It's my sophomore year, with a 3.3 gpa. I have a strong back ground in chemistry with A's in chem 1 & 2 and doing well in organic chem. My problem is if i declare myself as a chemistry major and get the degree, what kind of job would I be qualified for? And not just qualified exactly, but would use it or be around the concept of chemistry on a day to day basis.
low chance you can get a "job" in that field with just a BS degree. however there are several opportunities that open up for you. If your good with research there are alot of companies that you can intern for. Some of those positions will pay, others wont. If you get your GPA up to 3.5-3.6 you could consider trying to get into medical school.
Make weapons. Make building materials. Including things like body armor, and computer parts Make potions. =} i
If you've got good hands in the lab, you could get a job as a lab technician. That's probably your best bet initially after college. Usually they are short term jobs (1-2 years) with little room for promotion, but those that are really good can end up staying in the same lab for decades and become more knowledgeable than most PhD's. Pharma companies also use a lot of tech's and can often provide better job stability, but again, with just a BS there's little room for promotion. The other option eek is go for the PhD. Although the PhD doesn't guarantee you anything after you graduate, it does keep the door open to many opportunities and more importantly lets you decide how far you want to take your career.
For strictly chemistry you may have trouble finding a solid job - even many of those with masters/PhD are doing quality control work. Go for a niche in chemistry (engineering, nuclear, biomedical, explosives, forensics, etc), but ultimately you'll need to go for at least a masters. In the meantime with a BS you can hopefully find work as a lab tech or similar. lab/research experience is even more important than GPA (although GPA is important obviously), so get on that as soon as you can.
my dad was a chemist, he worked for the state testing water for impurities. if you add some biochemistry/biophysics it would help. good luck
Math/science fields are always growing, my sister is a statistics major. Get a good GPA and I think job prospects should be pretty good.
ask this guy.. but if nothing else, you can be the person holding the cup for the drug testing your company is contracted to give to other companies employees...
While it's true that the market is heavily populated by analytical chemistry jobs, that's not all there is out there. If you stick to organic chemistry you're more or less going to be faced with the decision to stay in academia or move to industry. I suggest you take your information from people who know what they're talking about: Chemjobber PhD is pretty much a requirement if you see yourself doing organic chemistry as a career.
There aren't many jobs for scientists and pure science majors since most of the jobs were exported to China and India. Even if you were willing to work for minimum wage without benefits like many chemistry and physics grads were several years ago, companies are no longer interested and would rather pay rates of <$1/hour without any benefits. You're better off going into finance, as that industry is currently booming. If you're smart enough to make it through a chemistry undergrad, you're more than smart enough to become an investment banker.
My brother in law got his masters in Chemistry. He currently works as an environmental consultant making well over $100k. If you do go for your masters, I'd go to Europe to do it. Cheaper, faster, and you get to travel any weekend you want since everything is so close. Plus, school is easier, imo.
I am a biochem/pre-med major, i would say that you should switch your major to biochem because it opens much more job opportunities and its not too late for you to switch as biochem also requires ochem 1/2.