Students can take additional courses to receive American Chemical Society (ACS) Certification.
Please note, these are not Lake Forest College requirements. View the major and minor requirements.
The rigorous requirements of the American Chemical Society certification help you stand out and provide excellent career and educational advantages.
- Industry Recognition: It's highly respected, giving you a competitive edge in the job market.
- Better Career Opportunities: Employers, especially in research or industry, prefer ACS-certified graduates.
- Strong Academic Foundation: It prepares you well for graduate studies and research roles.
- Higher Salary and Job Stability: Graduates often enjoy higher starting salaries and more stable career prospects.
A student seeking an ACS certification must complete four courses from the following list.
- CHEM 221: Organic Chemistry II
- CHEM 321: Physical Chemistry II
- CHEM 305: Advanced Biochemistry: the biochemistry of tuberculosis
- CHEM 340: Inorganic Chemistry
- CHEM 430: Advanced organic chemistry
- One semester of chemistry research (e.g. CHEM 494 senior thesis in Chemistry, or an independent research semester).
Typically, a student will have completed three of the above courses to meet the department major requirements (e.g. CHEM 221, CHEM 321, and either CHEM 340 or CHEM 430). So, a student will need to take one additional course or perform research for credit in order to earn ACS certification. All other requirements for ACS certification are met through the standard department requirements.