Research Scientist?

I am just a kid who's finished his A levels and going to uni to do a BSc in Biology with a placement year, my uni isn't that high ranked and the course isn't accredited (it has interrim accredition however) as I think it's a relatively new course at the Uni.

I was then planning on doing an MSc either at the same or a different uni, bit early down the line for deciding and I'll also have a year in industry and I was wondering if this would put me in a good position to be a 'Biologist' or work in the Biology field.

I know a lot of graduate jobs don't need a masters but as I want to do it in the field of biology is it a good idea to expect to need a Masters afterwards?

Reply 1

10Fatanda

Personally from what I heard most science based jobs need a masters.

Reply 2

GJ01

Original post by 10Fatanda

Personally from what I heard most science based jobs need a masters.

As a graduate of biomedical sciences, i am yet to see a job (grad job at least) which requires a masters. Some jobs offer a masters alongside your work which is the best of both worlds rather than another year of pure academics, or indeed you can begin a PhD straight after your BSc (usually with first class honours but not necessarily) if you wish to begin a research career. I imagine however a masters would benefit you compared to other candidates without.

Reply 3

Lazy Yew

As far as I'm aware, there are many graduate jobs that doesn't require a master nor a PhD for them. But, considering the title of the thread is "Research Scientist" and the thread started claiming a "good position" in biology field, I would strongly recommend moving to a university with some accreditation for your MSc or even a PhD later would strongly helped pushing you towards your goal as most of the "better" position in the biology field require the candidate to be able to design and/or carry out experiments which are skills that a good MSc/PhD proves that you have them. A good topic in the related field would be an even greater advantage.

But it also boils down to what field of the biology are you interested in? (For example, medicine, bio-mechanics, molecular biology, microbiology, just to list a few) Look around the field that you think you're interested in or get a little exposure of what they are during your undergraduate and plan what you want in future from there. It's never too late to change your careers after you discover new things you like or dislike.

Reply 4

alleycat393

Original post by Dinasaurus

A couple of misconceptions in this thread.
Uni rankings don't really matter. What matters is that you're getting research experience with your placement year. Accreditation doesn't matter either and actually means very little. If you want to be in science you need a masters if not a PhD to get anywhere.