The Professional curricula provide the traditional strong background expected of someone who is planning a professional career in the field, including adequate preparation for admission to graduate school. Students completing the professional chemistry curriculum, with the proper electives, are certified to the American Chemical Society. The necessary paperwork is automatically completed by the Chemistry Department Head upon notification by the EMU records office that a student who has declared a Professional Chemistry Curriculum major is about to graduate.

The General Biochemistry and Biochemistry/Toxicology curricula and the General Chemistry Major, on the other hand, are appropriate for those who anticipate careers requiring less rigorous technical backgrounds than expected of professional chemists or biochemists. Examples would be laboratory technician, medicine (but not medical research), dentistry, business, patent law, technical writing, industrial health & safety, and secondary education. Historically, our General Chemistry Major served education students, who simply had no room in their program for more than 30 hours of Chemistry.

If you are in doubt about whether to go Professional or General, start out in the Professional. It's easy to switch to General later on, but the reverse transition can be difficult.