Biochemistry can be an excellent choice for a career in industry, medical settings, academic and government positions. The degree is also an excellent choice to prepare students for medical, pharmacy, and dental school.

Biochemistry is the study of the structure, composition, and chemical reactions of substances in living systems. Biochemistry emerged as a separate discipline when scientists combined biology with organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry and began to study how living things obtain energy from food, the chemical basis of heredity, what fundamental changes occur in disease, and related issues. Biochemistry includes the sciences of molecular biology, immunochemistry, and neurochemistry, as well as bioinorganic, bioorganic, and biophysical chemistry.

Students are required to take the following courses with their corresponding laboratories: General Chemistry I (CHE-101 CHE-101 CHE-101), General Chemistry II (CHE-102), Introductory Biology I (BIO-101), Introductory Biology II (BIO-102), Organic Chemistry (CHE-219), Organic Chemistry II (CHE-220), Biochemistry (CHE-303/BIO-303), Physical Chemistry (CHE-311 or CHE-321) , Analytical Chemistry (CHE-331), Advanced Biochemistry (CHE-344/BIO-344), Medicinal Chemistry (CHE-351), Genetics (BIO-302), Molecular Cell Biology (BIO-312) and the capstone (CHE-499/BIO-499) . Other required courses include the following: Physics I (PHY-101 or PHY-111) , Physics II (PHY-102 orPHY-112), Calculus I (MAT-125) and Biostatistics  (MAT-201).

Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental/Pre-Veterinary/Pre-Health

In addition to science courses, many medical/dental/veterinary schools stress the need for applicants with a broad humanities-based education. After consulting their advisor, students should select humanities courses such as in philosophy, ethics, and literature to contribute to their liberal arts education.

A Pre-Professional Committee composed of science faculty helps prepare students to apply to medical/dental/veterinary schools. The committee provides information about these schools, guides students through the application process, and performs mock interviews. This committee also guides students through the process of applying to science graduate programs.

Required courses: 

In preparation for the MCAT and DAT the following courses are strongly recommended. In addition, some schools highly recommend these courses. 

*While these are the most common requirements for professional schools, students should research each school of interest to make sure there are no additional required or recommended courses.

Students within a department must maintain a minimum of 2.0 G.P.A. in courses taken at D’Youville in coursework required for their major. Students who fail to earn this G.P.A will be placed on probation in the major. Probation may continue for a maximum of three consecutive semesters or a total of four nonconsecutive semesters. Students who exceed these limits will be dismissed from the major. Students may appeal these decisions on academic status by submitting, in writing to the department chairperson, reasons why exceptional consideration may be justified.

Course Requirements for the Major:

In the specific area of concentration:           

In other academic areas required for the major:

Admission into the Biochemistry B.S. degree program requires a minimum high school average of 85% and three years of high school Math and Science. Transfer students and those entering after D’Youville University matriculation are required to have a minimum overall and required science G.P.A. of 2.75.