How to Become a Chemist

You might remember old movies featuring white-haired chemists holding mysterious bottles of overflowing, bubbling liquid. In reality, chemists are highly educated scientists who work in teams while studying the basic properties of matter. Some of them try to find new uses for known chemicals, while others use new knowledge to improve or create everyday products and industrial processes.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Academic Counselings
• Subscriptions To Chemical Industry Publications
• Career Counseling
• Online Career Search

1. Take science and chemistry in high school, including Advanced Placement (AP) chemistry, if possible.

2. Obtain a bachelor's degree in chemistry in a program approved by the American Chemical Society (ACS). You can find programs listed on the ACS Web site (see acs.org).

3. Interview with firms that hire chemists with bachelor's degrees. Many companies hire people with bachelor's degrees and arrange for them to have additional education. Remember that graduate school is a must if you want a position offering more responsibility - and a higher salary.

4. Pick your specialty in graduate school and work toward your master's degree in this area.

5. Decide what type of field you'd prefer, since chemists are found in many industries. Remember that jobs for chemists in pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields are expected to remain plentiful in the near future.

6. Talk to your guidance counselor about available internships in your chosen field.

7. If you are planning to teach or conduct independent research, work to obtain a Ph.D.

Tips & Warnings

• Expect to spend much of your time analyzing computer data.
• Teamwork is required of chemists, so make certain your interpersonal skills are well-developed.
• Remain up-to-date about new chemical discoveries by regularly reading the chemical industry's publications.

on 2/15/2006 A Masters Degree in chemistry will not yield much more financial reward than a bachelors degree. Go for the doctorate or stay with the bachelor degree. Consult the American Chemical Society annual salary survey for more information.

on 12/12/2005 This is not a high paying field with a BS! After graduating from a prestigious school, the BEST offer I received was only 22k. One place actually offered me only 14k.

on 11/22/2005 A graduate degree is a MUST. In college, my academic advisors all told me that I did not need to go to graduate school to pursue a career in the field. This is false. If you are in an undergraduate program now, start making plans for at least a master's degree, especially if you want to work in pharmaceuticals.

on 11/22/2005 If your university offers undergraduate research, this is a great way to make you more marketable than other recent grads.