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Chemistry

Goshen College Alumni

Here are current positions held by some chemistry alumni:

Neurosurgeon
Medical Lab Technician
Professor of Chemistry
Biochemist
Pastor
Senior Researcher
Chemistry Teacher
Director of Operations for Vaccines Discovery
Fellowship in Infectious Diseases
Forensic Scientist
Intellectual Property Attorney
IT Support
Nurse
Physiologist
Chemist
Veterinarian

What Can I Do with this Major?

Overview

According to the American Chemical Society,

“Everything you hear, see, smell, taste, and touch involves chemistry and chemicals (matter). And hearing, seeing, tasting, and touching all involve intricate series of chemical reactions and interactions in you body. With such an enormous range of topics, it is essential to know about chemistry at some level in order to understand the world around us.

In more formal terms chemistry is the study of matter and the changes it can undergo. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies space. Which is to say, anything you can touch or hold. Common usage might have us believe that ‘chemicals’ are just those substances in laboratories or something that is not a natural substance. Far from it, chemists believe that everything is made of chemicals.

And so it is with chemistry, understanding the basic properties of matter and learning how to predict and explain how they change when they react to form new substances is what chemistry and chemists are all about.

Chemistry is not limited to beakers and laboratories. It is all around us, and the better we know chemistry, the better we know our world.”

About the Coursework

The life of a chemistry major at Goshen College is filled with new encounters. Chemistry majors learn not only in the lecture hall and lab, but in on-the-job experiences in industrial laboratories and school classrooms. Goshen students work with professionals who are using chemistry to solve problems, create new products and illuminate young minds.

Possible courses include:

Analytical Chemistry
Thermodynamics
Human Nutrition
Organic Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry
Quantum Mechanics
Calculus
Biochemistry

For a full list of courses and requirements, refer to the course catalog.

Teacher certification is available for grades 5-12. See the education department page for more information.

Possible Career Paths

The possible career choices are broad for every major, and chemistry graduates are currently working at many levels in business and industry. They also serve as medical doctors, professors and teachers, laboratory chemists, librarians, and administrators.

The list below provides several additional career options, but it is not exhaustive. Please note that some positions require additional education.