Biochemistry, job prospects, pay etc.... Is it really worth it?

I am a year 12 student, have just completed my AS exams in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and History. It is around the time of the year that i have to start drafting my personal statement, think about universities etc. I have never had a clear idea what i wanted to do and for the last couple of months i have settled with Biochemistry, i find the course content really interesting and i would enjoy learning more.However, when people hear i want to do Biochemistry they recommend i don't.

I trawled through many different websites trying to figure out why people have said i shouldn't study Biochem, i have found out why. Compared to a lot of other courses, Biochem has higher entry requirements and is much less prosperous and rewarding in the long term, salary wise it is not great. You cannot get a decent job without a PhD and you are also limited into what you can do. That is if you actually find a job which seems to be ever more difficult in the Biochemistry line of work.

So i have started to think about doing something else such as accounting/finance or maybe even pharmacy. I really don't know at this stage.

If there are any people studying biochemistry or recent graduates i would greatly value your thoughts and if there are people who have opted out of doing biochemistry at the last hurdle, do you regret it or not?

I'm currently an offer holder for biochemistry at the University of Bristol/Nottingham to start in September, and now I find myself in the process of begging them to change my offer from biochemistry to chemistry due to the same information that you've found.

I just finished my first year of biochem and have a few bits of advice/what I have found. Careers are definitely not limited and they're not restricted to research etc. There are around 45/50 on straight biochem and 4 are going to go into law, I want to do medicine (late change of heart), a couple others want to do graduate medicine, a fair few are looking into pharma (pays well). A handful are looking into marketing and I have done marketing work experience before at one of the top FMCG companies and they told me they have several people in various roles in marketing, HR, etc that did biochem. Only a handful of people want to stick to doing full on intense research/lab work as a career or go into a career as an academic/full on scientist, which is what you would need a phd/masters for. I also know a fair few people doing biological sciences and there are more of them that want to go into the science/animal/marine based areas of work, which, granted, are less well paying later on. Biochem is a degree that you can go into pretty much anything if you want to and people do all sorts with it.

I got 3A*s at a level and can honestly say first year has been a lot harder than I expected considering I was way into the entry requirements of AAB. Both the biology and the chemistry is far, far harder than at a level, particularly the chemistry modules I have had so I would seriously think about trying to change to straight chemistry because degree level chem is a massive step up from a level and is very intense.

Let me know if you have more questions x

Thanks for your thoughts, theyre greatly appreciated, especially since you have first hand experience

Surely if so many people want to branch of and do things like marketing and pharmacy/pharmacology then surely it would be better to do a degree in something like that to start of with? I dont see myself going into education or research if i do biochemistry, more working in industry, thats why im now looking to do something like pharmacy at uni instead of biochemistry.

Also, if you dont mind me asking.... Why did you choose biochem, what drew you to it? Also what are you looking to do after you graduate?