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Degree Requirements

The requirements listed below are special to this department and must be read in conjunction with the general requirements of the Graduate School.

Comprehensive Examinations

All graduate students are required to take comprehensive examinations on the material of undergraduate chemistry courses during the registration period preceding their first term of residence. The results are used in advising the student on the choice of courses, and if the student does not achieve sufficiently high standing on one or more of these examinations, he or she must retake the comparable examination given later in the year.

For the M.A. Degree

Students in the doctoral program receive three degrees in the course of fulfilling the Ph.D. requirements in the Department of Chemistry: the M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees.

The department accepts only candidates for the Ph.D. degree. The M.A. degree is awarded as the first step toward the Ph.D. The requirements, which must be met satisfactorily by the end of the second year, are listed below.

Required courses: Chemistry G9201, G9202 and the equivalent of five 4.5 point graduate-level courses (two 2.5 point courses are considered equivalent to one 4.5 point course). The courses must be selected from at least two of the following categories, with the equivalent of at least one 4.5 point course (or two 2.5 point courses) taken outside a student’s declared research area: (1) physical and theoretical chemistry; (2) organic chemistry; (3) inorganic chemistry; (4) biophysical chemistry. All courses must be completed to the satisfaction of the graduate committee by the end of the student’s second year of study. Students may be exempted from a course if they have previously taken an equivalent course at another institution and pass an exam given by the instructor at Columbia on the course material.

Examinations: The comprehensive examinations described above.

Residence Units: Two.

For the M.Phil. Degree

The M.Phil. degree is a prerequisite to the doctoral degree and is conferred on candidates who have received the M.A. degree upon satisfactory completion of the requirements listed below.

Required courses: Same as for the M.A. degree. Depending on the student’s interests and field of specialization, additional courses may be taken for either letter grade or R credit. The course programs of all students must be approved by the Graduate Committee of the department.

Teaching requirement: Participation in the instructional activities of the department for a minimum of one and a half years. As a rule, for three semesters in the first and second years of study, students gain exposure to teaching as recitation and laboratory leaders.

Examinations: Six cumulative examinations in inorganic, biophysical, organic, and/or physical chemistry. In addition, each student is required to submit and defend a report on research progress at the end of the spring term of the second year of graduate study and is required to submit and defend an original research proposal in the fall term of the fourth year of study.

Residence Units: Six (including the two for the M.A.), at least four of which must be completed at Columbia. The department recommends candidates for the M.Phil. degree upon satisfactory completion of all the requirements.

For the Ph.D. Degree

A candidate for the Ph.D. degree must have earned the M.Phil. degree at Columbia. The student must prepare, with the approval of his or her sponsor, a dissertation embodying the student’s original research and must successfully defend it in a final examination before a committee of the faculty. It is expected that the thesis defense occurs before the end of the fifth year of graduate study at Columbia.

Note: Programs leading to the Ph.D. degree in chemical physics are offered under the auspices of the Doctoral Program Subcommittee on Chemical Physics.

Joint Training Program with the Department of Biological Sciences: The departments of Chemistry and of Biological Sciences offer a joint training program, the Chemical and Molecular Basis of Life Processes. The departments cooperate closely in administering programs of courses and subsequent graduate training in the chemical aspects of molecular biology, including biochemistry and biophysical chemistry. Dual sponsorship of graduate research is possible under this program. Students interested in these areas may apply to either department.

Graduate Committee

The Committee supervises the doctoral program and examines the status of all graduate students at regular intervals.

A satisfactory rate of progress toward an advanced degree is required at all times. A student whose progress is insufficient may at any time be requested to withdraw.

Financial Aid

A comprehensive program of financial aid is available, including fellowships and appointments in teaching and research. All Ph.D. students receive the annual prevailing stipend and appropriate tuition and health fees for five years, provided that they remain in good academic standing. If students receive a year of advanced standing they are entitled to only four years of fellowship funding.