University of Illinois At Chicago

After admission, all entering students must take placement examinations. The placement examinations, which are at a level of typical terminal college courses, are offered in the areas of analytical, inorganic, organic, physical, and biochemistry. All graduate students must show proficiency in three areas of their choice. A deficiency in an area must be remedied by taking an advanced undergraduate or a graduate-level course in the area.

The MS degree is not a prerequisite to the PhD degree in Chemistry. Students are normally admitted directly to the PhD program. In addition to the Graduate College minimum requirements to be awarded a master's degree, students must meet the following program requirements:

• Minimum Semester Hours Required 32. At least 24 of the 32 hours must be within the Department of Chemistry.
• Thesis, Project, or Course Work Only Options Students elect one of three options: course work only, course work plus examination, or course work plus thesis.
  • Course-Work-Only: As stated above, at least 24 of the 32 course work hours must be within the Department of Chemistry. All courses from outside the Department of Chemistry must be approved by the Graduate Advising Committee. At least four lecture courses must be taken at the 500-level. No more than 8 semester hours of seminar or research courses may be applied to the master’s degree. If the CHEM 592 research course is used, a project report must be submitted and approved. Students in the course-work-only option must complete all course work for the master’s degree within three semesters, excluding summers; those who fail to do so must then select one of the other two options.
  • Course Work plus Examination: Required for students who stay beyond three semesters and elect to pursue the examination option. These students must pass two cumulative examinations by the end of the second year in addition to all the course work requirements noted above.
  • Course Work plus Thesis: Students may elect to submit and defend a thesis based on their research in addition to 24 hours of graduate level course work in chemistry, as described above.