Graduate/Professional School and Career Information

​Choosing the next step to take after college can be a tough decision, but there are a wealth of resources available to help you recognize and sort through your options. Whether you are interested in continuing your studies, finding a nonprofit/volunteer position or entering the work force, the University’s Career Services Center is a good place to start – and that can begin as early as freshman year.  The center offers individual meetings with advisors, career counseling sessions, workshops, career fairs, a database for full- and part-time job listings, together with help in writing resumes and preparing for interviews.

​(Note: most graduate programs in the sciences award incoming graduate students teaching or research  assistantships that include a tuition waiver and a stipend – i.e., you are paid to go to graduate school.  That is not true with professional schools (medical, law, dental), where you are expected to pay tuition.)

Career Services Center: discusses important factors in selecting a grad school and application requirements.  There are sections with links to resources specific for a variety of professional school (law, medical, business, dental, veterinary, and optometry).

Planning for Graduate Work in Chemistry: An American Chemical Society resource that describes why to consider graduate school, undergrad preparation, how to choose a program, and grad school activities.

Applying to Graduate School: advice of all sorts from US News & World Report – includes business, law and medical school information as well as more general discussions

ACS DIrectory of Graduate Research: a searchable data base providing information on research and graduate programs in chemistry, biochemistry and related fields throughout the country.

Chemistry Education Research Programs: a listing of programs offering masters and doctoral degrees in chemistry education

Graduate School Rankings from US News and World Report for:
    Biochemistry Programs
    Chemistry Programs
 
Graduate Record Exam: many graduate schools require GRE scores as part of the graduate school application.  Most students take the GRE exam in the (preceeding) summer or in fall of senior year. The General Test measures your abilities in verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing. Subject tests assess knowledge in a particular field. The Chemistry test addresses analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry; a practice book is available at this link. The Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology test includes a significant amount of biology (including genetics); a practice book is also available for this test.  

Average GRE Scores for Science Programs.

Association of American Medical College - Information for Students: general information for preparing and applying to medical school through residency

Average MCAT scores and GPA required by US medical schools: organzed by state

​Careers in Chemistry:  ACS guide providing detailed descriptions of a wide range of career options in industry, academia, government, non-profit and entrepreneurship. Includes an overview for each along with education needed, description of workplace, technical skills involved, salaries, career paths  and employment trends.

Occupational Outlook Handbook:  From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a searchable compilation of hundreds of types of occupations.  Summarizes what the job entails, work environment, education, salary, job outlook, etc.

Jobs in Science and Technology: job search portal hosted by the AAAS journal Science

Career Resources: lots of career advice (including nontraditional careers, networking, job search essentials, etc.) - much in the form of downloadable files.

Professional Science Master’s Programs: two-year programs that combine advanced coursework with professional internships.  Searchable data base includes programs in chemistry, biotechnology, etc.

Chemistry and the Law: ACS site discusses legal careers for those with bio/chemistry backgrounds

Forensic Chemistry: ACS site discusses careers in forensics for those with bio/chemistry backgrounds

Science Journalism Programs: a look at several science journalism programs by Science

Alternative Routes to Teacher Certification: discusses requirements needed for applicants with a background in science to become certified to teach in Delaware schools.