Bachelor in Chemistry

Overview

Chemistry students at Earlham are challenged by our core courses, part of a curriculum approved and certified by the American Chemical Society.

Earlham offers the opportunity to take exciting new chemistry courses, such as Forensics and Biophysical Chemistry.

You will work on laboratory projects alongside our faculty, using state-of-the-art instrumentation, in a newly renovated LEED-certified building named after Earlham Chemistry alum and Nobel Laureate Wendell Stanley.

You will gain analytical, critical thinking and writing skills required to succeed in whatever career you choose.

Highlights

Our students participate in at least one immersive research experience either on or off-campus.

You will have access to paid internships at organizations such as Belden, the Richmond Sanitary District, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Recent graduates have gone on to Ph.D. programs at universities such as Harvard, Duke, Purdue, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Tennessee, and Utah. Several of them were awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.

Plan of Study

General Education Requirements

The Department offers five courses that fulfill the Quantitative Reasoning component of the Analytical Reasoning Requirement. Those courses are CHEM 105, 111, 221, 321 and 331.

Students who successfully complete these courses will have accomplished many of the General Education learning goals, in particular:

• Generate, interpret, and evaluate quantitative information.
• First-hand experience with both theoretical analysis and the collection of empirical data.

Standardized Test Scores

Standardized test scores are required of all international applicants.

If English is not your primary language, you must submit an English Proficiency exam and meet the required criteria. You may also submit an SAT or ACT score to enhance your competitiveness for admission and for scholarship consideration.

If English is your primary language, you may submit your SAT or ACT scores instead of an English Proficiency exam.

Current accepted tests and minimum required scores are:

While we understand the many issues present in standardized testing, Earlham’s current registration with SEVIS requires compliance with these test score requirements. SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System used by the Department of State on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security (in other words, important US governmental agencies). Therefore, the International Student Advisers must use test scores to substantiate academic preparedness and English proficiency when preparing an I-20 (the document needed to apply for a student visa) for an admitted student.

Earlham is a national liberal arts college with a reputation for excellent teaching and preparing students to make a profound positive difference in the world.

Intellectually Challenging

Earlham students take charge of their own learning and are prepared for professional success and admission to top graduate programs. They choose from more than 40 fields of study and are taught by dedicated professors. Classes are small, with rich opportunities for discussion, investigation, and discovery.

Globally Engaged

Earlham is committed to welcoming students from all over the world. Our students come from all over the U.S. and about 80 other countries. In fact, Earlham ranks 6th among national liberal arts colleges in the largest percentage of international students on campus, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Socially Concerned

Earlham students have a sense of stewardship about their lives and believe in their power and responsibility to change the world, according to Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. About 30% of graduates surveyed reported that most or all of their work was oriented to social change.

Future Directed

Earlham ranks 29th among 1,306 U.S. institutions of higher learning for the percentage of graduates who go on to earn a Ph.D. In the life sciences, we rank 9th among 1,341 institutions. Fifty percent of Earlham alumni begin graduate school within 10 years of graduation.

A few graduate accomplishments over the past five years

Admission to:

• Columbia University
• Georgetown University
• Harvard University
• University of Chicago
• University of Michigan
• University of Oxford (UK)
• Uppsala University (Sweden)

Service to programs like:

• Americorps
• City Year
• Peace Corps
• Quaker Voluntary Service
• Teach for America
• World Teach

Careers as:

• Resident Physician, Barrow Neurological Institute
• Owner/CEO, NetStuffers LLC
• Director of Programs, Junior Achievement
• Geologist, State of Michigan
• International Relations Coordinator, City of Osaka
• Biochemist, BP Biofuels
• Gallery Assistant, Art School at Old Church

Support for research or humanitarian work from:

• Carnegie Endowment
• Davis Projects for Peace
• Fulbright Grant
• Huntington Public Service Award
• National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
• Rotary International Peace Fellowship
• Watson Fellowship

Mission Statement

The mission of Earlham College, an independent, residential college, is to provide the highest-quality undergraduate education in the liberal arts, including the sciences, shaped by the distinctive perspectives of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

A basic faith of Friends is that all truth is God's truth; thus Earlham emphasizes pursuit of truth, wherever that pursuit leads; lack of coercion, letting the evidence lead that search; respect for the consciences of others; openness to new truth and therefore the willingness to search; veracity, rigorous integrity in dealing with the facts; application of what is known to improving our world.

To provide education of the highest quality with these emphases, Earlham's mission requires the selection of an outstanding and caring faculty committed to creating an open, cooperative, learning environment. The College provides for the continuous support and development of this faculty.

The teaching-learning process at Earlham is shaped by a view of education as a process of awakening the "teacher within," so that our students will become lifelong learners. Students at Earlham are encouraged to be active, involved learners.

The College provides extensive opportunities for students and faculty to interact with each other as persons, to learn from each other in a cooperative community, an important aspect of which is collaborative student/faculty research.

At Earlham College, this education is carried on with a concern for the world in which we live and for improving human society. The College strives to educate morally sensitive leaders for future generations.

Therefore Earlham stresses global education, peaceful resolution of conflict, equality of persons, and high moral standards of personal conduct.

Leadership & Governance

Earlham encourages open participation from faculty, administration, students and staff in governance processes. In keeping with our Quaker heritage, we seek open ears and open minds during the consultation and expert committees and groups to operate by consensus during decision-making.

Anne M. Houtman, a distinguished educator, scientist, author, and higher education leader, became the 20th president of Earlham College and the Earlham School of Religion on July 1, 2019.

Houtman came to Earlham from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where she served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. She holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford in Zoology and a master’s degree in Anthropology from UCLA. She earned her bachelor of arts degree from Pomona College. Houtman is a Quaker and is the first woman to serve as President of Earlham.

Previously, Houtman served as dean of the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering at California State University Bakersfield, and as Head and Professor at the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology. Earlier in her career, she held faculty positions at California State University Fullerton, Soka University of America and Knox College. She has authored numerous textbooks and articles on scientific and pedagogical topics. Houtman is currently a trustee of the College Board.

Campus & History

Earlham's 800-acre campus includes Earlham College and the Earlham School of Religion. Approximately 1,200 undergraduate students call this tree-shaded campus their home.

On the campus, students and visitors will discover a 600-acre stretch of woods, streams, ponds, old fields and prairie used for scientific research and recreation. Additional natural areas are set aside for scientific research, including an old-growth forest and a rock preserve.

Currently, 94 percent of students reside on campus in one of eight residence halls or more than 20 theme and friendship houses.

Between 1998 and 2014, Earlham expanded, renovated, and constructed major campus buildings — including academic, residence halls and athletic facilities — representing an investment of over $40 million.

Campus Background

Earlham's historical beginning in Richmond, Indiana, is rooted in the Great Migration of Quakers from the eastern United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. Originally a co-educational "select" school, open only to Friends, by 1865 the school accepted non-Quaker students and hired its first non-Quaker professor in 1886. Today, about 11% of Earlham's faculty and 12% of its students identify as Quakers.