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Need help on what to study at uni! Confused about my future...

(edited 7 years ago)

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You wouldn't struggle to get a job with a chemistry degree from UCL (provided you get a good grade). There's always banking and consultancy if you don't want to go into further study/research.

Reply 2

username738914

Original post by alow

You wouldn't struggle to get a job with a chemistry degree from UCL (provided you get a good grade). There's always banking and consultancy if you don't want to go into further study/research.

You say this like it is easy..

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Reply 3

alow

Original post by Princepieman

You say this like it is easy..

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It is if you work hard. I know plenty of people with jobs in finance because they worked hard, you don't have to be exceptional.

Reply 4

thenextchemist

I don't know if you know this but pharmacy career prospects are down the drain...you have made the wrong choice.
Study chemistry - far more better job prospects out there trust me!
Not sure where you've heard that pharmacy has great career prospects, unless you want to be a hospital pharmacist or work in boots, that's pretty much it...

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Reply 5

alow

Original post by jordanwu

Well a doctor (parents' friend) told me that chemistry leads to a dead end; he said that academic chemistry would take years and years to get a decent paying job and there'd be no point wasting years of my life studying for a £20,000 job.. he also said that industrial chemistry was only slightly better. When I told him I wanted to study chemistry he was shaking his head and everything and saying it'd be a bad choice and studying pharmacy would mean I'd always be guaranteed a job and in work..

He's an idiot.

Reply 6

james Thompson56

What about chemical enggineering and then going into finance and banking

Reply 7

RayApparently

In general you're better of studying what you're passionate about.

Reply 8

Peppercrunch

[QUOTE=jordanwu;67275130]So would studying Chemistry be the better option for me? My parents are kind of against it because of the whole 'bad career prospects' that they've heard from relatives and I have no idea if this is true or not.. my mum in particular is really worried about the fact that if I study Chemistry there won't be a near guaranteed job at the end, so she wants me to study Pharmacy. Sorry if I seem like I have no idea what I'm talking about but I really don't want to end up jobless and end up working in a restaurant like my parents lol

I'm guessing you're Chinese as well. I was going to do Pharmacy (UCL was one of my possible choices),

However, it is true that the pharmacy sector is stagnating and it's on the decline to be honest. I did work experience at a pharmacy and the head pharmacist said that it's not a good profession anymore as you have to do much more than just the basic dispensing that everyone thinks they do. Also, the job sector is saturated with tons of pharmacy graduates, so it'll be hard to find a pre-reg, but you can still get them I guess. Industrial pharmacy and hospital pharmacy are more difficult to get in than the most common path of community pharmacy, so you'll probably be stuck in a shop,

You don't have to go into pharmacy when you're older, as many graduate programmes don't need a specific degree, and it's UCL... Rather good career prospects. Just go with what you feel like you'll enjoy more.

Reply 9

username738914

Original post by jordanwu

So would studying Chemistry be the better option for me? My parents are kind of against it because of the whole 'bad career prospects' that they've heard from relatives and I have no idea if this is true or not.. my mum in particular is really worried about the fact that if I study Chemistry there won't be a near guaranteed job at the end, so she wants me to study Pharmacy. Sorry if I seem like I have no idea what I'm talking about but I really don't want to end up jobless and end up working in a restaurant like my parents lol

let me break it to you now: you are not going to get an easy ticket to a job.

Pick whatever course you want to do, work hard at it, do stuff outside of studying, network etc and you'll be in a sweet position. Forget the career prospects hearsay because truth is, most grads can do most grad jobs out there - it's just a matter of getting noticed/getting through to the interview.

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Reply 10

axccl389

Pharmacy is so saturated right now because the number of pharmacy places is not capped and even pharm schools like UCL are pretty easy to get in.

Medicine has one of the 'best' prospects as always in terms of job security and income even amongst the jd dispute because the number of doctors are capped by the government so pretty much all of them get nice jobs.

You could also intercalate a chemistry degree during med school too, plus its loads of fun compared with the soul sucking finance/management many science grads go to :wink:

Reply 11

longsightdon

Chemistry degree can get you into loads of different careers. Just graduate with a good grade and make sure you've worked on your CV throughout your course by getting work experience or internships or volunteering etc etc

Reply 12

username2479131

Hello have you considered chemical engineering?

Reply 13

alow

Original post by Bambidear

Hello have you considered chemical engineering?

Which is nothing like either course.

Reply 14

alow

Original post by jordanwu

I still can't decide.. don't most people get a pre-reg place in Pharmacy courses? Loads of unis day they've got over 90% getting a pre-reg place, but with Chemistry there isn't a definite career path, and I've just found this website which doesn't put Chemistry in a very good light: http://sciencenotes.org/working-as-a-chemist-what-real-chemists-have-to-say/

That's American.

Also if you do a chemistry degree, you don't have to be a chemist.

Reply 15

Yammy

Original post by jordanwu

Yeah I know that it's American but I've seen other UK websites and people on tsr talking about bad career prospects as well. Would it be worth doing an MSci if you didn't want to go into research, or better to stick to a BSc?

Seems like you like chem better, probably worthwhile to switch back somehow since its UCL. Also Bsc will be cheaper too considering debt etc compared to msci. Not sure whether msci will give u any advantages if you're not doing research.

Reply 16

username738914

Original post by jordanwu

The prospects are only as bad as the person. Most grad jobs don't even require a specific degree subject, so the individual and their profile/effort is more to blame than any subject studied.

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Reply 17

Yammy

Original post by jordanwu

That's the thing.. I would have transferred already if it wasn't for my parents opposing it :/ As mentioned before Chemistry has been my favourite subject/science since yr 11 and Pharmacy has too much biology in the course which I didn't particularly enjoy at A-Level. It's mainly the fear of not landing a job unable to pay off so much debt that's holding me back

What if you didn't enjoy pharmacy and ended up with a slightly bad grade, that wouldn't be worth it over a good chem 2.1 @ UCL. Job wise theres lots of graduate jobs outside of chemistry, and you should have a decent chance job hunting.

Ps, if you can't land a job at all, you don't have to pay back student loans?