Chemistry Major
Admission Requirements
Unconditional admission to the M.S. program requires the applicant to have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university, an undergraduate cumulative grade point average of 2.5 or better on a 4.0 scale, and a composite score of at least 289 on the Graduate Record Examination. Applicants have the option of taking the subject test in order to bring the combined score to 289 or higher. Applicants with less than a 2.5 undergraduate GPA must submit test scores at the time of application; applicants with a GPA of 2.5 or above may submit test scores in the first semester of attendance, but it is preferable that they submit test scores at the time of original application.
Conditional admission may be gained with a lower grade point average than 2.5, but the GRE score must be correspondingly higher. If the undergraduate GPA is between 2.25 and 2.49, the GRE score must be 293; if the GPA is between 2.0 and 2.24, the GRE score must be 1,000.
The student must remove the conditional status by earning at least a B (3.0) average in the first nine hours of graduate courses; failure to achieve this average will result in withdrawal from the program.
In addition, the applicant must have an undergraduate major in Chemistry, or the equivalent. In some instances, conditional admission may be granted prior to completion of the undergraduate course requirements, but a student must complete these courses before taking any graduate courses.
Degree Requirements
The Department offers both thesis and non-thesis options in the Master of Science degree program. A minimum of 30 semester hours of approved courses are required for the M.S. degree under the thesis option, and a minimum of 35 semester hours are required under the non-thesis option. Students who choose the non-thesis option must pass a comprehensive examination (passing score 70% or above) taken no earlier than the term in which they complete their course work. Students interested in pursuing research careers in the academia, government or industries are highly encouraged to take the thesis option.
There is no foreign language reading requirement for the M.S. degree in Chemistry.
The M.S. (Thesis option) degree requires students to complete and defend a thesis based upon his or her research.
Program of Study
The degree candidate must file a program of study after completing at least nine semester hours of graduate study but no more than fifteen hours. The program of study lists the courses which will be used to satisfy degree requirements, as well as detailing how other requirements will be met. The student may later change the program of study with the written approval of the Department and the Graduate School.
Admission to Candidacy
The individual must file for admission to candidacy at the same time he or she submits the program of study. The candidate must have a grade point average of 3.0 or above to be eligible for admission to candidacy.
