{"id":2078,"date":"2022-02-08T09:13:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T09:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:19:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T12:19:26","slug":"whats-the-difference-between-bsc-and-msci-in-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/2022\/02\/08\/whats-the-difference-between-bsc-and-msci-in-chemistry\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s the difference between BSc and MSci in Chemistry?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2080\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2080\" style=\"width: 150px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-2080\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/files\/2022\/02\/Ruqaiya-Alam-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2080\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By Ruqaiya, MSci Chemistry<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Some Chemistry degrees are offered with a few different titles &#8211; some are classed as BSc whilst others are called MSci. <em>What\u2019s the difference?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">What does BSc mean?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BSc is the shorthand form of \u2018bachelor\u2019s of science\u2019. This is a three-year course. <strong>These three years are made up of a combination of modules, some of which are taught and others which are lab based held at the Waterloo campus.<\/strong> The lab modules are essential in becoming a chemist and for the Royal Society of Chemistry degree accreditation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>What is MSci?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you are like me and looking into a master\u2019s degree, you may have come across various titles such as <strong>MChem, MSci, MRes, MS, MPhil<\/strong>. <em>What do these mean and what\u2019s the difference between them? <\/em>A few pointers are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Master\u2019s usually come in two types: taught or research focused. If a postgraduate master\u2019s degree only contains taught modules, then it is usually classed as an <strong>MS<\/strong> or <strong>MSc<\/strong> which stands for \u2018master\u2019s of science\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>Another common classification is <strong>MRes<\/strong>, this is a combination of taught modules and research (the ratio of taught: research varies per course). This would mean that for a set duration of the course you will join a research group where you will be working on your own research project, supervised by a researcher. This allows you to gain some insight into what it is like to be a scientist whilst also furthering your knowledge in a certain area.<\/li>\n<li>An <strong>MPhil<\/strong> is a purely research-based master\u2019s degree.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An <strong>MSci or MChem are an undergraduate equivalent to an MRes,<\/strong> which usually contain a mixture of taught module(s) and a research project.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><strong>What does \u2018undergraduate equivalent\u2019 mean? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Most science postgraduate master\u2019s degrees can be quite expensive thus, the MSci gives students the opportunity to obtain a master\u2019s degree with the perks of an undergraduate. <strong>This means that rather than graduating after the standard three years with a BSc, you stay on and complete a 4<sup>th<\/sup> year (considered the master\u2019s year) and graduate with an MSci.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you know that you would like to do a master\u2019s in Chemistry, then I would highly recommend the integrated MSci degree because:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It can save on costs, and the process is the same through student finance<\/li>\n<li>The majority of the course is research-based. This gives you great insight and time to carry out cutting edge research<\/li>\n<li>The academic year is from September \u2013 May, so you\u2019re still able to enjoy a summer holiday before working or other career plans (most postgraduate master\u2019s programmes run from September &#8211; September)<\/li>\n<li>You can still gain other benefits of being an undergraduate student such as King\u2019s Living Bursary<\/li>\n<li>You can conduct research with a range of research groups at King&#8217;s without having to go through a tedious application process. This means you get the opportunity to work in other parts of King&#8217;s such as St. Thomas\u2019 Hospital, Guy\u2019s Hospital, New Hunt\u2019s House, and Britannia House (where the Department of Chemistry&#8217;s research labs are based).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope this explanation and thoughts are useful &#8211; good luck in your applications!<\/p>\n<h3>Read more\u2026<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/2021\/01\/19\/5-top-tips-for-studying-chemistry-at-kings\/\">Ruqaiya shares her top 5 tips for studying Chemistry at King&#8217;s<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>&nbsp; Some Chemistry degrees are offered with a few different titles &#8211; some are classed as BSc whilst others are called MSci. What\u2019s the difference? <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/2022\/02\/08\/whats-the-difference-between-bsc-and-msci-in-chemistry\/\" title=\"What&#8217;s the difference between BSc and MSci in Chemistry?\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1226,"featured_media":677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,55,90],"tags":[12,56,67],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry","category-studying-at-uni","category-undergraduate","tag-chemistry","tag-studying-at-uni","tag-undergraduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2676,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions\/2676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}