Program Requirements and Opportunities
Published annually, the Course Catalog sets out the requirements of the academic programs--the majors, minors, and concentrations. Each Bryn Mawr student must declare a major before the end of the sophomore year. Students may also declare a minor or a concentration, but neither is required for the A.B. degree. Students must comply with the requirements published in the Course Catalog at the time when they declare the major, minor and/or concentration.
The Course Catalog also sets out the College requirements. Students must comply with the College requirements published at the time they enter Bryn Mawr College.
For more information, visit the Catalog Homepage to view the current content. To view Catalogs from previous academic years, visit the Catalog Archives page.
Chemistry Program Requirements and Opportunities
The Chemistry major is offered with several different options:
- American Chemical Society Certified A.B., recommended for graduate school
- Chemistry major, A.B. Only
- Chemistry minor
- Chemistry major with concentration in biochemistry
- Chemistry major with concentration in geochemistry
For all degree options, merit level work is expected in every chemistry, math, biology, geology, and physics course.
FAQ About The Chemistry Major.
ACS Certified A.B. Major Requirements
A student may qualify for a major in chemistry by completing a total of 15 units in chemistry with the distribution:
- Chem 103, 104
- Chem 211/216, 212/217
- Chem 221, 222
- Chem 231
- Chem 242
- Chem 251, 252
- Chem 398, 399
- two other Chem 3xx
Other required courses: Math 201(multivariable calculus) is a prerequisite for Chem 221 & Chem 222.
Students majoring in Chemistry fulfill the disciplinary writing requirement by satisfactorily completing Chem 251 and 252, which are writing attentive courses.
Major, A.B. only
A non-ACS certified major requires all of the above coursework except Chem 398, 399.
Timetables for Meeting Major Requirements
Students may follow various schedules to meet their major requirements. However, a fairly typical one is:
- freshman year: Chem 103 and 104, Math 101 and 102
- sophomore year: Chem 211/216, 212/217, Math 201
- junior year: Chem 221, 222, 231, 242, 251, 252
- senior year: two or more Chem 3xx
In particular note that
- Math 201 must be completed before taking Chem 221 or Chem 222.
- Chem 221/222 can be taken concurrently with Chem 211/212.
Students who wish to deviate from the usual schedule (including those who want to complete the major in 3 years) should consult with the major adviser as early as possible to devise an alternative plan.
Honors
The requirements for departmental honors are:
- Complete one of the major plans
- Maintain a chemistry GPA of 3.7 or better. A maximum of 2 credits of 403 will be factored into the chemistry GPA
- Complete Chem 398 and 399 with a grade of 3.3 or better each semester.
- Participate in research oral/poster presentations.
- Write an acceptable thesis, and meet all department deadlines for submission of the thesis.
- Complete an additional unit of Chem 3xx (for a total of three 300-level chemistry units). With department approval, one unit of 300-level work in certain fields may be substituted.
Minor
A student may qualify for a minor in chemistry by completing a total of 8 units in chemistry with the distribution:
- Chem 103, 104
- Chem 211/216, 212/217
- Chem 221* or 222*
- Chem 231 or 242**
- Chem 251 or 252
*Pre-requisite: Math 201
**Biol 375 may be substituted for Chem 242
Major with Concentration in Biochemistry
- Chem 103, 104
- Chem 211/216, 212/217
- Chem 242*
- Chem 221**, 222**, or 231 (choose 2 of 3)
- Chem 251, 252
- Chem 345 or 377
- Chem 3xx
- Biol 201
- Biol 376***
*Biol 375 may be substituted for Chem 242
**Pre-requisite: Math 201
***Chem 242 satisfies the pre-requisite for this course.
Major with Concentration in Geochemistry
- Chem 103, 104
- Chem 211/216, 212/217
- Chem 221*, 222*, 231 or 242** (choose 3 of 4)
- Chem 251, 252
- Chem 332
- Chem 3xx
- Geol 101
- Geol 202
- Geol 302, 305, 350 (choose 2 of 3; Geol 350 requires Geology major adviser approval)
*Pre-requisite: Math 201
**Bio 375 may be substituted for Chem 242
The Chemistry major can also be combined with any of the minors offered in the College. In particular, the minors in Environmental Studies, Education and Computational Science offer attractive combinations with a Chemistry major for future career paths that require competency in those allied fields. Detailed information about these minors can be found in the appropriate section of the catalog. Students may double major in Chemistry and Biology, but are not permitted to double major in Biology and BCMB (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) or Chemistry and BCMB.
A.B./M.A. Program
- Chemistry major A.B. requirements
- four units of 5xx*
- two units of 7xx
- M.A. thesis
- written final exam
*two units may be 3xx
3-2 Program in Engineering and Applied Science
The 3-2 Program in Engineering and Applied Science is offered in cooperation with the California Institute of Technology and awards both an A.B. at Bryn Mawr and a B.S. at Cal Tech. Chemistry students considering this program should contact Chemistry Senior Lecturer Lisa Watkins.
4+1 Program in Engineering at UPenn
The University of Pennsylvania 4+1 engineering program allows students to earn an A.B. at Bryn Mawr and an M.S. in Engineering (M.S.E) at UPenn. Students apply between the beginning of the sophomore year and end of the junior year. Chemistry students considering this program should contact Chemistry Senior Lecturer Lisa Watkins. See also the description of the 4+1 Program in Engineering at UPenn.
For minor advising please contact, Marc Schulz (mschulz@brynmawr.edu), Professor of Psychology and Director of Data Science.
List of Courses
BIOL B115 (Computing Through Biology) |
BIOL B250 (Computational Methods in the Sciences) |
BIOL B330 Ecological Modeling |
CITY B201 (Introduction to GIS for Social & Environmental Analysis) |
CITY B217 (Research Methods in Social Sciences) |
CITY B328 (Analysis of Geospatial Data Using GIS) |
CMSC B109 (Introduction to Computing) |
CMSC B110A(Introduction to Computing) |
CMSC B113 (Computer Science 1) |
CMSC B113A (Computer Science 1) |
CMSC B151 (Data Structures) |
CMSC B380 Recent Advances in Comp Sci-Info Retrieval & Web Search |
CMSC B383 (Recent Advances in Computer Science: Computational Text Analysis) |
CSMC H265 (Critical Study of Data and Algorithms) |
CMSCH 360A001 Machine Learning |
CMSCH 360A00A Machine Learning |
DSCI B100 (Introduction to Data Science) |
DSCI B201 Ethics in Data Sciences |
DSCI B210 Quantifying Happiness: Efforts to study and alter happiness |
DSCI/PSYCH B314 (Advanced Data Science: Regression & Multivariate Statistics) |
DSCI B315 Bayesian and Frequentist Statistical Inference |
ECON B253 (Introduction to Econometrics) |
ECON B304 (Econometrics) |
ENVS 307 Introduction to Fisheries Science |
GEOL B104 The Science of climate change |
HLTH B302 Survey Methods for Health Research |
MATH B104 Basic Probability and Stats |
MATH B195 (Statistics for Data Science) |
MATH B205 (Theory of Probability with Applications) |
Math 208 (Introduction to Modeling and Simulation) |
MATH H201 (Linear optimization) |
Math B295 (Select Topics in Mathematics): “Math Modeling and Sustainability” and “Statistics with R” versions of this course |
MUSC H255 Encoding Music |
PHIL B258 Data Ethics in Social Media |
POLS B233 (Intro to Research Design and Data Analysis) |
PSYCH 318 (Data Science with R) |
PSYCH 330 Reproducible Research |
PSYCH B205 (Research Methods & Statistics) |
PSYCH B205A(Research Methods & Statistics) |
SOCL B265 (Quantitative Methods) |
SOCL B327 (Capital & Connections) |

Contact Us
Data Science
Marc Schulz
Professor of Psychology on the Sue Kardas Ph.D. 1971 Professorship and Director of Data Science
mschulz@brynmawr.edu
610-526-5039
Ann Ogle
Administrative Support Staff
aogle@brynmawr.edu