<p>I just wanted to know if I could do my graduate level studies in Forensics if I major in Chemistry as an undergraduate!
or is it better if I major in Bio-Chemistry?</p>
<p>Most forensic evidence technicians have a BS in chemistry, biochemistry, or biology (molecular concentration). In most cases a specific forensics degree is not required or even preferred. They have to train you for 6 months or so on how to follow their precise protocols and paperwork anyways or that would be ground for lawyers to attack the evidence.</p>
<p>The market for forensics stinks. There are only a few employers, usually state govts, and right now they are not doing well financially. Also thanks to shows like CSI there is huge competition for those jobs even though they are not even remotely as interesting as the TV shows suggest. That is another reason why forensics degrees are not recommended. It is simple to train a chemist to be an evidence tech but not vice-versa so you are very limited. Most forensics departments don’t prefer forensics degrees anyways.</p>
<p>The job is mostly very routine testing following the established protocols exactly and filling out hordes of paperwork with absolutely no mistakes as lawyers love to attack that stuff in court. It is actually insanely boring from what I understand. It is running an assembly line of DNA tests or GC-MS for drug residues.</p>
<p>[Advice</a> about a Career in Forensic Science](<a href=“http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/faculty/nute/FScareers.html]Advice”>http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/faculty/nute/FScareers.html)
[Forensic</a> Links | American Academy of Forensic Sciences](<a href=“http://www.aafs.org/forensic-links]Forensic”>http://www.aafs.org/forensic-links)</p>
<p>So, hmmm… The good thing is I haven’t started my undergraduate studies.
Actually, I love chemistry and I am the highest scorer from my high school. Thus, I was wishing to pursue my higher education in Chemistry.</p>
<p>So, this means Forensics ain’t good anymore? And, what are other options via chemistry major? Or, is the major chemistry all together ain’t good?</p>
<p>Also, I don’t wanna restrict myself as a college professor. (if i major in Chemistry)</p>
<p>The only options in chemistry I’d define as good involve entry into a professional school such as pharm, med, physical therapy, occupational therapy, dental, optometry etc.</p>
<p>The jobs for just a science major or even a graduate degreed science majors are terrible if you can get a job at all. They pay less than a blue collar job, have no benefits, and no job security. Science staff are predominately hired as contingent workers through a temp agency which means the agency takes a good chunk of your pay check to begin with while doing nothing for you except shielding the client company from employer responsibilities and taxes. You can expect $12 to $20 an hour with no benefits, no raises or promotions, and bouncing from job to job. It is no way to live. </p>
<p>Unless you are sure to go to one of the aforementioned professional schools I’d get out now and go for accounting, engineering, or some other employable major. </p>
<p>I have an MSc in Chem and am returning to college next fall to go into accounting. I nor any of my family never want anything to do with science again.</p>
<p>So, if I want to foster in Chemistry, its better to go for engineering? Chemical Engineering most probably.</p>
<p>definitely though growth projections for chemical engineering are very alarming. BLS claims negative 2 or 3 percent. I’m afraid the collapse of pharmaceuticals and chemical industries in the US do not bode well for the future of chemists nor chemical engineers. Still there is a need for chemical engineers in other industries like the food industry.</p>
<p>Chemistry degrees have only 3 interesting sequences and 1 tolerable sequence:</p>
<p>interesting ones are: 1 year of G chem, 1 year of P chem, 1 year of analytical.
tolerable one is 1 year of organic.</p>
<p>the most horrendously painful class you will ever take is biochemistry. there is no calculations, which sounds cool for those that hate math. until you realize you’ll be memorizing telephone book sized tomes within 10 weeks.</p>
<p>hmmm… So I see lots of obstacles. :(</p>
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<p>this is more a less what i’ve heard. if you’re interested in what is going on, look up a class website for a class called “analytical chemistry” (particularly the lab section) and see the kinds of experiments they do. </p>
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<p>I was originally a chemE major and i’ve met plenty of people who worked in industry and discouraged me from pursing it. apparent issues:
- if you work at a chemical plant, where do you life? They don’t erect chemical plants right next to the nice suburbs or in the middle of a really cool city. it’s where they can pollute and land is cheap. part of why you get paid such a disproportionately high salary.
- you don’t gain much on the job. what ended up happening was working a few years and losing your job/getting replaced by a fresh grad. </p>
<p>although there’s nothing stopping you from working in plenty of other jobs that use any of the skills you learn. although, i can’t imagine a good chuck of your coursework being relevant (reactor design? chemical processes?).</p>
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really? I (and every chemistry professor I’ve met) thought gchem was terrible. every topic gets thrown into it, so the educational value is so diluted. and personally, i thought pchem was also kind of stupid. the main reason being that most chem majors don’t have the mathematical tools to really appreciate quantum mechanics. they wouldn’t know the difference between a canonical transformation and hermitian matrix. most of the serious learning of pchem occurred in graduate school. you kind of learn just enough of the concepts so you can see how they apply in organic chemistry (how do certain mechanics work/are they likely?) or how certain high end instruments work (analytical chemistry). </p>
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<p>we get it. you’re a bio major who hates the fact that they majored in biology and lacks any “real” skills. rather than spend time learning new skills/from other’s experiences, you come to internet boards and rant. and everything else is a greener pasture with jobs aplenty. </p>
<p>i’ll tell companies like Amgen and Genentech that all their bio stuff is stupid. And Harvard chemistry professor Gregory L. Verdine that all 7 of his biotech startups are stupid.</p>
<p>EDIT:
forgot to mention. there are “plenty” of jobs similar to forensic science. they are basically lab tech jobs that require you to be familiar with analytical chem instruments. they go under different names, chemical quality supervisor for one.
your job is basically doing quality control test of something. the instrument will vary on industry/what you’re doing.</p>
<p>but from what i can tell, these aren’t real jobs that you can make a career out of. its really something you work at part time/over summer. or at best, for a year or two while you figure out what you want to do. </p>
<p>if i were starting school over, i wouldnt be a chem major. i finished a chem degree recently, but am pursing another major because… well because i don’t really care about chemistry any more.</p>
<p>I agree we have a forensics department where I work. Basically they investigate complaints from consumers. This drink tastes bitter, this one has a white powder, a foreign object is in this lot of chips, and they use analytical chem and their knowledge of the manufacturing process to track down the cause. For example in the case of an off taste or smell they will do GC and LC to get a profile of all the flavor compounds and identify compounds that are present in too high or low amounts and compounds that shouldn’t be there and trace the source.</p>
<p>Yes, I see the Chemistry major seems to be full of obstacles… but the fact is I love chemistry and…I don’t know else :(</p>