The following courses must be taken for a letter grade:

1. General Chemistry (CHEM 6A or 6AH, 6B or 6BH, and 6C or 6CH)
2. General Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 7L or 7LM)
3. Physics (PHYS 1A, 1B, AND 1C)*
4. Physics Labs (1AL, 1BL, AND 1CL)*
5. Calculus (MATH 10A, 10B, and 10C)
6. Calculus Based Introductory Probability and Statistics (MATH 11)**
   1. If students complete the MATH 20 series (MATH 20A, 20B, 20C), they have the option of taking MATH 20D OR MATH 11 to complete their calculus requirement.
7. General Cell Biology (BILD 1 and 2)
8. Organic Chemistry (CHEM 41A, 41B and 41C)***
9. Organic Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 43A or 43AM)

*The PHYS 2 series (PHYS 2A, 2B, 2C and 2BL or 2CL or 2DL) is also accepted.

**The MATH 20 series (MATH 20A, 20B, and 20C) is also accepted.

***If you have questions about the new organic chemistry restructuring or the honors sequence, please see our FAQ page. 

The following courses must be taken for a letter grade:

1. Physical Biochemistry (CHEM 126A and 126B)
2. Biochemistry (CHEM 114A, 114B, and 114C)
3. Three laboratory courses:
   1. Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 100A)
   2. Organic Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 143B)
   3. Protein Biochemistry Laboratory (CHEM 108) or Recombinant DNA Laboratory (CHEM 109) or Advanced Organic Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 143C)
4. One PHARM Restricted Elective, chosen from:
   1. Pharmacology and Toxicology (CHEM 118)
   2. Medicinal Chemistry (CHEM 167)
   3. Drug Synthesis and Design (CHEM 168)
5. Two Restricted Electives, chosen from: 
   1. Pharmacology and Toxicology (CHEM 118)*
   2. Medicinal Chemistry (CHEM 167)*
   3. Drug Synthesis and Design (CHEM 168)*
   4. Human Physiology I (BIPN100)
   5. Human Physiology II (BIPN102)
   6. Microbiology (BIMM120)

   7. Microbiology Lab (BIMM121)

      *If not taken to fulfill the PHARM Restricted Elective.

6. One open elective chosen from the following options:
   • A four-unit (minimum) upper division undergraduate course (numbered 100-191) offered by the Department of  Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and taken for a letter grade
   • A four-unit (minimum) upper division undergraduate course (numbered 100-191) in the topics of Physiology, Anatomy, Microbiology, or Human Behavior from the Division of Biology (except non-letter graded courses).
   • 4 Units of CHEM 199 may be petitioned.

*These courses marked with an asterisk are duplications of credit with select Biology courses. This means that students can only receive units for one course in each respective pair. If you are a Pharmacological Chemistry major, you should not complete the following Biology courses, and complete the CHEM versions instead:

• BIBC 100 (duplicate with CHEM 114A)
• BIBC 102 (duplicate with CHEM 114B)
• BIMM 100 (duplicate with CHEM 114C)
• BIBC 103 (duplicate with CHEM 108)
• BIMM 101 (duplicate with CHEM 109)

The Biology duplicate courses do not fulfill major requirements and petitions to make this substitution are frequently denied.

Non-chemistry majors: please reach out to us if you have credit for these courses already, and are interested in a minor, major, or double major in our department.

In the cases where you want to take a Biology course that requires any of the above courses as a prerequisite, WebReg is coded to accept the duplicate course and you 

• All courses for the major, lower-division and upper-division, must be taken for a letter grade.
  • This excludes Special Studies courses, like CHEM 199, which only allow P/NP grading option
• All lower division coursework for the major must be completed with a "D" grade or higher 
• A minimum 2.0 major GPA is required for graduation
• No more than one (1) "D" grade is allowed in upper-division coursework. You may graduate with only one "D" in upper division coursework so long as your GPA remains in good standing. Given extenuating circumstances, a petition may be submitted to graduate with 2 Ds if one of them occurs in your graduating quarter. You will need to include details of why the exception should be granted
• To receive a Bachelor of Science from UC San Diego, all students must complete 48 or more units of upper-division course work within the major

• All Pharmacological Chemistry majors are required to complete at least six (6) upper-division courses within the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Department

  It is the students' responsibility to read and understand all policies listed here.

Replace the elective listed above (#6) with the following 3 courses:

1. Inorganic Chemistry I (CHEM 120A)
2. Physical Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 105A)
3. Select 1 of the following labs:

• Instrumental Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 100B)
• Advanced Physical Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 105B)
• Advanced Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 123)
• Molecular Design and Synthesis (CHEM 143D)
• Protein Biochemistry Lab (CHEM 108)*
• Recombinant DNA Laboratory (CHEM 109)* or
• Advanced Organic Chemistry Laboratory (CHEM 143C)*

*If not already being taken to complete lab elective requirement for CH35.

Sample Academic Plan for the CH35 Major