[Bioinorganic78]

Hello everyone. I am currently a second semester sophomore completing a B.S. in chemistry, concentration in biochemistry. I am preparing my schedule for next year, and have found I have several spots for free electives to take over my remaining 4 semesters and I dont know what to take. I have about 6 free electives to take as I will have already finished all my GE classes.

What are some useful electives to take for chemistry graduate school (PhD)? For those of you in grad school, are there any electives/classes you wish you had or taken or that you took and found useful in grad school? Or any electives you found useful in general or interesting? I was thinking of possibly computer fundamentals and extra math such as differential equations or linear algebra (I have taken up to calculus 3 and intro statistics). I was also possibly thinking about public speaking.

Any input is appreciated. Thank you.

[Corribus]

Sciencewise: extra physics, math, or biology courses are always helpful. Linear algebra or diff-eq are probably both good options, but if you're more interested in biochem or organic chem, you probably won't need that stuff. Computer science (programming) is something I definitely wish I had taken.

Non-science: as a career scientist, you will do a lot of writing, so any elective that helps you out with this skill will definitely be useful, particularly if your writing skills aren't so hot.

Other than that, I'd say just take something that interests you. You're going to be focusing on chemistry for the rest of your life. Take the opportunity to learn something new or different, even if it won't help you directly. In undergrad I "minored" in both philosophy and history. Did these courses help me in my chemistry career? Hard to say, but they definitely gave me a more rounded education and helped develop my critical thinking and writing skills. Beyond that, you'll probably never have the opportunity again to explore such formal coursework, so you should take advantage if you can. My two cents.

(I put "minored" in quotes because my undergrad didn't have official minors until about the time I graduated. But I took four to six semesters of coursework in both of these departments by the time I graduated.)

[Bioinorganic78]

Thank you for your input Corribus. I am going to try to take computer programming sometime if I can fit it in my class schedule, and I never thought of history/philosophy electives that way. I was thinking of minoring in biology, but with the labs and the way my college rotates its biology course offerings I dont think its going to work so i might just take some extra classes in it.   

[orgo814]

I would just try and be as well rounded as possible in all areas of chemistry. See if you can take graduate-level chemistry courses at your school.. sometimes they let you do that. I took an advanced analytical chemistry course with the grads and it counted as an elective for me. It was very helpful for me since my research at that time was analytical and it refreshed some of the quantum topics I was shaky in from physical chem.

I took a computer programming course but it was not helpful since it was Java (most scientific programs use C, I believe). I didn't find it very exciting or useful (unless you are considering computational chemistry where you will work with various software).

[Bioinorganic78]

I took a computer programming course but it was not helpful since it was Java (most scientific programs use C, I believe). I didn't find it very exciting or useful (unless you are considering computational chemistry where you will work with various software).

Hm, I thought computer programming would help in general. If i take a computer science course maybe ill just take the general course for non majors. I go to a state school who's only chemistry graduate degree is an MS in chemistry education, so the few graduate courses offered do not sound that interesting. A few chemistry electives like organic chemistry 3, analytical toxicology, and environmental chemistry are offered occasionally, so i might try to take some of them if i can fit them in my schedule.