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Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2011 14:38:01 -0600
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Carl Fictorie <Fictorie**At_Symbol_Here**DORDT.EDU>
Subject: Re: ACS accreditation of undergraduate programs
In-Reply-To: <20110104193916.3DAA8126731**At_Symbol_Here**smtp-out.dordt.edu>
Ms. Bucherl,
I'm a prof at a small liberal arts college that does not offer an ACS
accredited degree, plus I advise premed students at my institution, so I
think I have a few useful insights for you and your daughter.
My memory of the ACS requirements are based on an older version (that I
used as a reference for a review of our program), but as I understand
them, they had structured their requirements around a chemistry core with
various emphases in areas such as biochemistry or chem ed. It is possible
that School B has a curriculum built on these older standards, and in that
older system biochem was a minor component, an add-on to the general
chemistry core, and biology was not expected to contribute to a biochemistr
y emphasis in any significant way. I also learned that the original
purpose (80+years ago) of ACS accreditation was to satisfy potential
employers of chemistry graduates, and had little to do with preparation
for graduate work or medical school. My skimming of the recent version
suggests they are much more flexible in the requirements, but those
changes take time to show up in any particular college's program.
A second factor you should note is that even within schools that have
approved programs, only about 1/3 of chemistry graduates graduate with the
certified program. (Details are available on the ACS website: http://port
al.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_SUPERARTICL
E&node_id=874&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=92e4bd1d-3df
5-49e7-a525-1b8944703cca) Also, approved programs only produce about 2/3
(guestimating!) of all chemistry graduates in the US, with non-approved
programs (such as ours) accounting for the remainder. In other words, no
more than 1/4 of chemistry grads (including biochem) in any given year
even get a certified degree, and a large percentage of those who do not
are pre-professional health students (pre-med, pre-pharmacy, pre-dental,
etc.). Finally, I have not seen any science graduate programs give
preference to certified grads in terms of admissions, and we have never
had qualified applicants turned down by graduate programs in chemistry.
That allows me to switch hats to premed advisor. My experience with
mid-western medical schools is that they also do not concern themselves
with certification of a particular major. They are concerned that
applicants have completed the prerequisite coursework for their program,
and show only minor concern for other coursework. Whether or not research
is important depends on the particular medical school: The University of
Iowa (our state med school) likes research experience, The University of
Minnesota at Duluth (a rural medicine oriented school) does not consider
it. In fact, the comments I hear from medical school admissions people
suggest that broad based liberal arts is a more useful preparation than a
strong but narrow science program, which BS programs tend to be.
Therefore, I advise students to take fewer biology and chemistry courses
and take more writing, social science, and arts courses to round out their
experiences. In my opinion there's no benefit to completing a certified
degree in biochemistry en route to a medical career.
I hope you find these comments helpful and if you have more questions,
feel free to ask.
CPF
Carl Fictorie, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry
Co-Director, Kuyper Scholars Program
Premedical Program Advisor
Chemistry Department
Dordt College
498 4th Ave. NE
Sioux Center, IA 51250-1697
phone: 712-722-6283
email: fictorie**At_Symbol_Here**dordt.edu
http://homepages.dordt.edu/~fictorie/
>>> Stacy Bucherl 1/4/2011 1:34 PM >>>
Sorry this is a bit off topic, but a lot of you work in higher education
and
I could use your help.
My daughter's college choice was primarily driven by finding a school that
offered an ACS accredited BS in biochemistry. At the last moment, she
switched from school A to B (school B offered a full ride). On arrival at
school B, she discovered that their particular ACS biochemistry program is
so rigidly chemistry-focused that it only allows 3 bio classes. After
several discussions with her adviser, she switched to the BA in
biochemistry, which gives her room to study the bio part of the degree.
Daughter is likely going to med school and she wants to do research. So...
I talked to ACS to gain an understanding of the accreditation process. Do
any of you have experience in developing the ACS accreditation curriculum
for your school? I would like to have a discussion with School B to try to
understand their rationale to minimize bio from the biochem degree, but
don't know where to start.
Advice? Suggestions?
Stacy
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