Why do so little chemistry graduates stay in the science sector?

I was checking the job prospects of chemistry and I found it quite discouraging to see that only 18.4% of chem grads stay in science. Why study chemistry for at least 3 years and spending so much time into it only to jump ship after they graduate. Some people will say that they didn't like working in a lab but what else did they expect. Is there other factors that lead to this?

Reply 1

Nic98

I think it's because there's little money in research these days (unless it's in the private sector). There are also limited jobs in certain areas resulting in lots of graduates taking jobs that are several stations below them with few chances of promotion.

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bump

I think with chemistry, there are jobs out there, just not fully chemistry related, so graduates do go onto find jobs such as finance or teaching.

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Reply 4

ShadowStorm689

Original post by Bloom77

I think with chemistry, there are jobs out there, just not fully chemistry related, so graduates do go onto find jobs such as finance or teaching.

What do you think motivates their decisions? Could it be financial?

Reply 5

DarkEnergy

Original post by ShadowStorm689

What do you think motivates their decisions? Could it be financial?

Yes. If the job market is saturated (i.e. too many chemistry graduates for the amount of directly chemistry-related jobs), then it is not uncommon for people to go into a job unrelated to their degree. The same occurs for Physics. It happens with STEM graduates especially as STEM graduates have a highly desirable skill set - numeracy, problem solving, reasoning, practical skills, communication, ICT, etc.

Reply 6

Reexox

I'm about to start a chemistry degree. I don't know exactly what I want to do afterwards but I picked it as I enjoy it and it's quite a broad subject. A lot of people get degrees for the transferable skills and STEM degrees look good on CVs. I assume some people take the three years to work out what they want to do for a career and go into it afterwards. Maybe some people wanted to go into finance but couldn't handle a maths degree/didn't take a level maths so they chose chemistry degree instead. People with chemistry degrees can still be accepted into finance/banking jobs. This is only a guess but I think it's a plausible explanation.

Reply 7

thenextchemist

Original post by Reexox

I'm exactly in the same position.
I'm going to be starting this September and I'm pretty excited. I love the career of teaching so that for me is the route I'm willing to go through however, I do have a year in industry included in my degree so I will be experiencing that and I may change my mind.
I also will be doing some internships in the summer so this may totally change my career pathway.
Not all chemistry graduates have the necessary experience so this may be another reason why chemistry graduates don't always go into chemistry jobs.

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Reply 8

langlitz

Original post by Reexox

Lol you should definitely have A level maths if you're doing chemistry

Reply 9

ShadowStorm689

Who are the kind of people who go on to work as chemists in industry? Do you think they are the brightest students who got accepted on graduate schemes or where they people who got a 2:2 and were stuck in a catch 22 - unable to go on to research and unable to move into the finance sector?

Reply 10

Reexox

Original post by langlitz

Lol you should definitely have A level maths if you're doing chemistry

Yeah I'm sure it helps. Some unis require it, some don't."Lol"

Reply 11

thenextchemist

Original post by langlitz

Lol you should definitely have A level maths if you're doing chemistry

Not all universities require maths a-level to study chemistry as some universities offer a foundation year of maths before starting the course.

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Reply 12

Hmht

Hi,

Im actually at university doing chemistry at the moment and a lot of people go into finance after. This is because jobs, such as investment banking or becoming a patient lawyer, pay A LOT. and i mean within a few years you're on about £50,000 and mid career you're earning 100 or £200,000 or maybe more... whereas in chemistry you're unlikely to even reach a peak of £60,000... also yes people don't like chemistry labs because they have never experienced it before (I love labs but some people just don't!) so it puts them off a lab based job :smile:

Hope this helps!

Reply 13

ShadowStorm689

Original post by ShadowStorm689

Who are the kind of people who go on to work as chemists in industry? Do you think they are the brightest students who got accepted onto graduate schemes or were they people who got a 2:2 or less and were stuck in a catch 22 - unable to go on to research and unable to move into the finance sector?

Can anyone answer this?

Reply 14

thenextchemist

Original post by ShadowStorm689

Can anyone answer this?

I was researching some graduates who went into industry at my university who did chemistry or pharmaceutical chemistry - they were bright students who achieved 2.1 or a 1st.
And all of them did the MSci instead of the Bsc.

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