The List of All U.S. Colleges With a Chemistry Major

With over 5,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. alone, choosing a college is one of the most significant decisions in the life of a young person and is a decision that will have an enormous effect on their adult lives. However, students who know what they want to study can start whittling down their list of potential schools to those that offer the major they’re interested in. For students planning on studying chemistry in college, we took the first step for you—keep reading to for a list of all the colleges in the U.S. with a chemistry major, along with some reasons to pursue a chemistry degree and a few tips for building a profile that gets a positive reaction.

Why Should You Study Chemistry in College?

Students graduating college with a degree in chemistry are in possession one of the most valuable assets available to a young job seeker: a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) degree. For a variety of reasons—lack of access to foreign talent to a gender gap to just bad branding—the U.S. is currently facing a shortage of employees to fill STEM jobs, which means abundant opportunities, high wages, and secure employment for students with these in-demand skills.

To get an idea of just how coveted a STEM degree is in today’s workforce, a report from the National Association of Manufacturing and Deloitte stated that the U.S. will have to fill 3.5 million STEM jobs by 2025. Of those 3.5 million jobs, more than 2 million of them will remain vacant due to the lack of qualified candidates.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS), the median income in 2018 for Chemists and Materials Scientists was $78,330 a year, which is substantially more than the $47,060 income of the average U.S. worker. While the BLS projects average job growth for chemists possessing a bachelor’s degree, chemists with advanced degrees can expect faster job growth.

More than merely earning a strong salary and having secure employment, chemistry majors are able to choose from a variety of interesting careers. A student graduating from college with a degree in chemistry can find work in sectors such as industry, education, or within the government, and are positioned for a career in medicine, pharmacy, biotechnology, and forensic science to name a few. For students who want to teach the next generation of scientists, according to the Center for Public Education, STEM teachers are in as much demand as everywhere else.

Lastly, understanding chemistry is understanding the world around us. Chemistry is often called the central science because it joins together a multitude of other scientific fields including physics, biology, geology, and environmental sciences.

How Can You Increase Your Chances of Acceptance?

The simplest step a high school student can take to boost their chance of studying chemistry at their first-choice institution is maintaining a high GPA while taking a challenging course load. Students planning on majoring in chemistry at a top-ranked college should be looking at taking classes like AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, and AP Physics. However, it’s important for students not to overextend themselves and take too many high-level classes at the expense of their GPA. If your student is planning on taking the AP chemistry exam, they’ll want to read our Ultimate Guide to the Chemistry AP Exam.

College admissions officials will surely factor in extracurricular activities when reviewing your application. Joining your high school’s science, chemistry, or STEM club demonstrates an interest in your school and science and is a logical activity for a student looking to pursue chemistry in college. Tutoring science is another way for a student to show a commitment to their community while following their passion.

If your student is just beginning to build their college profile, we can help. Our Early Advising Program is designed to help 9th and 10th graders build strong profiles both in and out of the classroom—helping them choose the right classes, maintain the grades needed, and build a resume of extracurricular activities that will make them stand out when applying to college.

Creating Your College List?

Although we’ve provided a complete list of colleges that offer a chemistry major below, students will have to further narrow the field to get a workable college list. If you’re unsure where to start, we recommend taking these three steps:

• Determine where your primary interest lies. There are numerous fields within chemistry for students to explore—organic chemistry, biochemistry, and polymer and materials chemistry to name a few—and students who are able to identify an academic track that interests them can then identify programs that emphasize their primary interest.

• Determine your level of experience. Be honest with yourself about how much experience you’ve had with chemistry and if, as an incoming freshman, you’re ready to commit to a particular field within chemistry. Smaller, more-focused chemistry programs are a great choice for students who have a clear idea of what they want to pursue, while larger, more diverse programs provide the opportunity to explore multiple fields before setting a career course.

• Determine your ideal college experience. Perhaps the easiest of all the steps, students should imagine what they want college to be like and select colleges that match that ideal—answering questions like: Large school or small school? City campus or rural? Close to home or far away?

If you find yourself overwhelmed by the options available to your student, CollegeVine’s College Strategy Program can help with everything from creating a college list to making school-specific tweaks to help ensure admissions and providing a mentor who understands the ins and outs of college admissions.  

Which Colleges Have a Chemistry Major?

Curious about your chances of acceptance to your dream school? Our free chancing engine takes into account your GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, and other data to predict your odds of acceptance at over 500 colleges across the U.S. We’ll also let you know how you stack up against other applicants and how you can improve your profile. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to get started!