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Going into Forensic Science?

Hello. I'm 15, and I'm currently doing my GCSEs, and I'm starting to properly consider careers and uni. I'd love to go into forensic science, either as a crime scene investigator or something in forensic serology. As you may be able to tell, I actually like gore.
In terms of A-levels, I plan to do Biology, Chemistry, Geography, and then one other subject (possibly English Lit.) In case you're curious, I'm doing Geography just in case I decide to go into a different career. Do these sound okay to you?
Also, what uni course should I take for each of those careers (Crime Scene Investigator/Forensic Serologist)?
Some people say to take a straight Forensic Science degree, and some say do a Chemistry or Biology degree. Whatever I do in terms of undergraduate study, I plan to go on to either gain experience in a forensics lab or specialise by doing an MSc.
I suppose the idea behind doing a degree in Forensic Science is that it gives you more choice in the forensics field, but some people say it's a soft subject. Is this true?
Reply 1
Original post by Georgiecat
Hello. I'm 15, and I'm currently doing my GCSEs, and I'm starting to properly consider careers and uni. I'd love to go into forensic science, either as a crime scene investigator or something in forensic serology. As you may be able to tell, I actually like gore.
In terms of A-levels, I plan to do Biology, Chemistry, Geography, and then one other subject (possibly English Lit.) In case you're curious, I'm doing Geography just in case I decide to go into a different career. Do these sound okay to you?
Also, what uni course should I take for each of those careers (Crime Scene Investigator/Forensic Serologist)?
Some people say to take a straight Forensic Science degree, and some say do a Chemistry or Biology degree. Whatever I do in terms of undergraduate study, I plan to go on to either gain experience in a forensics lab or specialise by doing an MSc.
I suppose the idea behind doing a degree in Forensic Science is that it gives you more choice in the forensics field, but some people say it's a soft subject. Is this true?


Subjects sound decent but you should be warned about forensics. I really wouldn't recommend taking a degree in forensics, chemistry would be a far better choice. One of my lecturers told me this is the way students considering forensics should go rather than an actual forensics degree. Apparently they don't really lead anywhere and most forensics related places taking graduates on will take someone with experience in chemistry over someone with a an actual forensics degree.

Also taking chemistry (or even normal biology) would keep your options far more open, considering there aren't really any jobs out there at all for forensics, if you couldn't find one specifying in forensics you could look for other chemistry/biology industry jobs too, which you couldn't really do with a degree as specific as forensics.

It's a bit of a limitting degree with not many good opportunities tied to it.
(this is just my opinion and that of lecturers at my uni)
Reply 2
On no account do a forensic science degree. I worked in forensic science for 12 years and no one had a forensic science degree, everyone had "pure" science degrees, such as biology, chemistry etc. Forensic Science degrees were the subject of disdain. As the previous poster says, they also leave your options open if you decide not to go into forensic science.
If you want to get involved in research in Forensic Science I would recommend doing a mathematically based degree, as a lot of the questions in forensic science are now being approached mathematically - for example what is the likelihood of this person's DNA profile being at the crimescene.
Don't bother with forensic science, as others have said do a more pure science degree. Forensic science degrees are obsolete.

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Reply 4
Forensic science degrees are not a good idea. I once wanted to be a forensic scientist and the best advice I got was to do either biology or chemistry and then to specialise with a masters - an undergraduate forensics degree will not give you the scientific background you need fall back on in such a job. As it turns out I've moved away from forensics into research mainly because there are so few jobs in forensic science especially as the government is closing many of its forensics labs and outsourcing to industry. Its an awesome area of science but be careful to research things fully before you take the leap.
I was looking at this! Most places want you to do a chemistry/biochemistry degree or something similar with a lot of lab work, because the forensic science degrees aren't very good and aren't at very good unis. I remember kings do a masters in forensic science, and it's the best in the country for that training, so look on their website for the degrees which you can then go and do the masters with.
Also I'd say if you were to do chemistry (probably the best science degree you could do for forensics) you NEED maths at a level. I wanted to do chemistry at uni but there's very limited places you can go if you don't have maths. You can get a little bit further with physics, but for a full range of unis maths is a better option


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Original post by charlotteadamss
I was looking at this! Most places want you to do a chemistry/biochemistry degree or something similar with a lot of lab work, because the forensic science degrees aren't very good and aren't at very good unis. I remember kings do a masters in forensic science, and it's the best in the country for that training, so look on their website for the degrees which you can then go and do the masters with.
Also I'd say if you were to do chemistry (probably the best science degree you could do for forensics) you NEED maths at a level. I wanted to do chemistry at uni but there's very limited places you can go if you don't have maths. You can get a little bit further with physics, but for a full range of unis maths is a better option


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You dont need maths alot of good uni's dont require it such as UCL and Manchester and Birmingham, however most do want 2 sciences OR maths at A2 level
Yes but you don't want to be limited in the fact you don't do maths at a level


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Original post by charlotteadamss
Yes but you don't want to be limited in the fact you don't do maths at a level


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You are right about not wanting to limit your options, i was just thinking that they might not be as good at maths than another subject and getting a lower grade in it because they thought they had to choose it to get into any good uni's
Yeah, but if you're unsure about your fifth choice?


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Sorry I meant fourth


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Reply 11
For chemistry maths would be really useful. For biology however you really don't need it, there's generally some simple statistics and basic equations but if you aren't good at maths i'd concentrate on another subject you are good at rather than risking potentially missing out on a university's grade offer. For instance applying for a biology related course at Bristol I had the choice of struggling at A2 maths after getting a D at As or carrying on with my fourth subject computing which wasn't really as useful for a biologist but I knew I could get an A in it. I emailed a lot of university biology departments at the time and all of them said that maths wasn't as essential as A level chemistry and Biology and that any good 3rd A level would do. Eventually I dropped maths and went for computing and got AAA which was definitely better than potentially getting AAD.

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