For the elective course, you must choose one upper division lecture (or lecture + laboratory) course within the department of chemistry to take. The following courses are available for chemistry students:
Allied Subjects are upper division elective courses offered by the chemistry department or other departments that are strongly related to chemistry. Students need to complete a total of 12 units of Elective + Allied Subjects courses, equating to 3-4 classes. Students who perform research for units (through CHEM H194 or CHEM 196) can have up to 4 research units count towards this total. The following are courses that satisfy the Allied Subject requirement for chemistry majors:
Although it is possible to double major/obtain a simulatenous degree (see ChemBio + Business) as a Chemical Biology major, it is highly uncommon given the nature of courses within the College of Chemistry. Before you decide to double, please read the corresponding page on double majors. Please note that students are not allowed to double major in Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
Some students choose to obtain minors in related fields, such as Bioengineering, Computer Science, Materials Science and Engineering, and Mathematics, amongst others. To find out more about minoring while in the College of Chemistry, please consult the Minors page.
From the 2018 Career Center survey of Chemistry Majors:
Of the Chemistry majors graduating from UC Berkeley, about half (42-50%) continue with their education, attending graduate school for their Doctorate, PharmD, or Optometry degree. These students attend schools like Scripps, UC Santa Cruz, Caltech, UPenn, Stanford, Northwestern, and University of Chicago.
Of the students who go into the workforce, 71% work for for-profit corporations, with 29% for education. The average starting salary is $59,486. The most common jobs for graduates are research techicians (research associates), consultants, and medical scribes/technicians.