Chemistry is ultimately at the foundation of a million different things—how functional MRI can tell what you're thinking, how the earth's atmosphere responds to the industrial activities of the human race, how living tissue sticks to artificial body implants, how gigantic molecules assemble themselves inside your body to perform complex biological tasks, how nature programs cells in organisms to live and to die, and why the Titanic sank.
Princeton's program is truly interdisciplinary in character, and our research groups are involved in such programs as the Princeton Environmental Institute, the Program in Molecular Biophysics, the Genomics Institute, and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials. Our undergraduates often earn certificates in other fields, reflecting the flexibility of our requirements and the diversity of our students' interests.
Many of our students go on to medical school or other related professional schools, while others go on to graduate school in chemistry or other disciplines, such as materials science. Some go on to law school or business school, taking with them a technical background that serves them well. Others go into consulting. A good number do things unrelated to chemistry, having been chemistry majors just because they like the subject. There is a camaraderie among our students, with lots of social interaction and mutual support.
