Christopher Bartle

University of Mississippi has one of the top forensic chemistry programs in the country, and they offer sizable scholarships that can help mitigate the out of state tuition cost.

I knew I wanted to be a forensic chemistry major since I was in high school, it's why I chose to attend Ole Miss in the first place. Given my degree path, I only needed one more biology class to get a minor, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Forensic chemistry focuses heavily on the chemistry side of forensics. I've known several people who have dropped the major because they thought it would be like CSI or other shows like that. I personally find the program to be extremely fun and rewarding, but it is important to know what you're getting into in choosing this major.

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is unique among the departments in the College of Liberal Arts because it allows for aspiring chemists to gain real, hands on experience rather than having them just do lab maintenance tasks. I have known people who start research their first semester, and by the end of their freshman year are working on their own projects.

Quantitative analysis was probably one of the hardest classes I've ever taken. The lecture went over everything from general chemistry in much more detail, and the lab reports were required to be extremely thorough. However, by the end of that class, my understanding of the fundamentals was rock solid and my lab reports were leaps and bounds better than they were going into that class.

I have been binge reading Brandon Sanderson's "Stormlight Archive" series.

Establish professional contacts as early as possible. Even if what you are doing is only tangentially related to your overall goals of what you want to pursue professionally or academically, getting that experience and those contacts is invaluable in order to get you where you want to be in your desired field.