physics to the extent I became good at designing process systems at elementary levels, and one of my instructors then encouraged me to study Chemical Engineering.
I did not know much about chemical engineering, but I knew I loved chemistry and enjoyed math, and I was not bad at either. Thus, I learned about chemical engineering: what it is, what it does, how it contributes to society and decided that I wanted to be a chemical engineer because I wanted to specialize in operating, designing and managing chemical process, separations and reactor designing processes that are used to produced energy, food, and many other products that are used widely. My long term goal is to have a firm that operates worldwide specializing in the study of project impacts in chemical plants as well as modify to optimize chemical engineering processes.
Bell Engineering Center, home to four of the College of Engineering departments – chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and industrial engineering. Photo Source: College of Engineering homepage
The chemical engineering department at the UofA offers one of the best study programs. There is a great faculty and infrastructure, and the UofA in general offers amazing studying support programs and other opportunities as well. For example, my chemical engineering adviser helps me every semester to make the best semester schedule by picking the right classes in the most convenient combination. There is the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) UofA chapter association where you can learn about real world opportunities and keep up to date with most of the companies in the sector. All my professors are very professional and committed to student learning and mastering of the material. And finally the UofA provides CLASS+, which stands for Center for Learning and Student Success, and offers SI and tutoring opportunities in the most needed classes on campus.
-Luis, Panama
