Chemistry Minor
For assistance please contact chemistry advising at chemistryadvising@ucsc.edu or visit our department website.
How to Declare the Chemistry Minor
Students electing a chemistry minor may not use the online petition to declare. The steps to pursue a chemistry minor are as follows:
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Review a major academic plan and have it signed by your UC Santa Cruz major adviser.
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Make an appointment with the chemistry minor adviser and send the link (or PDF) to your signed academic planning form to chemistryadvising@ucsc.edu.
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The chemistry minor adviser will review your major academic plan and will add the chemistry minor courses to your plan, if it is viable to do so per double credit counting, enrollment limitations, and time-to-degree guidelines.
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The chemistry minor adviser will discuss your chemistry minor plan with you during your appointment.
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Once approved as a viable major/minor plan by both the major/department advisor and the Chemistry minor advisor, the Chemistry minor advisor will sign the academic planning form and they will process your minor declaration.
Note: Students need to declare a major before they can declare a minor. Students should prioritize major coursework over minor coursework when necessary.
General information on double majors and minors may be found here.
Course Requirements
All courses used to satisfy degree requirements in the chemistry minor must be taken for a letter grade.
Lower-Division Courses
Chemistry
and these courses:
Calculus
One of the following options
Plus one of the following options
Physics
| PHYS 6A | Introductory Physics I | 5 |
| PHYS 6L | Introductory Physics I Laboratory | 1 |
| PHYS 6B | Introductory Physics II | 5 |
| PHYS 6M | Introductory Physics II Laboratory | 1 |
| PHYS 6C | Introductory Physics III | 5 |
| PHYS 6N | Introductory Physics III Laboratory | 1 |
| | OR | |
| PHYS 5A | Introduction to Physics I | 5 |
| PHYS 5L | Introduction to Physics I Laboratory | 1 |
| PHYS 5B | Introduction to Physics II | 5 |
| PHYS 5M | Introduction to Physics II Laboratory | 1 |
| PHYS 5C | Introduction to Physics III | 5 |
| PHYS 5N | Introduction to Physics Laboratory III | 1 |
Upper-Division Courses
This course
| CHEM 163A | Quantum Mechanics and Basic Spectroscopy | 5 |
Students may substitute BIOC 163A for CHEM 163A.
Plus two of the following courses
| CHEM 103 | Biochemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 110 | Intermediate Organic Chemistry with Emphasis on Synthesis and Analytical Methods | 5 |
| CHEM 151A | Chemistry of Metals | 5 |
Electives
Plus two chemistry upper-division electives from the following:
| BIOC 100A | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | 5 |
| BIOC 100B | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | 5 |
| BIOC 163B | Biochemical Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | 5 |
| CHEM 143 | Organic Chemical Structure and Reactions | 5 |
| CHEM 144 | Catalysis In Organic Synthesis Using Metals and Metalloids Based Reagents | 5 |
| CHEM 151B | Chemistry of the Main Group Elements | 5 |
| CHEM 156C | Materials Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 163B | Chemical Thermodynamics | 5 |
| CHEM 163C | Statistical Thermodynamics and Kinetics | 5 |
| CHEM 169 | Chemistry and Biology of Drug Design and Discovery | 5 |
| CHEM 171 | Chemical Biology | 5 |
| METX 101 | Sources and Fates of Pollutants | 5 |
| METX 102 | Cell and Molecular Toxicology | 5 |
| OCEA 120 | Aquatic Chemistry: Principles and Applications | 5 |
| OCEA 121 | Aqueous Geochemistry | 5 |
| PHYS 180 | Biophysics | 5 |
Students cannot receive elective credit toward the minor for 1) both BIOC 100A and CHEM 103; 2) both BIOC 163B and CHEM 163B.
Students may also satisfy the elective requirements by completing a chemistry graduate course with the permission of the instructor and department. To do so, please consult with the department undergraduate adviser prior to enrolling.