BS/MS Program

Chemistry & Biochemistry

Earning a Master's degree can increase one's career options and earnings potential in the marketplace. For WPI undergraduates who are on their way towards that degree, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry offers the opportunity to earn a combined B.S. + coursework-based M.S. degree in four or five years.

Students interested in the program should read the page below. Any additional questions should be directed to Prof. Grimm within the department.

The Basic Model

Per university requirements, a coursework-based Masters degree as part of a combined BS/MS program constitutes (see page 21 of the 2020–2021 Graduate Catalog):

A minimum of 30 credit hours of acceptable courses.
- 18 of the 30 credit hours must be graduate-level (5xx-level or 6xx-level) courses or thesis (Ch 598 directed research).
  - 15 of the 18 credits must be in the major field of the student.
- The remainder 12 of the 30 credit hours may include advanced undergraduate courses at the 4xxx level.
Only registered WPI undergraduates may enroll in the combined BS/MS program. That is to say, the both the application and acceptance to the combined B.S./M.S. degree program must occur while a student is matriculating at WPI. Recent graduates are not eligable for the combined B.S./M.S. degree. (Page 21 of the 2020–2021 handbook.)
Up to 40% of the credit hours required for a master's degree may be double counted as part of the undergraduate degree requirements. The conversion between undergraduate "units" and graduate "credits" is 1/6 of an undergraduate unit = 1 credit hour of graduate study, so a typical 1/3 unit undergraduate course may count for 2 graduate credit hours.
For a coursework-based masters, a maximum of 9 credit hours of Ch 598 directed research may be counted towards a coursework-based master's degree requirements.

CBC-specific details

As mentioned below, the Masters degree associated with a combined four-year BS/MS program is a coursework-based degree. For consideration on this accelerated timetable, the CBC Department principally considers undergraduate students majoring in chemistry or biochemistry with an in-major GPA of 3.7 or higher. Other candidates are eligible for 4 1/2-or-5 year schedules.

Course distribution

Students may take graduate courses in any number of departments to tailor a degree to best suit the candidate's needs in consultation with a student's undergraduate advisor and the departmental graduate committee. However, the department only allows a maximum of 10 credits of elective (non-CBC) coursework (e.g. eng, neuro, math, manag., etc.) to count towards the Masters degree in a combined BS/MS program. Overrides to this policy must be considered by the departmental graduate committee, but the committee is very accommodating of many graduate-level engineering or natural-science courses that compliment chemistry and biochemistry studies.

Students may count only one of CH 4130 (Nucleic Acids and Bioinformation) or CH 555 196H (Advanced Topics: DNA Trans in Protein Synth) for a combined BS/MS degree.

Graduate research

Because the undergraduate degree requires a research component (i.e. the Major Qualifying Project), students are not allowed to register for undergraduate MQP work and graduate research, Ch 598, in the same research group concurrently. As such, two work-around possibilities include performing Ch 598 research in a different research group from one's MQP work, or by scheduling Ch 598 and MQP research in different terms.

The department follows university guidelines for a maximum of of 9 credits of Ch 598 being allowed towards the completion of this coursework-based master's degree.

If Ch 598 is to comprise some part of a student's degree, that student must reach out to a research advisor and secure an agreement to participate in graduate-level research concurrently with applying for the BS/MS program, and discuss with the graduate committee how that research will be separate from any MQP work.

WPI expects graduate students to put in 56 hours of effort per one credit hour earned. Thus, if a student is registering for Ch598 during a seven-week term, the department will expect students to put in eight hours of research effort per week per credit-hour earned in Ch598. (See page 13 of the 2019-2020 graduate catalog, or page 15 of the 2018-2019 graduate catalog).

The graduate committee expects a "product" of graduate research irrespective of the number of hours of Ch 598 that is completed. This may include a write-up of the research completed, or preparation of a manuscript to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal.

Credit hour conversion

When matriculating as an undergraduate student, the university registrar counts both 4xxx-level courses and 5xx-level courses at 1.5x the credit hours that would be earned if being counted towards a graduate degree. For example, a student having completed the biochemistry sequence, CH 4110, 4120, 4130, and 4140 would see each of those courses appear as three credit-hours of effort on their undergraduate transcript. However, when being counted for graduate credit towards a Master's degree, those courses would only count as two credit-hours of effort each. Similarly, a graduate-level class such as CH 516 would show up as 4.5 credit-hours of effort for an undergraduate, but will only be counted as three credit hours of effort towards a graduate degree. Since students in a combined BS/MS program have not yet earned an undergraduate degree, courses will remain listed on transcripts at the undergraduate level of effort and not directly reflect credit-hours earned towards a graduate degree.

With that conversion in mind and the 40% allowed double-counting of credits, the simplest trajectory through the requirements are the completion of six 4xxx-level, 1/3 unit courses, and six 5xx-level 3-credit-hour courses.

Example schedule for a Biochemistry B.S./M.S.

Six free elective courses worth of space
Six graduate courses at 3 credits each = 18 credits
Six double-counted, 1/3-ungraduate-unit courses at the 4000 level at 2 credits each = 12 credits.
Total = 30 credits
The actual distribution may change as courses may not run in the term originally devised, and may only run every-other year.

Year	Term A	Term B	Term C	Term D
First	CH1010 BB 2550 MA	CH1020 HU MA	CH1030 BB 2920 MA	CH1040 HU MA
Second	CH 3510 CH 2640 HU	CH 2310 SS HU	CH 2320 HU PH	CH 2330 HU PH
Third	CH 4110 BB CH 516	CH 4120 Sci. elect. IQP	CH 4130 CH 4150 IQP	CH 4170 BB IQP
Fourth	MQP SS BB 565 CH 554	MQP CH 538 BB 565	MQP CH 3410 BB 575	MQP CH 4190 CH 555

Example Schedule for a combined Chemistry B.S./M.S.

Six free elective courses worth of space
Six graduate courses at 3 credits each = 18 credits
Six double-counted, 1/3-ungraduate-unit courses at the 4000 level at 2 credits each = 12 credits.
Total = 30 credits
The actual distribution may change as courses may not run in the term originally devised, and may only run every-other year.
Given the relative paucity of chemistry courses at the 4000-level, substitutions throughout other departments may be allowed. Similarly, 5xx-level graduate classes may serve as the double-counted classes. Given the 1.5x credit multiplier for undergraduates completing graduate classes, a 3-credit-hour 5xx-level graduate class would be counted as 4.5 credit hours or 3/4 of a unit for the purposes of the undergraduate degree requirements.

Year	Term A	Term B	Term C	Term D
First	CH1010 SS MA	CH1020 HU MA	CH1030 HU MA	CH1040 HU MA
Second	CH 3510 CH 2640 HU	CH 2310 CH 2650 HU	CH 2320 CH 2660 PH	CH 2330 CH 2670 PH
Third	CH 4110 MA CH 516	CH 3550 SS IQP	CH 3410 CH 3530 IQP	CH 4420 HU IQP
Fourth	MQP CH 554 BB 5xx BB 40xx	MQP CH 4330 CH 538	MQP CH 4520 CH 4150	MQP CH 555 CH 536

Requirements and process for application

Students interested in pursuing a combined B.S./M.S. degree should apply to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in their third or fourth year of matriculation, but must be actively matriculating students to receive the 40% double-counting credit. For students looking to complete a combined B.S./M.S. degree in a total of four years, only applicants with a departmental (i.e. CH #### classes) GPA of 3.7 or higher will be considered. However, in exceptional circumstances candidates with a lower departmental GPA may petition the graduate committee by contacting Prof. Grimm prior to submitting an application. Students looking to complete the combined B.S./M.S. degree in 4 1/2 or five years will enjoy a significantly looser G.P.A. requirement. For student looking to complete the combined degree program in four years, the department will only consider applicants to the combined B.S./M.S. program that are pursuing an undergraduate degree in chemistry or biochemistry.

For a combined four-year B.S./M.S. degree, students should ideally apply in the spring of their third year of matriculation. The department does not have a strict cut-off date, however applications received prior to these start of D-term will receive the strongest consideration and preference.

Applicants need not solicit recommendation letters concurrently with the submission of an application, but rather should include in their personal statement the names of three WPI professors from whom the graduate committee may request such letters. Letter writers should be WPI (or WPI-affiliated) professors who can speak positively towards the applicant's scholarship, work ethic, and ability to handle the rigors of a combined B.S./M.S. degree.

First step:

Students wishing to initiate an application should apply here and make sure that you select "B.S./M.S. application" in that process. Remember that this whould ideally happen in the spring (C or D terms) of the third year of matriculation.

Second step:

Once the application is received and entered into the university's graduate application system, the student must develop a schedule of courses for their graduate study that successfully navigates the B.S./M.S. dual-degree requirements. A representative from the departmental graduate committee will supply each student with a spreadsheet that is designed to help the students navigate their previously taken and anticipated courses. Each applicant will have to fill this spreadsheet out and indicate which 4000-level courses are meant for double counting, and what remaining courses will count towards the M.S. degree requirements.

Students must fill out an actual schedule based on upcoming university course schedules for the following school year, and this must be submitted to a departmental representative, or Prof. Grimm. Upcoming-year schedules are usually posted during the C-term of a preceeding year. Courses may be listed under both "Worcester" for fall/spring semester and A–D term schedules, as well as "Online" and "Blended" for courses that may run on the 10-week CPE terms (see below). Students will not be accepted into the program until a viable course schedule exists.

A note on course schedules: WPI actively maintains three unique course schedules that students may have to consider when designing and building their schedules. Most undergraduates are familiar with the four seven-week terms, A–D, that comprise the majority of undergraduate courses. However, some graduate courses run within a system of two fourteen-week semester terms in which the "fall" semester largely aligns with A+B terms, and the "spring" semester largely aligns with the C+D terms. Additionally, there is a third schedule based on a system of three ten-week terms (and roughly aligns with the non-summer terms of a quarter system) that is implemented by many courses through the WPI Office of Corporate & Professional Education. CBC has graduate classes that run in each of these systems, so it may take time to build a viable and balanced schedule. If you are confused about any of this, don't hesitate to contact Prof. Grimm.

As mentioned above, while 9-credits of Ch 598 (directed graduate research) may be taken for this coursework-based M.S. degree, the department strongly discourages concurrent registration of Ch 598 and MQP work.

Third step:

Once admitted to the program, students must fill out a "Combined Bachelor's/Master's Degree Program Course Designation Form" document from the registrar's office. This must be signed by the instructors of all 4000-level classes that are being double counted for the combined B.S./M.S. degree. While this form is supposed to be filled out prior to registration for each courses, many students often choose to double count courses that they have already completed or are currently taking. To accommodate this issue, have instructors sign the form for any upcoming double-counted classes, but have instructors sign off on all previous/current courses that apply as well.