Combined Bachelor of Science / Master of Science

This dual degree is designed to take a high-school graduate to a Master's degree in five years. Students who plan to enter this program ought to have a solid high-school record, particularly in chemistry, physics, mathematics, and English. It should be emphasized that this schedule will be possible only for students who declare their intention to enroll in this program early, preferably before they begin their college career and certainly no later than at the end of their first year. Indeed, inasmuch as the completion of this program requires an intense and total dedication on the part of the student, there is not much room for mistakes and proper advising is essential in order to minimize major programmatic errors which would result in delays.

Students enrolled in the B.S./M.S. program will be advised by a member of the Chemistry Graduate Committee prior to registration, preferably in the spring semester preceding entrance into the dual degree. The faculty advisor will be in charge of overseeing the student's progress for the first three years. The student's research advisor will then take over for the final two years.

The sample curriculum (available from the Chemistry Department) makes it clear that students enrolled in this program should be prepared to dedicate themselves fully and completely for five years, including portions of the summer of the third, fourth and fifth year of the program. The "five-year" schedule is presented only to illustrate how the B.S./M.S. degree can be completed in that length of time. Needless to say, a student may elect to proceed at a less rapid pace.

The Program
At the end of Year 3 (a total of 96 credits) of the typical five-year schedule, the B.S./M.S. student will have fulfilled all of the major requirements for the B.A. and will be poised to begin their M.S. work. The performance of the student reaching that stage will be evaluated by the Chemistry Graduate Committee. Several possible recommendations may be made at this point, namely to: (1) Allow the student to proceed according to the five-year B.S./M.S. schedule (see Appendix I) (2) Allow the student to continue in the B.S./M.S. dual degree program, but at a slower pace (3) Not allow the student to continue in the B.S./M.S. track. Those students not allowed to continue in the B.S./M.S. program will of course still have the possibility to seek a B.A. or a B.S. degree in chemistry; they would also have the option of reapplying for admission as regular Master's degree students after completing their Bachelor's degree.

Qualified students in the program with a minimum of 120 credits will become eligible to receive financial aid at the graduate level (most likely in the form of teaching assistantship appointments); before they reach the 120 credit mark they are eligible to receive undergraduate financial aid.

Transfer students will be admitted at the level where they seek admissions within the context of the B.S./M.S. degree. The Chemistry Graduate Committee will recommend admissions, transfer of credit, and the number of courses and/or credits to be completed by the student seeking admission.

It is evident that students originally enrolled in the B.S./M.S. degree need not remain on full-time status. Again the typical five-year schedule serves only to illustrate how a student could complete the B.S./M.S. degree in a five-year span. Also, at any point, a student may decide to "undeclare" the program and continue on towards the standard B.S. degree. If this route is chosen, any graduate courses taken can be counted as elective credit towards graduation.

At the end of the "typical" five-year program, the B.S./M.S. student will be required to have completed 138 credits, which may be summarized as follows:

1. The normal requirements of the B.A. degree in chemistry: CH 103, 104, 253, 254, 311, 312, 313, 314, 369, 379, 370, and 371 (40 credits); MA 140 and 141 (6 credits); PHYS 113, 114, 181, and 182 (10 credits) for a total of 56 credits.
2. The CAS English requirement: ENG 101 and 102 (6 credits).
3. The CAS Core/Distribution requirement: two Diversity courses (6 credits) and twelve Core/Distribution courses (note: up to five of these can be fulfilled from the math and science requirements of the chemistry major -- 21 credits) for a total of 27 credits.
4. The requirements for the M.S. degree in chemistry (33 credits).
5. Other chemistry courses, chosen from a slate of electives (approximately 11 credits).

Upon completion of all the requirements, the student will be awarded two separate degrees (the undergraduate B.S. in Chemistry and the graduate M.S. in Chemistry). No degree will be awarded until the program is completed. A student's retention in the B.S./M.S. program is contingent upon maintaining a GPA of 2.0 in undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry courses, and a GPA of 3.0 in graduate chemistry courses.