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worried about future career prospects

I'm currently doing a BSc in chemistry.

I enjoy the theoretical side of chemistry, learning why some chemicals exhibit particular behaviours and others don't, how quantum mechanics relates to chemistry etc. I like the idea of continuing to develop my understanding of this, however, there is a prominent issue with the course.

I really don't like the job prospects, it seems like doing a course in chemistry locks me in to becoming a chemist doomed to synthesise chemicals and follow instructions for the rest of my working life, I don't enjoy the laboratory experiments we have to do, they're stressful and tedious, I feel it lacks creativity, I also want some level of autonomy present within the job and chemistry careers do not seem to tick that box, I'm seriously contemplating switching courses to maths as it involves less practice and more theory, I want my career to be research based, at the forefront of understanding the new and complex, which chemistry does provide but it still seems almost entirely lab based in that aspect, However, with all that being said, I could be completely wrong, in fact, I hope I am.

I haven't spoken with people in that field so for any graduates, Masters students, PhD students/graduates or even people who have experienced or are currently in chemistry based jobs, am I right? Could you tell me what the research side is like? Is there any chemistry based jobs where I'm not confined to a lab? Who can I speak to about my issue?

My plan is to talk to careers, my professor, and my lecturer as well as anyone I can talk to in the maths department about this.

I'm very unsure at this point, there's no going back if I switch courses and I need to know I'm making the right decision, I've always been quite indecisive about my university course, so any advice would be helpful.

Thank you :smile:

Reply 1

Sophhhowa

As a science grad it’ll b pretty easy to get a job. If you want to stick to chemistry then it might not b v well paid but if not you have the opportunity to do just about anything e.g computers, accounting, teaching etc

Reply 2

Boop360

Original post by Sophhhowa

Yeah, I understand, but I wanna do some sort of research in STEM so at the moment I'm not considering it, but if it comes to it and I have to do the course then I'll look into it