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Is chemistry right for me

Hi, I’m currently in year 12 and so need to decide on a degree soon. I study the 3 sciences at a level and for a while I have been thinking of applying for a chemistry degree. It is definitely my favourite out of my a levels if I had to pick, but I wouldn’t say it’s a “passion”. Is simply not minding Chemistry enough to get you through a degree or does one need to be genuinely passionate about it? Would this passion come once I start the degree or could I just end up hating it?
Hello there. I recommend that you do further research on chemistry to see if it is the right career path for you. See if the future job prospects appeal to you in any way. If not, don't panic; you are studying very facilitating subjects so you have a wide range of degree subjects to choose from. I just want to say that it's totally fine to not know your 'passion', I'm in the exact same position. Hope this helps. :smile:
Original post by Hsandhu
Hi, I’m currently in year 12 and so need to decide on a degree soon. I study the 3 sciences at a level and for a while I have been thinking of applying for a chemistry degree. It is definitely my favourite out of my a levels if I had to pick, but I wouldn’t say it’s a “passion”. Is simply not minding Chemistry enough to get you through a degree or does one need to be genuinely passionate about it? Would this passion come once I start the degree or could I just end up hating it?

Hi there,

Chemistry is quite an intense degree as you are studying all fields of chemistry, that being inorganic, organic and physical. It's usually the case that if you don't have a genuine interest or passion for it, you might get bored and disinterested so not want to study as much for it, so naturally you won't do as well.

If you are interested in chemistry, but aren't yet sure of what your passion is yet, you might want to take a look at Natural Sciences degrees. This is a course where you study 2 sciences, like a joint honours. At Bath, you choose a major and a minor subject from Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science and Pharmacology. A lot of people choose NatSci either because they like 2 sciences so don't want to do just one, or if they know they are interested in the sciences but aren't yet entirely sure what their passion is. Some people switch from NatSci to a single science during or at the end of first year, once they realise what they want to specialise in. Other people stick with the joint honours NatSci till the end so they can have an interdisciplinary degree and specialise later, either via their final year modules/project, or by doing a 1 year masters afterwards.

You can find more information about the degree in this thread I started, as well as the pros and cons of it in this thread.

All in all, I would say it's best to follow something you feel you have a genuine interest in and can envision yourself enjoying both as a degree and as a career. It's completely normal to not know what your passions are yet, but try and think about what sort of degrees genuinely interest you.

I hope this has helped,
Jessica, a third year NatSci student

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