5 answers
Sumit’s Answer
Hi Samreen, my colleagues with Chemistry or Chemical Engineering have landed positions at Pharmaceutical or Chemical Industry companies such as BASF or 3M. With respect to the engineers, they land everywhere. The engineering degree pretty prepares you to solve problems and once you have that base foundation, I have found that any industry will be happy to have you come on board and learn their products and operations.
Keith’s Answer
I would suggest emphasizing physical chemistry, materials chemistry with expectations to continue to an advanced degree. The only subtle point I would add is to be carefull if you are channeled towards analytical chemistry as that tends to be a lower salary catagory.
The options for physical chemistry experts is most broad as it correlates to manufacturing as well as traditional chemistry career paths.
- I suggest you compare salaries for chemists in different specializations.
- compare salaries at BS and MS level to help you make a longer term education plan.
- also, when choosing a school, review data on the percent graduates that obtain jobs in their field. There is a huge difference between schools. For me, that was a major factor in choosing where to go.
Ron’s Answer
One possible career would be pharmacy. Pharmacists need to have a strong foundation in chemistry. In addition, with a pharmacy degree, you can enter fields of pharmacy where your chemistry background would be valuable....retail pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, research, academia, etc.
Francis’s Answer
Hi Samreen. Chemists are needed in so many different industries the list is so diverse you may find that having a chemistry degree meshes well with some other interests you may have. You can apply your chemistry background to work on foods, flavors, fragrances and colors for the cosmetics industry, new polymers and adhesives, oil and gas industry, pharmaceuticals to discover new drugs, environmental chemistry...the list can go on. There are also non-laboratory jobs in quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
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