Statistics show that something under one-half of the chemists in the work force have a bachelor's degree, about one-fifth have master's degrees, and one-third have doctorates in chemistry. As might be expected, chemists with advanced degrees command higher salaries. The decision to seek an advanced degree in chemistry will be determined by the requirements of the particular career path you decide to follow. For example, the Ph.D. degree is required for those wishing to teach at the college and university level, although two-year colleges will occasionally hire individuals with a master's degree. Having a master's or doctoral degree allows for better opportunities for advancement in industry than a bachelor's degree; in fact, at the present time, many industries are hiring more M.S. than Ph.D. chemists. Currently demand for both M.S. and Ph.D. scientists far exceeds supply.
Since the national and global employment outlook is difficult to predict, the fluctuations occur frequently, the best advice is to decide upon graduate study first because of a genuine interest in the subject matter of molecular science. Since it generally takes 2-3 years to complete requirements for the M.S. and 4-5 years for a Ph.D., it makes for a more pleasant and rewarding experience if a person finds the study of chemistry and the involvement in research an intellectually stimulating activity in its own right. Graduate work and professional career work in chemistry is so different from that experienced in the undergraduate course and laboratory curriculum. Participation in undergraduate research or working for a summer in an industrial setting, is recommended to discover whether you really enjoy doing chemistry.
If you are considering an advanced degree in chemistry, the following information about the nature of post-baccalaureate education, the procedure for applying to graduate schools and the criteria for selecting a graduate school is particularly important for you.
Graduate education in chemistry is quite different from the undergraduate education with which you are much more familiar. While graduation requirements for the bachelors degree concentrate on formal course work in which you study the chemical knowledge that has been generated in the past by others, graduate education emphasizes original research in which you create the new chemical knowledge that future generations of students will study. Ideally, by the time you graduate, you will have become one of the world's foremost experts in your area of chemistry. This specialization will, in turn, strongly influence the career opportunities available to you.
A second major difference is that you will receive financial support while attending graduate school. All major chemistry graduate programs provide their students with such support in the forms of teaching assistantships, and even fellowships for especially well-qualified applicants.
In addition to the financial assistance that individual universities provide their students there are many excellent fellowships available to chemistry graduate students from a variety of private foundations, industrial consortia, and governmental agencies (e.g., National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense). A particular advantage of these fellowships is that they are portable in that they allow the recipients to pursue graduate education at universities of their choosing. You should be aware that many of these fellowship competitions have application deadlines rather early in the fall semester of the year before your entrance to graduate school. Announcements concerning these fellowships are posted on the bulletin board across the hall from the Chemistry Department Office, 2010 Malott Hall. Additional information can be obtained from your faculty advisor and from the Undergraduate and Graduate Affairs Coordinator's Office, 2016 Malott.
Many graduate programs and most fellowship competitions require that students submit their scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) before their applications can be evaluated. You should, therefore, make arrangements to take these exams well in advance of the deadlines for whatever admission and fellowship applications you intend to submit. This generally means that you should take the GRE no later than the first semester of your senior year. Information on the nature, dates and locations of these exams can be obtained from your faculty advisor and the Undergraduate and Graduate Affairs Coordinator's Office, 2016 Malott.
You should begin the process of selecting a graduate school early in the first semester of your senior year. Your first step should be making a list of perhaps ten graduate programs which might be of interest to you, using the criteria listed in the following section. There are several sources of information you should consult in making your list. For example, announcements of opportunities for graduate study in chemistry and related fields are posted on the bulletin board in the hall opposite 2016 Malott Hall. In addition, the Undergraduate and Graduate Affairs Coordinator's Office, 2016 Malott, has copies of the ACS Directory of Graduate Research and other surveys of graduate programs, which students can consult. The directory covers all universities and colleges in the United States and Canada that offer a curriculum leading to the doctoral degree in chemistry, biochemistry, engineering and pharmaceutical sciences. Lists of faculty in each department, their interests and publications, the size of the graduate program and degree production are available in the directory. The Graduate Student Finder in 2016 Malott is a good secondary resource. You should also consult your faculty advisors and teachers.
Your second step should be to request an application form and information on the graduate program, including financial assistance, from each of the schools on your preliminary list. All major graduate programs will gladly supply whatever information you request, as they are always eager to attract qualified students.
The third step is to read carefully the information you receive, and then to apply to the five or six schools that you believe meet your particular needs best. You should be aware that many major graduate programs require application fees ranging from $10 to $30. In making this determination, you should consult with members of the chemistry faculty here at KU. Although many graduate programs have no definite deadline for application it is to your advantage to make a formal application not later than January of your senior year. This is particularly important if you want to be considered for fellowships at the school.
The fourth step is to obtain more detailed information about those programs which make you an offer of admission. This can be done by writing or calling to request specific information about the research programs of those faculty members under whose supervision you would consider conducting your dissertation research. You should attempt to visit those schools in which you are most interested, as this gives you the most accurate information about the school's faculty and facilities.
Because of the dominant role that dissertation research will play in both your graduate education and your subsequent employment, your principal criterion should be the selection of a school offering two or three research programs that you find truly exciting and stimulating.
A second criterion should be the reputation for excellence in chemistry of both the university you select and the faculty members with whom you might work. Does the program have a history of placing its graduates in industry or in academic institutions? Do the graduates become prominent members of the profession?
A third criterion is the quality of facilities such as research instrumentation, computational facilities, and library resources available to the student. Scientific research is increasingly dependent upon such resources, and the greater your access to first-rate facilities the greater your opportunities for doing first-rate research.
A fourth criterion, more subjective than the previous three, is to select a school with an atmosphere, size and setting where you would feel at the same time both comfortable and yet intellectually stimulated. Whether this means choosing a small or large school located in an urban or rural location depends largely upon you. There are both advantages and disadvantages to any combination of these factors, but ultimately only you can judge which combination would provide the best environment to nurture your creative and intellectual development.
Although factors such as geographic location and amount of financial support offered are frequently used by students as selection criteria, they are actually quite unimportant in comparison with the criteria listed above. Your graduate education is one of the most important investments you will make in terms of both your professional development and your intellectual growth; it would be a mistake to set your goals for anything less than the very best that you can achieve.
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