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Crime Scene Science anyone?

Hi, I'm hoping to do a Crime Scene Science degree at Teeside university next year and was wondering if anyone else is doing it or has done it to see what it's really like :confused:

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Reply 1

ChemistBoy

Absolutional

Hi, I'm hoping to do a Crime Scene Science degree at Teeside university next year and was wondering if anyone else is doing it or has done it to see what it's really like :confused:

Sounds interesting, are you sure you want to go into scene of crime services (civilian or police)? I would suggest doing a more general science degree and specialising with a masters, you will be more employable in the sector.

Reply 2

Absolutional

Hmm not to sure about the degrees and all that. What science is the most "wanted" after uni and what is a masters? :confused:

P.s- Does that make me an inquisitive idiot? :wink:

By the way i'm from UK.

Reply 3

ChemistBoy

Absolutional

Hmm not to sure about the degrees and all that. What science is the most "wanted" after uni and what is a masters? :confused:

P.s- Does that make me an inquisitive idiot? :wink:

By the way i'm from UK.

All the pure sciences are useful, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Biology will lend itself to analysis and collection of DNA samples etc. Chemistry - explosives and drugs, Physics - projectiles (bullets), etc.

A Masters in a higher degree than a standard degree (which is a bachelors degree). In this context I mean it is a one year course taken after you graduate which gives you knowledge and skills in forensic and crime scence science. Why is this better than just doing the undergraduate degree? It keeps your options open - scenes of crime and forensics are tough fields to get employment in, should you find that you can't get a job in the field, a degree in a pure science will stand you in better stead in the general employment market than a specialised degree. Also a standard science degree gives you better training as a scientist, which puts you at an advantage in my opinion.

Reply 4

Absolutional

Cool. That does make sense - i never thought about the job possibilites or where i could find out about it actually! Thanks for (da) hehe advice i'll check up on that!

Thank youuuuuu :biggrin:

Reply 5

kitch

Yeh I agree. I was in a similar situation 1 or 2 years ago but decided to study biology and keep my options open. You don't know what the future holds! But I'm also interested in that area of work. It really depends which science interests you most tho.

Reply 6

madmazda86

Be careful, though - one of my friends has an elder brother doing forensic science and he spent two weeks doing faeces analysis :wink:

Reply 7

Chicken

I'm aiming to go into forensics, but for now i'm just doing a Chemistry degree, and specialising in analytical chemistry. I'm doing a masters as well, except I'm doing the straight MChem route, which means I don't get my BSc first, just end up with a masters.

Reply 8

*starbuck*

Chicken

That's what I'm looking to do...although I have to admit to being extremely tempted by the Forensic Science degree at Lincoln *drools*

For now though I'm just struggling to decide where to apply for Chemistry! :rolleyes:

Reply 9

Chicken

*starbuck*

Which uni's are you looking at? I was told that it wasn't worth doing a Forensic Science degree, as they didn't specialise in the scientific knowledge you would need if you became a forensic scientist, and it was better to have a broader degree. Also, you do limit yourself substantially - having a chemistry degree means I could do all sorts when I graduate if I decide that forensics isn't right for me (although admittedly quite how much quantum mechanics or thermodynamics will relate in forensics i'm still unsure about!).

Reply 10

*starbuck*

Chicken

Yeh I was told that too...which is why I'm applying for a combination of Chemistry, Chemistry with Forensic Analysis and Natural Sciences. I do think the Lincoln course looks amazing though :biggrin:

Currently looking at Cambridge, Durham, York, Leeds, Sheffield, Bath, UCL, Imperial and Surrey :rolleyes:

Reply 11

Chicken

*starbuck*

Yeh I was told that too...which is why I'm applying for a combination of Chemistry, Chemistry with Forensic Analysis and Natural Sciences. I do think the Lincoln course looks amazing though :biggrin:

Currently looking at Cambridge, Durham, York, Leeds, Sheffield, Bath, UCL, Imperial and Surrey :rolleyes:

Yeah my degree title is Chemistry with Analytical Chemistry, but there are some more specific forensic modules that I can take in my 4th year. I applied to Leeds and was very impressed with their Chemistry department, and the uni was very nice and freindly, despite it being huge!

Reply 12

frost105

Do a science degree first and then specialise. You'd be gutted if you specialised first and then found you didnt have the stomach for the job. Also check out wages in this field. I have always been led to believe that the money isnt great.

Reply 13

Chicken

frost105

The pay isn't great, true, but money isn't everything. And it depends what part of forensics you do. If you're a specialist in something you can actually get quite highly paid.

Reply 14

frost105

Chicken

The pay isn't great, true, but money isn't everything. And it depends what part of forensics you do. If you're a specialist in something you can actually get quite highly paid.

Just what my dad has always led me to believe (he's in cid). Do it if you know you love it but it can be really drainig. I have a big forensic part of my course coming up in psychology and quite dreading it.

Reply 15

hihihihi

*starbuck*

Yeh I was told that too...which is why I'm applying for a combination of Chemistry, Chemistry with Forensic Analysis and Natural Sciences. I do think the Lincoln course looks amazing though :biggrin:

Currently looking at Cambridge, Durham, York, Leeds, Sheffield, Bath, UCL, Imperial and Surrey :rolleyes:

How old are you

Reply 16

Chicken

frost105

Is that criminology? I've done some of that before and found it quite interesting, although I only did it on a forensic taster course and had 2 lectures of it so they probably picked out all the interesting bits to make it seem like it was fascinating!

Reply 17

frost105

Chicken

No its in my phd. Its similiar to criminology but looks at post offence and prevention more than profiling. Really not as interesting as the shows and books make out!

Reply 18

Faymous

Absolutional

Hi, I'm hoping to do a Crime Scene Science degree at Teeside university next year and was wondering if anyone else is doing it or has done it to see what it's really like :confused:

[FONT=Comic Sans MS] :redface:

hi ya absolutional, i'm doing crime scene science in sep (05), i'm currently doing a foundation course at teesside. i picked a specfic degree and it's easier to get a job. i picked teesside as it has a really good record of passing and of jobs after. At the moment there is a 98% pass mark for the course and a 90% job rate on completeing the course for the 4 years it has been running. If you really what to go into crime scene science and have done your homework and read around the career course then there is no reason not to do it. It longs a really good course and sometimes doing a non- specfic course and doing a master isn't the best way round. doing css and then a master in a specfic area is best for this job- at least you have the training and can go striaght in to a job- theres no extra training to be done. I've friends in the 3rd year and they say it's a brill course way you expand on what you want.
but in the end it is up to you to do what you want to do- no-one can tell ya.

Reply 19

ChemistBoy

Faymous

[FONT=Comic Sans MS] :redface:

Quite suprising. Although I'm sure a science graduate with an MSc in foresenic science really isn't going to be lagging behind a crime scene science graduate. Don't believe all the stats that your uni tells you, is the 90% employment rate for employment within the forsensics sector? If not, then it's actually pretty poor. The school website doesn't mention this figure, which makes me highly suspicious (as I would be shouting it from the roof-tops if it were true). Of course there isn't just one course available at teeside.