Record Number of Students Declare Engineering Majors During Decision Day 2026

The College of Engineering's pipeline of aspiring engineers keeps growing. A record 746 first-year students declared their majors during Decision Day events held Feb. 25 and 27, surpassing last year's mark of 726.

In the semicircular auditorium, students sat grouped by department. As each major's list appeared on screen, the room applauded.

Nearly half of this year's students, about 47%, said they had chosen their discipline before they arrived on campus for orientation.

Claire Burton was one of them. The chemical engineering student from Omaha, Nebraska, grew up with two mechanical engineering parents and a pair of high school chemistry teachers who made her fall in love with the subject.

"I came in knowing what I wanted to do," Burton said. "But after I got here, I actually figured out possible career paths, and I was like, 'Oh, that could be cool.'"

Decision Day gave Burton something orientation only hinted at: fellow students all headed in the same direction. After the all-college assembly, her department relocated to the Chemical Engineering lounge, where faculty handed out T-shirts, passed around snacks and gave students their first real look at the community they had joined. Burton, who was embroidering vines and flowers onto a thrifted jean jacket while she waited for the ceremony to begin, found herself in conversations that drifted easily between coursework, shared classes and the weekend's upcoming band concerts.

The college designed that sense of belonging deliberately. The tradition began in 2008 alongside the First-Year Engineering Program, which introduces students to each discipline through faculty visits, department tours and hands-on coursework before asking them to choose.

"Decision Day is really about helping students find their academic home," said Kim Needy, dean of the College of Engineering. "We want every student to walk out of that room feeling like they belong to a community, not just a major."

For many students, the choice traced back further than first-year engineering. Brayden Webb chose civil engineering because it was the field his father built a career in. He remembered being dragged to a job site one early morning in junior high, a bridge project on Rupple Road, and finding, despite himself, that it was worth the early alarm.

For Caleb Mauldin, the path ran through a different kind of care. He chose biomedical engineering with an eye toward veterinary school, a goal shaped by a houseful of animals: three dogs and a cat named Marty, because the cat was born on the loading dock of a Walmart. The choice came down to human medicine or animal medicine. "I was more drawn to being a veterinarian because I do take care of animals," Mauldin said.

In the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, advanced lecturer Robert Saunders took the stage in the auditorium, brandishing a six-inch Razorback-red ruler. Printed on it: a departmental email address and phone numbers. His message to the incoming class was direct: if anything gets in the way of your classwork, reach out. Someone who can help will be on the other end.

"Approach early," he told them, "before it becomes a fire."

Industrial engineering students received a different kind of welcome. After leaving the auditorium, the incoming class broke into small groups, met their faculty and student mentors, and drew mind maps of what they thought industrial engineering actually was. Then they folded those maps into paper airplanes and launched them down the hall.

Letting their mind maps soar.

2026 DECISION DAY TOTALS

About the College of Engineering: The University of Arkansas College of Engineering is the state's largest engineering school, offering graduate and undergraduate degrees, online studies and interdisciplinary programs. It enrolls more than 4,700 students and employs more than 150 faculty and researchers along with nearly 200 staff members. Its research enterprise generated $47 million in new research awards in Fiscal Year 2025. The college's strategic plan, Vision 2035, seeks to build the premier STEM workforce in accordance with three key objectives: Initiating lifelong student success, generating transformational and relevant knowledge, and becoming the destination of choice among educators, students, staff, industry, alumni and the community. As part of this, the college is increasing graduates and research productivity to expand its footprint as an entrepreneurial engineering platform serving Arkansas and the world. The college embraces its pivotal role in driving economic growth, fueling innovation and educating the next generation of engineers, computer scientists and data scientists to address current and future societal challenges.