Sarah Krusleski: So why chemical engineering and not mechanical?
Edison Choi: Money. Definitely money. I prefer chemistry and math and all that stuff.’
Krusleski: Do you have any siblings?
Choi: Yes, my (older) brother. And he’s working on his Ph.D. at the Baylor College of Medicine.
Krusleski: So he’s doing research?
Choi: He did three years of the M.D. (program), so technically he has maybe one year left for the M.D., but then he went to do his Ph.D. at Baylor. When he comes out of Baylor, he’ll be a Ph.D. and an M.D. at the same time.
Krusleski: So what are you going to do with all your money when you graduate?
Choi: I have a list of things I want to buy. I want to buy a peacock. If I’m richer, (I will) probably buy a giraffe. Why? Just because I can.
Krusleski: Where are you going to keep these guys?
Choi: Probably in my garage.
Krusleski: Why don’t you want a monkey?
Choi: Have you seen the movie Outbreak? It’s about a monkey that has a virus and it kills half the world or something.
Krusleski: So you don’t want to start it.
Choi: Actually, I would like a monkey. A helper monkey would be nice. One that helps you take tests. Yeah, that carries my books.
Krusleski: How would you pick up chicks?
Choi: Probably buy a dog. Go to the dog park. And hopefully my dog will attract some females. And after that, I think I can take it from there.
Krusleski: Before I started talking to engineers, I thought all the majors were equally difficult. I had no idea that there was a hierarchy of difficulty between majors.
Choi: They’re all hard in their own right. If I didn’t do chemical engineering and was doing mechanical, it’d probably be hard. But if I dropped this and went to mechanical, it’d be easy because I wouldn’t be dealing with chemicals. Chemical just interests me more than mechanical. I’d rather just do that.
