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Chemistry, B.S.

Chemistry is central to many scientific fields of study and chemists are involved in solving in the world's greatest challenges such as climate change, disease, and clean energy. At MTSU, you'll build a strong background in the traditional areas of chemistry—analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry along with mentored research and internship courses, and plenty of electives to choose from, such as computational, environmental, medicinal, and polymer chemistry. A Chemistry degree prepares students to think critically and creatively as effective problem solvers. Graduates can continue on to graduate or professional school or find immediate employment in a wide variety of high-demand fields, including health professions (e.g. medical, dental, pharmacy); environmental, polymer, or pharmaceutical industry; or teaching.

Frequently Asked Questions

What can you do with a Chemistry degree?

Chemistry is a very versatile degree. Chemists are involved in essentially every kind of analysis—forensics, biomedical testing, water and waste water treatment, quality control—which means that virtually any company or regulatory group involved in manufacturing or testing employs Chemists. Chemists are also involved in the creation of new compounds and materials for various applications—new dyes, new pharmaceuticals, new consumer products, new coatings and polymers. As a result, many of them are found in biotech and pharmaceutical companies, but also the petroleum industry, cosmetics, flavoring, and fragrances. Chemists can, of course, be teachers as well as basic researchers. They are involved as expert advisors on technical issues to government as well as the entertainment industry. Just about any area can involve Chemists and, because Chemistry is viewed as being hard, Chemists are sought after even by employers who do not do Chemistry. The assumption is that if you are smart enough to be a Chemist, you can learn anything that they need you to learn.

Is Chemistry a hard major?

Chemistry is absolutely viewed as being hard and it is challenging. A Chemistry degree involves taking classes that involve a great deal of math (including Calculus), but also a number of classes that are conceptual rather than numerical. As a result, straight memorization is rarely successful, so students need to develop other studying and learning skills and then know when to apply which type. All of that requires time, effort, and practice.

What do Chemistry majors do?

Students learn about all of the main areas within Chemistry (Analytical, Physical, Organic, Inorganic, Biochemical) both through lecture courses as well as lab courses. Most Chemistry coursework has a lab component, so being willing to go into lab and learn how to do various techniques as well as understand why they work and what they can tell us is all equally important. Lab work can be time consuming and requires careful attention if it is going to work, but it also tends to involve periods of waiting during which you can socialize with others in the class (so the isolated “mad scientist” caricature is not very real).

Can a Chemistry major be a Chemical Engineer?

These are two very different degrees. Chemical Engineering does involve learning some Chemistry, but also involves learning a lot of Engineering principles. They tend to be much more focused on the thermodynamics and transport properties of Chemical reactions as opposed to learning about how the reaction works or developing new reactions or processes. Someone looking to employ a Chemical Engineer is not looking for a Chemist and the converse is also true. Chemical Engineering is much more specialized.

What is the difference between Chemistry and Biochemistry?

Biochemistry, while sometimes viewed as a separate field, is really a sub-discipline of Chemistry. It takes the same concepts and foundation found in the other areas of Chemistry and applies it to the Biological realm. It shares a great deal with Molecular Biology, but does tend to focus on how the basic principles and techniques of Chemistry can be used to explain and understand what happens in living organisms. A Biochemist has to take most of the same coursework as a Chemist, but with the addition of some Biochemistry courses that make the connections to living systems clear and focus some of the concepts in a slightly different way. Most Chemistry degrees also contain some Biochemistry coursework as it is an essential part of the overall field of Chemistry.