Chemistry degrees can be obtained in a variety of ways and at various levels. A community college, a four-year college, or a university can all help you earn your degree online. Your chemistry degree could be an associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree.
Several colleges and universities offer online chemistry courses that can lead to a degree. The value of a distance learning option will be determined in part what you want to do with your chemistry degree. Consider the importance of the laboratory component when choosing an online chemistry degree. The way the school handles labs will indicate whether or not the program is of high quality. If you live in Canada, for example, there are home labs that can be done with a special kit in the distance education chemistry degree program at Athabasca University Centre for Science, but for supervised labs, you must travel to a lab that is supervised a certified instructor or find another institution to perform your labs.
Another important factor to consider when choosing an online school is accreditation. Athabasca University is the first Canadian public university to be accredited the United States, specifically the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. This sends a signal that they provide a high-quality education.
An associate degree in chemistry, commonly referred to as an AA or AS, is more likely to serve as a stepping stone toward a bachelor’s degree than to secure many job openings on its own. The majority of associate’s degrees are designed with this in mind, making it easier to transfer to a four-year institution. This means that the associate degree usually focuses on basic science and math courses, as well as general education requirements, with the subject-area focus reserved for the four-year college’s junior and senior years.
To earn a chemistry degree at a four-year institution, you must declare chemistry as your major and complete prescribed courses in one of your school’s special areas of chemistry, as well as the school’s general education requirements and other basic science and math courses and electives. You may be given the option of studying analytical chemistry, biochemistry, environmental chemistry, general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, or physical chemistry, depending on your college of choice. Many of your classes will require you to spend time in the lab.
You must complete coursework, pass qualifying exams, and conduct research under the supervision of a supervising professor to earn a graduate degree in chemistry. Unlike the undergraduate nine-month model with summers off, many degree programs run through the summer. You can expect to be a co-author on papers in research journals, give research presentations, and be involved in grant applications. A formal process may be required to advance to doctoral candidacy, and Ph.D. candidates must write a dissertation on their doctoral research. Teaching responsibilities, lab responsibilities, or both are common responsibilities for graduate chemistry degree candidates.