Chemistry and Biochemistry

The central science — analysis, synthesis, materials and the measurement everything else relies on. ⚠⚠⚠ The shape of Florida's output is the thing to notice: 670 credentials a year and 126 of them are DOCTORATES, 19% of the total. Chemistry is a field where nearly a third of working chemists report a doctorate as required, and the decision to pursue one has to be made in the second undergraduate year, not the fourth.

The degrees this program covers

⚠⚠ TEN FLORIDA PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, 670 CREDENTIALS, AND AN UNUSUAL LEVEL MIX: 467 bachelor's, 77 master's and 126 doctorates. UF 162 bachelor's and 46 doctorates; FIU 85/21/21; USF 63 bachelor's and 11 doctorates; UCF 55/8/14; FAU 38; UNF 18; UWF 15; FAMU 12. ⚠⚠⚠ AND READ THE FLORIDA STATE ROW BEFORE APPLYING: 15 bachelor's against 29 master's and 31 doctorates — four graduate degrees for every bachelor's, the profile of a research department rather than a teaching one. That is an advantage if you want undergraduate research and a doctoral route, and a question to ask if you want a large undergraduate cohort. ⚠ THERE IS NO LICENCE AND NO CONVENTIONAL ACCREDITOR. What exists is the American Chemical Society approval programme, and the distinction bites: the ACS approves the DEPARTMENT, while the individual STUDENT earns an ACS-CERTIFIED degree by completing foundation coursework in all five sub-disciplines (analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, organic, physical), four in-depth courses, mathematics and physics, and at least 400 hours of laboratory beyond general chemistry. ⚠⚠ A student can graduate from an approved department WITHOUT the certified degree. Ask in the first year what your track delivers. ⚠ Biochemistry sits alongside as its own course family (BCH) and is the commonest bridge from chemistry into the health professions.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Chemist and Chemical Technician

⚠⚠⚠ The question this page answers is whether you need a doctorate, and the data is unusually clear: 30% of working chemists report one as required — the highest doctoral share of any occupation on this site — while 56% report a bachelor's. They are two different careers and the choice has to be made in the second undergraduate year. ⚠⚠ Also here: the chemical TECHNICIAN route has 7,600 annual openings on an associate degree, more than chemists and materials scientists combined.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Biologist and Biological Technician

⚠ Named as the instructive contrast and a genuine option: 19% doctoral share against biology's 1.3%, on a tenth of the volume, and the organic and biochemistry sequence is shared.

Pharmacist

⚠ A major that contains most of the prerequisites. It is a route to applying, not a substitute for the Pharm.D.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Chemical Engineering 4 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The comparison students most often get wrong. A chemist studies what substances are and do; a chemical engineer designs the plant that makes them at scale. ⚠ Engineering carries the FE exam and PE licensure, a far heavier mathematics load, and a higher bachelor's-level ceiling — chemistry's ceiling is reached mainly through the doctorate instead.

Medicine 6 Florida schools

⚠⚠ A route a large share of chemistry majors are actually taking, whether or not the department says so. The organic sequence and biochemistry are medical, dental and pharmacy prerequisites, and CHM2210 is carried by 29 Florida public institutions largely because of it. ⚠ If this is your plan, say so early — the course order differs from a chemist's.

Environmental Science and Studies 19 Florida schools

⚠ The largest employer of bachelor's-level chemistry in Florida, and it is not obvious from either department. Environmental and clinical laboratories run on analytical chemistry — CHM3120 and CHM4130 are the courses that get someone hired — and Florida's water-quality programmes are permanent work.

Medical Laboratory Science 14 Florida schools

⚠⚠ Named because it is the licensed, credentialled version of laboratory work, and chemistry graduates frequently discover it late. Florida licenses clinical laboratory personnel; an unlicensed chemistry graduate cannot do the same bench work in a hospital that an MLS graduate can.

Materials Science and Engineering 4 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the materials scientist row: $117,790 median, the highest in this family, on only 8,600 jobs nationally. ⚠⚠ In Florida the materials programmes are small — four institutions, two at bachelor's — so the realistic route is chemistry or mechanical first and specialisation later.

Pharmacy (Doctor of Pharmacy) 3 Florida schools

⚠ The prerequisite core — general and organic chemistry, often biochemistry — is chemistry, so a chemistry major covers most of it inside the degree. It also leads to the pharmaceutical-industry careers that the Pharm.D. does not require.

Biology and Biomedical Sciences 15 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The instructive contrast. Chemistry awards 19% of its Florida credentials at doctoral level against biology's 1.3%, on a tenth of the volume. ⚠ The organic sequence (CHM2210, 29 carriers) and biochemistry are shared, and a biology student who takes chemistry seriously is competing against far fewer people.

Florida public institutions offering this program

10 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Bachelor's, Doctorate (research/scholarship), Master's, Postbaccalaureate certificate. A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida Atlantic University