By Mili Chizhik, News Editor
This past May, the Stern College for Women (SCW) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry announced that the requirements for the biochemistry major will be changing. The SCW students typically major in biochemistry if they are pre-health or are interested in pursuing a career in research and academia.
The previous major requirements were the following: two semesters of Biology Principles with labs, or commonly referred to as “Bio for Majors,” (8 credits); two semesters of General Chemistry with labs (8 credits); two semesters of Organic Chemistry and one semester of lab (8 credits); two semesters of either Introductory Physics with labs or General Physics with labs (both 8 credits); one semester of Physical Chemistry (3 credits); Calculus I and II (8 credits); one semester of Biochemistry (3 credits); one semester of Biochemistry Lab (2 credits); and two of the following 4 credit lecture and lab courses: Cell Biology, Genetics, Immunology, and Molecular Biology.
The new requirements for the major requires only one semester of Calculus (Calculus I), and instead of two advanced biology courses, only one will be required. Starting in the upcoming spring semester, students will be able to take the Biochemistry II course that will only be offered in the spring semesters. This change will add biochemistry to the major, increasing from the previous 5 credits of biochemistry to 8 credits out of the major’s 56 credits. The 2 semesters of Physics will act as correlates and will be counted towards one’s general education requirements, thus completing 8 out of the 12 elective credits.
With these changes, a student will be taking a year of general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry, with each year having 2 lecture courses and 1 semester of lab. If one already took two advanced biology courses, they may choose whether or not to take the second semester of biochemistry.
If a student has any questions regarding the major or courses, they are encouraged to reach out to either the head of the department or any of the faculty members, all of whom are found on the department page.