Friday of Week 1 is the departmental deadline to submit:

• MS Quarterly Check-Up (in the section below)
  
  • If you are graduating this quarter, be sure to check the box you plan to "Confer my Degree".
• Students transferring to the MS Thesis Track:
  
  • CHEM 297 Form
  • MS Thesis Agreement Form
• Students wanting to take a class outside of the department and have the units count towards their MS requirements:
  • MS Course Exception Request Form

Friday of Week 2:

• Is last day you can add/drop a class without Graduate Division and department approval
• Half-time Study requests
• Leave of Absence requests

Friday of Week 4:

• Deadline to submit requests to change number of units, drop a course without a “W grade" (submitted through EASy)

Friday of Week 6:

•  Deadline to submit a request to change the grading option for a course (submitted through EASy)

Friday of Week 9:

• Deadline to submit drop requests, which will result with a "W grade"

Friday of Week 10:

• Deadline to submit add requests (submitted through EASy). These requests will be forwarded to instructor for review.

Friday of Finals Week:

• Final Paperwork for degree completion
  • This will be submitted by the MS Coordinator once you have already have an approved Application to Candidacy on file, and you have either defended your thesis, or passed your third ACS Exit Exam. Be sure to remind your MS Coordinator once you have completed either of these requirements.
• Fully completed forms must be received in the Graduate Division by the deadline date; department approval alone does not constitute meeting a deadline (to be safe, you will want to check in with our Student Affairs Office by Tuesday of Finals Week in order to give enough time to obtain the Vice Chair's signature).

*Please note: The Summer degree deadline is the last Friday of Summer Session II (usually in early September), but the application to candidacy is due the second Friday of Spring Quarter.

Purpose

This program prepares students for research careers in industry, for doctoral studies, or for professional school. Students complete a minimum of 36 units of courses and research, with the emphasis on research. Students write, present and defend their thesis to a committee of their Thesis Adviser, a second faculty member in a similar field of research, and a third faculty member that is not so familar with your type of research.

Typically, all students entering the MS program are considered Coursework MS students. If interested in switching to the Thesis MS, students must find a lab. Once they do, be sure to follow the steps listed in our Transferring from Coursework to Thesis section.

Finding a Research Advisor

MS students will need to initiate their search for a research advisor. The department will provide some opportunities for MS students to network, but finding a research advisor is mostly driven by the student. Tips in finding a research advisor:

• Be sure to attend all of the events during our Graduate Student Orientation, including the faculty research talks, poster session, and any available lab open houses.
• Attend seminars in the department, including Thesis Defenses. These are great ways to gain insight on what is currently going on in a particular lab.
• Attend department events, symposiums, student research seminars. Great way to network.
• Get to know the professors from your classes, ask them for advice

Advancement to Candidacy

When a student advances to candidacy, it means they have completed all of the unit requirements for the MS program.

Each quarter, students are asked to fill out the MS Quarterly Check-Up Form (due Friday of Week 1). One of the questions asks students if they will be completing their 36-unit requirement. If selected, this signals the MS Program Coordinator to process a degree audit and confirm the student's eligibility. If confirmed, the coordinator will process the student's Application to Candidacy form.

You can check the status of your units by checking your degree audit.

 Below are the unit and grade requirements for advancing to candidacy:

• Lower-division courses may not be applied to the degree.
• CHEM 251 (group meeting) may not be applied. However, students are strongly encouraged to enroll as well.

2. Achieve a minimum overall grade point average of 3.0

• All courses must be taken for a letter grade unless offered satisfactory/unsatisfactory only.
• Minimum of 8 units letter-graded graduate courses.

3. Complete a minimum of 14-units of graduate level chemistry courses that are not seminar or research. Usually fulfilled with at least 12-units of lecture courses and 2-units of CHEM 509.

4. Complete a minimum of 18 units of Thesis Research (CHEM 299). A maximum of 24-units of Thesis Research may count toward the 36-unit total.

5. A maximum of 2-units of CHEM 509 may be applied.

6. A maximum of 2 units of a Department Seminar (CHEM 227, 291, 294, 295, or 296) may be applied.

For another way to look at these requirements, please click on the link below.

Conferral

Your Masters of Science Degree in Chemistry will be conferred upon meeting the MS Unit-Requirements and a successful oral thesis defense and written thesis accepted by the Department and University.

Writing your Thesis

Information covering thesis preparation is contained in the publication Instructions for the Preparation and Submission of Doctoral Dissertations and Masters' Theses, provided by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs.

Lookout for emails regarding Writing Workshops and Retreats from the Writing Hub.

Filing Deadlines

The Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (GEPA) sets the dates by which a student must turn in a thesis each quarter, including filing between quarters  (e.g., in Summer or during the Fall/Winter or Winter/Spring breaks).

Graduating between quarters (Winter break, Spring break, or Summer)

1. You must have filed an “Application to Candidacy” form by end of second week of the previous quarter (e.g., by end of 2^nd week of Spring quarter to get a Summer degree).
2. Students who were registered in the previous quarter do not pay any additional fees if they file for the degree by the Graduate Division deadlines.  If the deadline is missed but students file for graduation in the immediate next quarter, the situation is the same as for leave of absence (see below).
3. If you want to confer your degree in a specific quarter, then you must defend and submit your final degree form by the 11th Friday of said quarter (Finals Week). This form will need to be signed by our Vice- Chair as well, so we suggest you submit the form to us by Wednesday of Finals Week, to give us time to get the Vice Chair's signature.
4. See below if you were on leave the quarter prior to graduation.

To remain eligible for UCSD support (e.g. TAship, research assistantships, fellowships)

1. Register for at least 12 units
   • If you are working full-time hours in the research lab, we recommend signing up for 12-units of CHEM 299 in addition to any other classes you might sign up for. This way, if there's any chance you need to drop one of those classes, you still have 12-units of CHEM 299 to be eligible for UCSD financial support. One drawback to consider, is if you earn a "U" grade in your CHEM 299. You are only allowed to have 8-units of "U" grades to be eligible to confer your degree.
2. Do not turn in your thesis to graduate until fifth week or later
3. Be on support until at least fifth week (minimum support equivalent to 25% for a full quarter)
4. You may not withdraw mid-quarter from any TA assignment!

If you will be on leave of absence the quarter you plan to graduate, remember:

• Contact our office to file the needed paperwork before the first day of classes of the quarter of leave.
• You are eligible to remain in graduate student housing, but contact their main office for details.
• You will not be eligible for any UCSD-affiliated support (e.g., TA, research assistantships, fellowship).
• You will not be allowed to use any campus facilities and do not have Student ID card privileges (e.g. no working in the lab, bus passes, library privileges, rec facilities).
• You will not have Graduate Student Health Insurance coverage.  Contact Student Health Insurance, 534-0903, for assistance with securing health insurance.
• A General Petition to waive registration and pay a filing fee is submitted to the Graduate Division at the time you turn in your graduation paperwork and thesis.  You pay the $179 filing fee to the Bursar before going to the Graduate Division.

The Quarter Prior to Your Defense

Make sure your MS Coordinator is aware you plan on defending soon. This may be done by simply emailing them, or making sure you fill out the MS Quarterly Check-Up each quarter. 

• confirm you have completed all the units necessary for the degree
• if you have yet to receive confirmation that your Application to Candidacy has been processed, please let your MS Coordinator know. The confirmation should have been emailed to you via DocuSign. Sometimes your MS Coordinator has already processed this ahead of time.
• start working with your advisor to determine who will serve on your thesis committee. A thesis committee is nominated by the Thesis Adviser and approved by the Department and the Graduate Division. It consists of at least three faculty:
  1. the Thesis Adviser
  2. a faculty member from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry familiar with the student's research area
  3. a faculty member from either this or another department whose research is in an area different from that of the thesis (if your PI is not from our department, then the other two committee members must be from our department).

Four Weeks Before Your Defense

1. Confirm your Thesis Committee Membership - If your official committee is not changing, you need to do nothing for this step!  If your M.S. Committee is changing, contact our office.
2. Schedule the Exam - Confirm the date and time of your exam with ALL your Thesis Committee members, and give them a draft of your thesis.
3. Reserve a Room and Equipment - after you confirm the exam time with your committee, visit our Conference Rooms website to look for available and suitable rooms, and then contact Jeff Rances (chemms@ucsd.edu) to schedule a room.  The MS Coordinator will schedule it a half hour before the exam time, so you have time to make sure all equipment is working and to settle in.
4. If you have the date, time, location, members of your thesis committee, and title of your thesis ready, please fill out the MS Thesis Defense Information Form
5. Check out GEPA's website regarding Dissertation and Thesis Submission. They have more information on
   • how to file for the degree
   • final review after the defense
   • highly recommend attending their thesis submission & formatting webinar!

Two Weeks Before Your Defense

1. Email the MS Coordinator (chemms@ucsd.edu) to confirm they received your entry in the MS Thesis Defense Information Form. You can also check the department seminars to confirm the details of your defense are correct. They will send official email notification of the defense to your committee.

Defense, Paperwork, and Graduation

On the day of your defense, we will have all the needed forms (see below) in your file and routed to your thesis committee.

After you have finished your dissertation presentation, your committee will likely ask you to leave the room so that they may have a private conversation.  You will then come back in the room, and the committee will tell you whether you passed the defense and what (if any) additional experimentation or revisions to the written dissertation are required.  After the exam, your adviser will route the file to us.  We will have our Vice Chair for Graduate Education, sign the Final Report and General Petition (if applicable) forms (see below).  We will then route them to the GEPA.

Paperwork

1. Alumni Information Form (please fill out online form): Please complete before picking up final paperwork. It tells us your post-graduation plans (we have to know this for reporting purposes to the Dean's Office) and post-graduation address.
2. Final Report Form (to the Graduate Division at final appointment): In your file at time of defense. After they approve your thesis, your committee signs off on the Final Report form. Once signed by your committee and our Vice Chair, we route it to the Graduate Division via DocuSign.
3. General Petition (to the Graduate Division at final appointment): Needed only if you were on leave of absence or withdrawal status the quarter you graduate *OR* if you are graduating between quarters (e.g., Winter break, Spring break, or Summer). Signed by Professor Thomas Hermann and you. We will give it to you when you  pick up the Final Report form. You may need to take it to the Cashier and pay a filing fee in lieu of registration prior to your final appointment at the Graduate Division (see “Graduating Between Quarters and Leave of Absence above).
4. The Thesis! This is turned in to the University librarian after your final appointment with the Graduate Division.

Defined Contribution Plan and W-2 Form

Be sure to talk with the Graduate Funding Coordinator. We need the address for mailing your W-2 form. Those who paid into the Defined Contribution Plan should get information about collecting or rolling over that money.

Commencement

Details to come! Typically commencement is Saturday or Sunday of Finals Week.

Congratulations!

Our MS program is designed to give you maximum flexibility. Specific unit requirements can be found below. Be sure to connect with our MS Advising Committee to help you choose your courses. Graduate courses (200 series and 500) are usually taken, although upper-division (numbered 100-199) courses may sometimes be appropriate. Lower-division courses (numbered 1-99) do not count toward the MS or toward the 12-unit minimum for full-time status. Courses from other departments (e.g., Biology, Physics, Mathematics, School of Medicine, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography) may be taken and counted as "in the major" if they relate to the major field of chemistry (with a MS Course Exception Request Form).

Purpose

This program prepares students for doctoral or professional studies and for careers in teaching; the emphasis is on coursework. Students complete 36 units of courses, and may opt to rotate in a research laboratory as well. To graduate, they must pass three of five comprehensive written exams in biochemistry, inorganic, organic, physical, and analytical/instrumental chemistry.

Advancement to Candidacy

When a student advances to candidacy, it means they have completed all course and any other program requirements and are ready to complete their MS Exit Exam requirements.

Each quarter, students are asked to fill out the MS Quarterly Check-Up Form (due Friday of Week 1). One of the questions asks students if they will be completing their 36-unit requirement. If selected, this signals the MS Program Coordinator to process a degree audit and confirm the student's eligibility. If confirmed, the coordinator will process the student's Application to Candidacy form.

1. Complete a minimum of 36 units.  Note the following stipulations.

• Lower-division courses may not be applied towards the degree.
• A maximum of 12 units upper-division coursework may be applied. Requires pre-approval from MS Advisor and/or Vice Chair (MS Course Exception Request Form).

2. Achieve a minimum overall GPA of 3.0.

• All courses must be taken for a letter grade unless offered S/U only.
• Complete a minimum of 16 units of letter-graded (A, B, etc.) courses.

3. Complete a minimum of 24 units of graduate-level coursework.  Note the following stipulations.

• A minimum of 14 units of Chemistry graduate level courses required.  Courses taken outside of the department must be approved by the MS Advisor and/or Vice Chair.
• A maximum of 4 units of non-thesis research (CHEM 297) may be applied.
• A maximum of 2 units of a Department Seminar (CHEM 227, 291, 294, 295, or 296) may be applied.
• CHEM 251 and CHEM 299 may not be applied.
• CHEM 509 may be applied.

For another way to look at these requirements, please click on the link below.

CHEM MS Unit-Requirements (link is currently being update)

Conferral

Upon completion of the MS Unit Requirements and the three comprehensive chemical knowledge examinations.

Comprehensive Chemical Knowledge Examination

The purpose of this requirement is to confirm that students have achieved an advanced understanding of, and a comprehensive training in, the chemical sciences The tests cover a wide range of material, so that students will have a chance to show what they have learned. The department administers the standardized American Chemical Society exams in biochemistry, inorganic, organic, physical and a choice between analytical or instrumental chemistry.  Students must pass three of the five exams in order to graduate. Students do not have to take all 5 available exams. Students are only permitted to retake an exam in a given subject, once. A retake must be taken at least 4 weeks after taking the exam the first time.

Only the three highest scoring exams are considered. Therefore, students are free to choose to take three, four or five of the exams. Students may pass up to two of the exams in any quarter prior to their graduating quarter. Their last exam will be taken in the same quarter they plan to graduate.

Each exam is 50-70 multiple-choice questions, and students have just less than two hours to complete each exam.  Exam booklets contain a periodic table, if needed. Students may use a basic calculator.  Scratch paper is provided. Please contact our front desk intake advisor, Andyy Mendez (a4mendez@ucsd.edu or 858-534-4856) to schedule a time for you to come in and take the exam.

To pass an exam, you must score higher than the 50th percentile of students taking the exam nationally. We take the percentiles of your top-3 exams and add them together. If the sum is greater than 175, then you have met your exit exam requirements.

Both the Instrumental Analysis and Analytical exams cannot be used towards your exam requirements. You must choose one or the other.

For students who choose to take an exam in a quarter prior to their graduating quarter, the best strategy is to take it in the area that they are most likely to pass (e.g., the area in which they had the most training as an undergraduate). We urge students to include appropriate coursework in their M.S. studies as preparation for the exams. Review what was once known well before trying to learn anything new.  Questions on the exams may seem tricky if one is not exactly sure of how concepts are used.

To schedule an exam, please contact our Student Services Coordinator, Andyy Mendez (a4mendez@ucsd.edu or 858-534-4856).

We also suggest a review of undergraduate class notes and the following books, or their equivalents:

• Biochemistry by Lehninger or by Stryer
• Inorganic Chemistry by Huheey or by Douglas, McDaniel, & Alexander
• Organic Chemistry by Brown & Foote or by Vollhardt & Schore
• Physical Chemistry by Levine or by Atkins
• Fundamental of Analytical Chemistry by Skoog, West and Holler

Good preparation for parts of the inorganic and physical Chemistry exams may also be found in reviewing a strong general chemistry text.  One example is “Chemistry” by Jones and Atkins.

Paperwork

1. Alumni Information Form (please fill out online form): Please complete before picking up final paperwork. It tells us your post-graduation plans (we have to know this for reporting purposes to the Dean's Office) and post-graduation address.
2. Application to Candidiacy is a form the MS Coordinator will fill out on your behalf, just be sure you fill out the MS Quarterly form no later than Friday of Week 1 of the quarter you plan to confer your degree. If you plan to confer your degree in the summer, then the APPC is due Friaday of Week 1 of the Spring quarter.
3. Final Report Form: Completed by the MS Coordinator. Once you pass your exams, Our Vice Chair for Graduate Education approves your scores and signs it. We will notify you when it is signed and mail it to the Graduate Division on your behalf.

Commencement

Details to come! Typically commencement is Saturday or Sunday of Finals Week.

Congratulations!

Some of the incoming MS students have been doing research with a professor in our department while they were UCSD undergraduate students and are continuing their research in the same lab as MS students. These students can enter the program on the MS Thesis track. All other incoming MS students start on the MS Coursework track.

If you are in the MS Coursework track and want to transfer to MS Thesis, below are the steps you can take:

1. Your first quarter, you will sign up for graduate level chemistry courses (graduate level chemistry courses taken for a letter grade count towards both the MS Coursework and Thesis requirements).
2. While taking classes, you will start to network with research advisors. During graduate orientation, we have different networking events you can attend, talks, poster sessions, and lab open houses. You might meet a potential research advisor by taking a class they are teaching. Get to know the PI, their research, and members in their labs. If you and the PI agree, you can sign up to do research with them for one quarter on a trial basis by filling out the CHEM 297 Form. -- Please try to submit the CHEM 297 form a couple of weeks prior to the quarter you would like to start your CHEM 297.
3. If your CHEM 297 petition is approved, you can then sign up for CHEM 297 for the next quarter. Please note: only sign up for CHEM 297 with your research advisor's name. If it's not in the Schedule of Classes, please let our office know.
4. After a quarter of CHEM 297, if you want to continue doing research with your research advisor, you'll then fill out the MS Thesis Agreement Form. If approved, you are now officially in the MS Thesis track and can start to sign up for CHEM 299 research. Please note: only sign up for CHEM 299 with your research advisor's name. If it's not in the Schedule of Classes, please let our office know. -- You'll want to start filling out the MS Thesis Agreement form at least a couple of weeks prior to the quarter you want to start taking CHEM 299.

Finding a Research Advisor

MS students will need to initiate their search for a research advisor. The department will provide some opportunities for MS students to network, but finding a research advisor is mostly driven by the student. Tips in finding a research advisor:

• Be sure to attend all of the events during our Graduate Student Orientation, including the faculty research talks, poster session, and any available lab open houses.
• Attend seminars in the department, including Thesis Defenses. These are great ways to gain insight on what is currently going on in a particular lab.
• Attend department events, symposiums, student research seminars. Great way to network.
• Get to know the professors from your classes, ask them for advice