Choosing the right college can be hard. Not to mention choosing the right major. There are a lot of factors to consider like “what do I want to do for the rest of my life?” and “how many hours do I really have to study to get a 4.0?” Do not fret, my friends, for we have compiled the top five reasons that YOU should come to Iowa State for your chemical engineering degree.
#5: You have a pretty high chance of snagging a job right out of college.
Iowa State hosts the biggest engineering career fair in the nation twice a year. About 400 companies from across the nation come to pick YOU for internships, co-ops and full-time jobs. The social media connections the school, and even your specific program, can provide for you are immeasurable. LinkedIn, Facebook and other forms of media are here to help you enter the 21st century of employment. Not to mention our immediate placement rate for undergraduates is 73 percent. No big deal.
#4: There are so many opportunities for students you won’t know which to choose.
Choose from one, or a few, of the 42 engineering student organizations. Choose from about 800 student organizations on campus. Not only can you be a part of a society, a club or a chapter, but the opportunities for growth, travel and fun are plentiful. Many students also choose to study abroad with programs in Spain, United Kingdom, Switzerland and many other beautiful and exciting places.
#3: You get to work with some of the most talented, award-winning faculty on campus.
Faculty in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering devote an amazing amount of time and effort to see their students grow and succeed. They have won awards such as the 2012 Tau Beta Pi-McDonald Mentor Award for service to students and empowering minority groups, Iowa State University Foundation Award for Outstanding Career Achievement for Research, as well as being voted No. 47 on Biofuel Digest’s Top 100 People in Bioenergy, to name a few. You will receive a top notch education from experienced and passionate professors who care about you.
#2: Iowa State has state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities. Enough said.
Iowa State chemical engineering facilities are primarily housed in Sweeney Hall and the Biorenewables Research Laboratory – right across the street. The W. M. Keck Laboratory for High-Throughput Atom-Scale Analysis in Sweeney Hall gives engineers the opportunity to drive the frontiers of combinatorial science and atom-scale materials research. The centerpiece of this laboratory is a Local Electrode Atom Probe microscope, the most advanced analytical tool available for compositional mapping of materials. It can resolve and identify millions of individual atoms in three dimensions, resulting in quantitative spatial maps of materials with atom-by-atom resolution. Specifically for undergraduates, Iowa State houses a pilot scale unit operations laboratory where students apply chemical engineering concepts to processes in class. The research and learning is revolutionary; don’t you want to be a part of it?
#1: The Ames Community, in general, pretty much rocks.
Ames was ranked the No. 2 best college town in the nation by the American Institute for Economic Research in 2012, and there are a lot of reasons for that. The support for the Iowa State football team, the beautiful, nationally ranked campus and the students and Ames residents that go along with it all make this campus a truly amazing and life-changing experience. Your decision to attend Iowa State will be one of the best choices you make in your lifetime.
Choose your adventure. Choose Iowa State College of Engineering.
CBE department communications intern Molly Bryant contributed to this story.