BA in Chemistry

Jdpaul88
Sat, 03 Aug 2013 00:29:31 +0000

I disagree sschoe2, unless you care to clarify your statement. Academia provides excessive freedom for Ph.D majors in science related fields that many people enjoy. If we are talking strictly about pay, then that is quite superficial as the pay for a boring, lifeless position surely does not compensate for the extreme mechanical nature of the position, boredom, or lack of social life. However, some people are fine being physicians (yet my stance on the pre-professional field is one of dismay as most researchers and scientists actually have a quite interesting position where they are doing more than a routine mechanical surgery or diagnosis of the same symptoms with the same treatment prescribed over and over). I have many professors who have had the chance to go to medical school (A biology professor, Paul Davis, from the University of Nebraska at Omaha gained acceptance into George Washington School of Medicine, but turned it down because he thought it was boring). I will give one slight point of evidence that would discredit your statement, that being the outlook of biochemists and biophysicist from 2010-2020 ([Biochemists and Biophysicists : Occupational Outlook Handbook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/biochemists-and-biophysicists.htm#tab-1)). Secondly, we can also look at Medicinal Chemists, with a job outlook of 36%. ([Medical Scientists : Occupational Outlook Handbook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/medical-scientists.htm)). Thirdly, we can look at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists website: https://www.aaps.org/salary/ . This provides a good indication of the growing field of medicinal chemists. A lot of science majors are not intended to stop at just a BA, especially since BA’s and BS’s are very common and there is less technicality in technology required, mostly which can be done by people without an undergraduate degree. I would state that science degrees offer more freedom in the academic setting (literally can research whatever you want), or work in industry which is also rewarding. I included this picture from the AAPS website that shows a little salary calculation.