College of Chemistry Course Guide
Chemistry B.S.
List of Required Courses
- CHEM 1A (offered in the Spring or Fall) or CHEM 4A (offered in the Fall only)
- CHEM 4B (offered in the Spring only) or CHEM 15 (offered in the Fall only)
- MATH 1A or MATH 10A
- MATH 1B or MATH 10B
- MATH 53
- MATH 54 or PHYS 89
- PHYS 7A or PHYS 5A
- PHYS 7B or PHYS 5B + PHYS 5BL
- CHEM 12A (Fall only)
- CHEM 12B (Spring only)
- CHEM 104A (Fall only)
- CHEM 104B (Spring only)
- CHEM 120A
- CHEM 120B (Fall only)
- CHEM 125 or CHEM C182 (Spring only)
- CHEM 105 (Spring only), CHEM 108 (Fall only), CHEM 115, or CHEM 146 (Spring only)
Electives
For the elective course, you must choose one upper division lecture (or lecture + laboratory) course within the department of chemistry to take. The following courses are available for chemistry students:
- CHEM 103
- CHEM 113
- CHEM 114
- CHEM 122http://public2.yuantsy.com/Test/EE137A/List/Chemistry/CHEM%20122%20-%20Quantum%20Mechanics%20and%20Spectroscopy.pdf
- CHEM C130
- CHEM 130B
- CHEM 143
- CHEM C150
- CHEM C178
- CHEM C191
- CHEM 195
- Any upper division chemistry laboratory course that was not used for another requirement
- Any graduate-level chemistry courses
Allied Subjects
Allied Subjects are upper division elective courses offered by the chemistry department or other departments that are strongly related to chemistry. Students need to complete a total of 12 units of Elective + Allied Subjects courses, equating to 3-4 classes. Students who perform research for units (through CHEM H194 or CHEM 196) can have up to 4 research units count towards this total. The following are courses that satisfy the Allied Subject requirement for chemistry majors:
- ASTRO C162
- BIOE 100, BIOE 104, BIOE 111, BIOE C112, BIOE 115, BIOE C117, BIOE C119, BIOE C119, BIOE 121, BIOE 124, BIOE 131, BIOE 132, BIOE 143, BIOE 144L, BIOE 147, BIOE 150, BIOE 163
- BIO 1A + BIO 1AL or BIO 1B (but not both BIO 1A+L and BIO 1B)
- CHEM 15 (transfers only), CHEM 103 (only 2 units count toward requirement), CHEM 105,CHEM 108, CHEM C110L,CHEM 113, CHEM 114, CHEM 115, CHEM 122, CHEM C130, CHEM 130B (only 2 units count toward requirement), CHEM 135, CHEM 143, CHEM 146, CHEM C150, CHEM C170L, CHEM C178, CHEM C191, CHEM 195, provided none of the aforementioned has been applied to fulfill another major requirement.
- CIVE C106, CIVE 111, CIVE 112, CIVE C115, CIVE C116, CIVE C133
- CS 160, CS 162, CS 164, CS 170, CS 174, CS 184, CS C191
- EPS 103, EPS C129, EPS C162, EPS C106
- ECON C103
- ED 223B, ED 224A
- ENE RES 102
- ENG 117, ENG 128
- ESPM 119, ESPM C128, ESPM C129, ESPM C138, ESPM C148, ESPM 162, ESPM 162A, ESPM C180
- IEOR 172
- Any upper division MSE course
- Any upper division MATH course
- MECHE 107, MECHE C115, MECHE C117, MECHE C176, MECHE C180
- MCB C100A, MCB 102, MCB C103, MCB 104, MCB 110, MCB C112, MCB C112L, MCB C114, MCB C116, MCB 130, MCB 133L, MCB 135A, MCB 136, MCB 140, MCB 140L, MCB 141, MCB C148, MCB 150, MCB 150L
- NUCE 101, NUCE 104, NUCE 120, NUCE 124, NUCE 130, NUCE 150, NUCE 161, NUCE 162, NUCE 180
- NST 103, NST 108A, NST 110, NST C114, NST 115, NST 121, NST 160, NST 171
- PHYS 7C, PHYS 105, PHYS 110A, PHYS 110B, PHYS 112, PHYS 112, PHYS 130, PHYS 137B, PHYS 141A, PHYS 141B, PHYS C191
- PMB C112, PMB C112L, PMB C114, PMB C116, PMB 120, PMB 120L, PMG 122, PMB 135, PMB C148, PMB 150, PMB 160, PMB 180
- PH C102, PH 142, PH 162A, PH 162 L
- STAT 134, STAT 135, STAT 140
Concentrations, Double Majors, Minors
The Department of Chemistry also offers a Materials Chemistry Concentration for chemistry majors. In order to obtain a concentration in materials chemistry, students are required to take an analytical lab (CHEM 105, 125, or C182) and a synthetic lab (CHEM 108 or 115) for their laboratory requirement, and CHEM C150 for the elective requirement. For their allied subject courses, students are asked to take a total of 10 units (~3 courses) from the following list:
Although it is possible to double major/obtain a simulatenous degree (see Chemistry + Business) as a Chemistry major, it is highly uncommon given the nature of courses within the College of Chemistry. Before you decide to double, please read the corresponding page on double majors. Please note that students are not allowed to double major in Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
Some students choose to obtain minors in related fields, such as Bioengineering, Computer Science, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mathematics, amongst others. To find out more about minoring while in the College of Chemistry, please consult the Minors page.
Careers
From the 2017 Career Center survey of Chemistry Majors:
Of the Chemistry majors graduating from UC Berkeley, about half (50%) continue with their education, attending graduate school for their Doctorate, PharmD, or Master’s degree. These students attend schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Princeton, and UCSF.
Of the students who go into the workforce, 64% work for for-profit corporations, with 21% for education and 14% for government. The average salary is $50,400. The most common jobs for graduates are research techicians (research associates) and software engineers.