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B.S. in Chemistry


ChemLab

Go anywhere with the central science.

Grove City College offers a chemistry degree distinguished by abundant research opportunities, state-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation, and highly accomplished faculty mentors who point you to Christ as preeminent. As a chemistry major in our program approved by the American Chemical Society, you will be prepared to excel in prestigious graduate schools or immediately enter the field as a stand-out chemist.

Program Highlights
  • 75 major credit hours of rigorous undergraduate coursework in the chemical sciences with the freedom to select a concentration (via elective classes) in forensic chemistry, biochemistry, physical chemistry, molecular modeling, or synthetic chemistry. For detailed course descriptions, view the College Catalog.
    • Chemistry requirements include courses that cover the core disciplines of analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and physical chemistry.
  • Personal access to highly accomplished teaching faculty who serve as guides and mentors in and out of the classroom and lab. Our 13-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio keeps classes small and conducive to greater collaboration and mentorship than you’ll find at most large universities.
  • Extensive research opportunities with state-of-the-art equipment to give you hands-on experience in experimental or computational studies. Recent research projects have been conducted in areas including synthetic chemistry, computational chemistry, analytical chemistry, and biochemistry.
    • While much research happens on campus, many students obtain summer research opportunities at prestigious institutions across the country such as Penn State, the Universities of Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Washington, Duquesne, West Virginia University, and Scripps Research Institute in Florida, among others.
  • Internship opportunities in a wide range of laboratory environments.
    • Recently students have interned with PPG Industries, BASF, Sherwin-Williams, Reaxis, Lubrizol, Cambridge Isotope Labs, and Entegris.
  • Opportunities to attend conferences, such as the annual American Chemical Society National Meeting which faculty attend with selected research students. At conferences like these, you will get to present your research results and gain more clarity for your career path as you consider the possibility of graduate school.
  • Extensive STEM facilities with glass-walled laboratories that put “science in sight,” as well as open, collaborative spaces for research and study and a wide array of modern instrumentation — like our NMR spectrometer and x-ray diffractometer — that you will learn to use starting freshman year to determine the properties and structures of compounds. Hands-on experience with our instrumentation prepares you well for internships or research early on in your college experience.
  • Opportunities to serve as a teaching assistant for lab classes, in which you will learn to prepare reagents and equipment for lab as you work closely with the lab professor.
  • Vocation-enriching humanities core classes woven into your academic schedule that will cultivate greater empathy, critical thinking, writing and other communication skills, and a well-rounded understanding of the world and your place in it.
  • Major-related student groups on campus including the local student chapter of the American Chemical Society and Kemikos — a local honorary society.

Career Outcomes
  • If you’re like 95% of Grove City College graduates, you’ll be ready to compete for employment with large and small companies in positions involving quality control, coatings formulation, technical sales support, measurement of mercury emissions, and development of optical coatings.
    • Recent graduates have landed positions with large corporations such as PPG Industries, Sonneborn, Dow Chemical, Proctor & Gamble, 3M, Perkin Elmer, Mettler Toledo, and The Lord Corporation, as well as smaller family-owned companies like Jamestown Coating Technologies, Optical Filters USA, and Interstate Chemical.
  • You’ll be prepared to pursue admittance into prestigious graduate programs at institutions such as Purdue, Texas A&M, Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Washington, as well as Harvard and Stanford. Several of our graduates have gone on to become chemistry professors at colleges and universities around the country.
  • Beyond the chemical industry, our chemistry graduates have obtained positions in patent law, forensic science, private education, business, and ministry.
  • With a solid background and clear sense of calling, you are bound to make an impact in your field as a thoughtful problem solver, meticulous scientist, and lifelong learner with a deep sense of wonder for chemical processes that shape the material world.