Chemistry Course Information

Course permits

To request permission to enroll in a restricted open undergraduate CHEM course, please submit a request for permission through Path@Penn. Here is a quick reference guide. -https://apps.srfs.upenn.edu:44306/secure/Pennant-Training/Path-Request-Permission-to-Take-a-Class.pdf

If you are emailing to request permission to register for a closed/full undergraduate CHEM course that requires permission to register, please complete the google form linked here to be added to a wait list. You will be notified via email when you are next to be considered on the wait list. Please note, a permit cannot be issued if a time conflict exists.  Priority will be given to students with restrictive schedules.  Selected recitation(s) must be grouped with the lecture requested.  

If your preferred CHEM course section is closed/full, please add yourself to penncoursealert.com to be notified if a spot becomes available. 

If you would like to receive a permit to enroll in a graduate level CHEM course, please obtain permission from the instructor via email and forward the approval to chemugrad@sas.upenn.edu.  You will also need to submit a request for permission through Path.

Honors Chemistry requests:

Please send proof of eligibility to candicek@sas.upenn.edu - a snapshot of your AP score received through the College Board and of your Penn cart to show you will co-enroll in MATH 1410 or higher.  You must also initiate a permission request via Path@Penn for the lecture and recitation for the request to be approved. 

Students who are interested in enrolling in Honors Chemistry, but do not meet both criteria for enrollment should email the instructor for permission and submit a permission request via Path@Penn.

 

Chemistry Diagnostic and Credit Exams

The chemistry diagnostic exam will help you determine which general chemistry track is best suited for you. Both tracks will lead to organic chem and upper-division courses required for the chemistry major. 

The chemistry diagnostic exam will be available via Canvas later in June. 

 

If you feel you have already been exposed to the material in general chemistry I and/or II in high school, you may take the CHEM 1012 and/or CHEM 1022 Equivalency Exams to place out of the course.  If you pass one or both of the exams you will receive non-graded credit (1 c.u. each) for the respective course on your transcript.  You may only take each exam once. If you pass both exams, you may take more advanced chemistry classes.  The passing cut off will be announced after the exam.

Organic Chemistry Laboratory Changes

Starting Fall 2020, Chem 245: Experimental Organic Chemistry (1 c.u.) will be replaced with two 0.5 c.u. courses, Chem 244 Experimental Organic Chemistry I, a basic laboratory course where modern chromatographic, instrumental, and spectroscopic techniques are applied to experimental organic chemistry, and Chem 249 Experimental Organic Chemistry  II, a continuation of Chem 244, where the techniques introduced and practiced in Experimental Organic Chemistry I are applied to a variety of organic reactions and multistep syntheses.
 
This change is motivated by our desire to make the organic laboratory course a more positive experience, and to link it more closely to the Chem 241/242 lecture courses.  Chem 245 will no longer be offered.
 
If you are enrolling in Chem 241, Organic Chemistry I, during or after Fall 2020, you must co-enroll with Chem 244 if your major, planned major, or planned professional school (e.g., medical school) requires Organic Chemistry Lab.  And starting in Spring 2021, if you are enrolling in Chem 242, Organic Chemistry II, you must co-enroll with Chem 249 if your major, planned major, or planned professional school (e.g., medical school) requires Organic Chemistry Lab. Students who have not yet taken Chem 244 should do so with Chem 242 and then take Chem 249 the following semester.
 
If you already started or finished the Organic Chemistry lecture sequence (Chem 241/242) prior to Fall 2020, you may take the Experimental Organic Chemistry sequence (244/249) through Spring 2022. This (Spring 2022) will be the last semester that the laboratory courses will be offered as stand alone courses. The courses must be taken sequentially and not concurrently.  Beginning Fall 2022, the only way to take the organic lab will be as part of a newly designed 1.5 cu organic chemistry sequence that will include lecture and lab - CHEM 2411/2412 and CHEM 2421/2422. 

Please contact either Dr. Alyssa Bohen, the Course Instructor (abohen@sas.upenn.edu), the Chemistry Undergraduate Coordinator (Ms. Candice Adams, chemugrad@sas.upenn.edu) or the Undergraduate Chair (Professor Winkler, winkler@upenn.edu) if you have any questions. 

You can find the courses that the Chemistry Department regularly offers here:
You can find the current semester's roster of courses here: