Benefits of a Prerequisite Majors’ (General) Chemistry Course in STEM Retention and Graduation Rates As Measured through Success in a Biology CURE Course

A required first-year laboratory course was overhauled into a semester-long biosciences course-based undergraduate research experience (BioCURE) with a goal of enhancing learning and improving retention. Student attributes and outcomes were continually monitored by the University’s Institutional Research office over a 5-year period and compared against the pre-BioCURE (traditional Biology lab course). Success in the BioCURE was found to be correlated with a passing grade (ABC) in prerequisite majors’ chemistry as opposed to nonmajors’ chemistry; concurrent enrollment in either majors’ or nonmajors’ chemistry was less effective than prerequisite majors’ chemistry. This unique metric, of assessing the value of a chemistry course as seen through the success in a subsequent bioscience course, provides the authors with convincing evidence to encourage educators to focus on a rigorous, early academic chemistry foundation as well as emphasize interconnections with other disciplines. Diving deeper, success in a more challenging chemistry course prior to taking a required biology course during biological science students’ first two collegiate years correlated with increases in student success in biological sciences degree plans, as evidenced by subsequent increases in retention into the third year and six year graduation rates. Students with ABC grades in any first-year chemistry course had a higher rate of graduating in an initially chosen bioscience discipline, but majors’ chemistry benefited at-risk students disproportionately more than high-GPA students showing that early chemistry success is critical for strengthening a diverse STEM workforce.