<p>i'm a junior and majoring in biology (pre-vet) and have a backup plan as a vet tech. i also want to add another backup plan by double majoring as biology (pre-vet) and forensic science. </p>
<p>my gpa hasnt been good but i'm doing what it takes to get it where it needs to be. for the forensic science program, you have to have a 2.5 to get in. the advisor in the forensic program put in 2 petition forms to remove the 2 failed classes that i retook and i got a better grade in, to bump my gpa a bit. i probably wont get in the program until 2014 or so. </p>
<p>as far as pursuing the vet career, i'm still pushing myself. but if vet school doesnt work out, i can look at vet tech and i can look at forensic science, that way it doesnt seem like i wasted a degree this whole time.</p>
<p>right now my current grade is a C in math but plan to bring it up to a B or A at the end; and i have a C in gen chemistry 1 and plan to get a B or A as well ( i'm taking chem recitation as well and we will have the same grade as lecture class) my gpa should be 2.05 or maybe higher because of the petition, by the end of this semester and then after this fall, it should be 2.33 or higher.</p>
<p>i wont be able to see someone in career services on campus until next week, so i wanted your advice as of right now.</p>
<p>do you think my plan is realistic and worth pursuing?</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like math and science are your thing. I think you should move in a different direction. You are working yourself to tears persuing something that doesn’t sound compatible with you aptitude and doesn’t offer great prospects anyways. even vets the median income for them is ~$60k and considering they have $200k in loans to repay that can be quite tough to live on.</p>
<p>Vet tech is a rather low paying dead end job. You work your butt off dealing with often dangerous unpredictable animals for ~$25-35k. It really only needs an AS or Vo-tech degree.</p>
<p>Forensic science requires good chemistry skills even for DNA. Also the job pays mediocre ~$35-45k, is incredibly competive with only state and a few local a fed govt hiring and the job itself is rather boring. All the methods are well developed, validated, characterized so you are basically doing an assembly line of GC/MS or DNA over and over again filling out hordes of paperwork exactly correct because so much as an incorrectly formatted date will get the evidence tossed and you fired. Lawyers don’t argue the science as it is unbeleivably well established and validated, they focus on BS like paperwork and try to paint you as incompetent.</p>
<p>Also I strongly discourage forensic science degrees. All forensics departments hire chem and biochem majors with I think ~30 hours of chemistry and biochhem&mol Bio for DNA. They don’t prefer forensic majors at all as there is no point. They train you from the ground up anyways because they have to be able to demonstate you know what you are doing and have been properly trained for your work to be accepted. All you end up doing is severly limiting your prospects as it is easy to make a chem major a forensic tech but no company is going to train a forensic major to be a chemist.</p>
<p>Some forensic grad programs are good for scientists looking to move into director positions or become professors.</p>
<p>hi, i do believe that i can succeed in math and science. i just have to change my habits academic wise. ive told my school why my gpa is low.</p>
<p>i already know that you need to get experience before being sure of your career choice. thats why you shadow a vet and get animal experience; as far as forensic science, you get hands on experience/internship your senior year.</p>
<p>maybe you think the job is boring, but i find it fascinating. yeah, i was told forensics is competitive too. these days, its about who you know and not what you know.</p>
<p>also, i have a minor in chemistry.</p>
<p>Just don’t think being a forensic scientist is anything like CSI, Bones, or NCIS. You don’t get to experiment with new techniques when a interesting crime happens. Any method or technique has to undergo an incredibly rigorous method validations testing every variable conceivable, operator variation, instrument variation, robustness, anayte recovery, anayte stability, precission, lab climate control, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, calibration statistics etc. Even a minor change to a method can take months of research and documentation to show equivalency.</p>
<p>It is a very routine anaysis technician position.</p>