CHM001 - Hanna in Chemistry, NUS

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Hi all lovely juniors! I’m Hanna, currently a Year 2 Chemistry in NUS.
I would like to start off with reiterating something you would probably have heard of countless times; please do choose to pursue a degree in the course that you’re most passionate about! Studying in university isn’t easy as some JC teachers paint it out to be, especially if you’re staying in hall, as it requires a lot of work done on YOUR part and you’ll need to have the passion and interest to research on concepts and ideas that are sometimes out of the syllabus to supplement your understanding on any topic. For me, biology and chemistry has always been the two subjects that I had the most interest in, and in the end I chose chemistry as my major.

Tell us a little bit about what it is like to pursue a degree on Chemistry

A brief introduction to Chemistry in NUS; it’s a 3+1 year course, meaning 3 years if you choose to graduate without honours and 4 years with honours. In Years 1 and 2, core modules would be pre-allocated to you and these include physical, analytical, organic, inorganic and experimental modules. The syllabus is slightly different from JC or secondary so make sure you do more research! For me, I personally found it a struggle to cope with physical chemistry as it deals mainly with understanding formula and their derivations, quite different from in the past where you’re given the formula and just need to use it to calculate! Organic and inorganic would be like JC but with a lot more reactions to study. Experimental modules are modules that are purely lab sessions with each lab session lasting 4-6hours. These are tiring but fun!

From Year 3 onwards, you would be able to choose the modules you want to take. There is also an option to specialise in 3 areas, namely medicinal chemistry, material chemistry and energy and environment. If you want to specialise, make sure you take the required modules! You can also choose not to specialise at all, no problem! Year 4 would be honours year where you do the Final Year Project (FYP). Consider if you want to take this cause it would mean one entire year in the lab (which may be a bore to some). You could try out internships in Year 3 so you could have an experience of how it is like to work in a laboratory first before you devote yourself to lab for FYP.

What are the some of the career prospects for a Chemistry graduate?

One of the most important concerns you would have is what you could do with a degree in Science(Chemistry). There are various career paths you could choose and most chemistry graduates would probably work in Tuas. There are also other options such as HSA or venturing into forensics. Most employers nowadays are looking out for more analytical chemists though, as it is more applicable to practical situations, so make sure you do well in your analytical chemistry!

If you have any questions regarding the sharing by Hanna, feel free to ask your questions at the Contact Us tab and we'll contact Hanna to answer those questions for you! :)