Department of Chemistry and Geology

The Bachelor of Science with a major in chemistry program is designed for students who plan to enter graduate school or the chemical industry and for preprofessional students preparing for admission to a school of medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine. The curriculum is certified by the American Chemical Society.

The Bachelor of Science with a major in chemistry program is particularly well suited to premedical students. Entrance requirements for most medical schools require an undergraduate program to include a general course in biology, general physics, English composition, a modern language and some calculus, in addition to a strong chemistry background. Premedical students should add to the Bachelor of Science with a major in chemistry program two semesters of general biology (botany and zoology) and, perhaps, one advanced biology course as electives. Preprofessional counseling for science and health careers is available on campus.

Requirements for the Chemistry BS Degree

• CHEM1201,  CHEM1202   General Chemistry I, II
  (1st and 2nd semesters)
• CHEM1203,  CHEM1204   General Chemistry Laboratory I, II
  (1st and 2nd semesters)
• CHEM2211,  CHEM2213   Inorganic Chemistry
  (4th or 6th semester)
• CHEM2221,  CHEM2223   Analytical Chemistry
  (4th or 6th semester)
• CHEM2261,  CHEM2262   Organic Chemistry I, II
  (3rd and 4th semesters)
• CHEM2263,  CHEM2264   Organic Chemistry Laboratory I, II
  (3rd and 4th semesters)
• CHEM3241,  CHEM3242   Physical Chemistry I, II
  (5th and 6th semesters)
• CHEM3243,  CHEM3244   Physical Chemistry Laboratory I, II
  (5th and 6th semesters)
• CHEM3281   Biochemistry I
  (5th or 7th semester)
• CHEM4215   Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
  (8th semester)
• CHEM4233   Instrumental Analysis
  (7th semester)
• CHEM4234   Instrumental Analysis Laboratory
  (7th semester)
• CHEM4401   Chemistry Seminar
  (8th semester)
• MATH1201,  MATH2202   Calculus I, II
  (1st and 2nd semesters)
• PHYS2003,  PHYS2013;
  PHYS2004,  PHYS2014   General Physics with Calculus I, II
  (3rd and 4th semesters)
• Advanced Chemistry Laboratory
  (5th, 6th, 7th or 8th semester)

Students continuing a language from high school are advised to satisfy the language requirement in their first year. In addition, the following courses are strongly recommended.

• MATH2203 Calculus III
• MATH2210 Differential Equations
• CSCI1205 Introduction to Computer Programming (C++)
• CSCI2255 Discrete Structures
• CSCI2232 Data Structures

Electives

• CHEM3383   Biochemistry Laboratory
• CHEM4351   Chemical Kinetics
• CHEM4371   Organic Synthesis
• CHEM4372,  CHEM4362   Organic Analysis
• CHEM4373   Polymer Chemistry
• CHEM4374   Theoretical Organic Chemistry
• CHEM4430   Selected Topics in Chemistry
• CHEM4800   Independent Study in Chemistry

Students may take graduate courses as electives in the seventh and eighth semesters with the approval of the chairperson. See the Graduate Studies Bulletin for a list of courses and descriptions.

The chemistry curriculum outlined above fulfills all of the Becton College core curriculum requirements except:

• written or oral communications (9 credits),
• social-behavioral sciences (9 credits),
• humanistic studies (9 credits) and
• physical education (1 credit).

Students should see College requirements for details of the college general education requirements.

Students planning to enter medical school should take:

• BIOL1201,  BIOL1203 Biological Sciences I;
• BIOL1202,  BIOL1204 Biological Sciences II;
• and perhaps one additional advanced biology course.

Students considering graduate work in biological chemistry should take as electives:

• BIOL1202,  BIOL1204 Biological Sciences II;
• BIOL2003,  BIOL2004 Cell Biology; and 
• BIOL3009,  BIOL3019 Microbiology.

They also might consider:

• BIOL3337 General Physiology

and/or courses from the graduate offerings:

• BIOL6703 Cell Physiology,
• BIOL6711 Virology

and a course in molecular biology.

These students also might consider a double major in biology and chemistry.