Chemistry Degree Requirements

What is required for admission to the master's program?

Candidates seeking admission to the master's program are expected to have: a bachelor's degree in chemistry, biochemistry or a related field from an accredited college or university; a minimum GPA of 2.5 in the last 60 semester units (or the last 90 quarter units); and a minimum GPA of 2.5 for upper-division courses in the major. International student applicants are required to pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of 550 or higher. The GRE is recommended, but is not required for admission.

For more information, please contact our graduate adviser, Dr. Peter de Lijser, by e-mail at pdelijser@fullerton.edu, or mail at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University, Fullerton, P.O. box 6866, Fullerton, Ca 92834-6866.

Degree Requirements

Placement Exams- The placement exams are used to assess undergraduate preparation in 6 areas: physical, organic, biochemsitry, analytical, inorganic chemistry, and biology. Students are expected to meet four of the five areas. All students must qualify in physical chemistry and organic chemistry; students must qualify in any two of the other three fields.

Required Courses- The degree program consists of thirty semester units to be completed witha minimum GPA of 3.0. The following courses are required:

Chemistry 500 Introduction to Graduate Studies (1 unit)
Chemistry 505A,B Seminar in Chemistry (2 units)
Chemistry 598 Thesis (3 units)
Chemistry 599 Independant Graduate Research (6 units)

The remaining 18 units are divided into core courses and electives:

Core Courses (9 units)
Within each area of chemistry, there is a core of 3 courses taken from the following topics: protein chemistry, metabolism, physical biochemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, advanced inorganic chemistry, kinetics and spectroscopy, advanced instrumentation,theory of separations, quantum chemistry, advanced organic chemsitry, organic spectroscopy, natural product chemistry, and organic synthesis.

Electives (9 units)
In addition to the core courses, students must complete 9 semester units of electives at the 400- or 500- level. Courses in physics or biology may be used as electives with approval of the Graduate Commitee.

Seminar- Graduate students must attend a minimum of 30 departmental seminars and present several short presentations on different topics. Each student also conducts a thorough literature review of an approved topic and presents a 50-minute seminar to the department.

Research- The primary requirement for the master's degree is an original research project culminating in a written master's thesis. Students may begin research at any time, but the department suggests that the placement exams be completed before making a significant commitment to research.

Getting Ahead

With careful planning, it is possible to get a significant head start on the M.S. degree while completing your bachelor's degree requirments. Certain advanced undergraduate electives (with a B or better) may be used to meet the course breadth requirments for the master's degree program; you may also use up to nine units of such coursework towards the 30 units needed for the master's program, as long as the courses were not used to fulfill requirements for the bachelor's degree. In addition, the qualifying examinations required upon entering the M.S. program may be taken during the semester prior to entering the program, while you are still an undergraduate. Furthermore, significant involvement in one's M.S. research project is possible while still an undergraduate.