Science career paths?

[Ben1220]

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Originally Posted by rama_v

Being an academic isn't so bad - you get average pay, pretty good hours, not much stress, and you get to do cool research and publish papers in journals. Oh, and you get to travel heaps :-)

Don't underestimate how much top academics can be payed, if you are really good you can go to USA, get sucked up by the ivy leauge and make insane amounts, the average for full professors is probably close to 130k for ivy leauge, even higher average for the top of the ivy leauge. Harvard pays an average of 180k for professors??
UNC, Duke among tops in salaries for professors - Triangle Business Journal:
And the very best make insane amounts
The dangerous wealth of the Ivy League - BusinessWeek.com- msnbc.com
400-600k for a physicist???


granted these aren't "average" academics, but the opportunities are out there, just like in any career. I wouldn't advise anyone to become an academic with the sole purpose of making lots of money though, it doesn't work like that.

Apart from being an academic, it depends on what you specialise in. Biology is a massive field of study. Just go to uni and do the courses you enjoy the most, and then you will be able to figure out what specialisations you enjoy the best and what kind of career you would have. In Science, its difficult to give a typical career because everyone is so specialised.

Also maybe try to go to an open day and talk to someone specialising in Genetics. Melbourne Uni has its own genetics building even I think, its serious stuff...

[velox]

Im in 3rd yr of a vanilla BSc. Never regretted it at all. Am doing honours or some grad course next year, so will be still studying, but have such a wide range of jobs I can apply for. Dont feel I will be unemployed. (but I network pretty well)

[_tsubi_]

Originally Posted by Winn

I think you can always be a health person if you like bio...can also be a forensic scientist (I would become one if I liked bio)!
I am sure there is a lot you can do, and it also depends on your major wouldnt it?

im interested in doing science at uni and am considering forensics...but isnt the best uni for that monash? id prefer to go to a university here (hopefully USYD) because they're so reputable but i dont know if its the best place for forensics.

other than that i was considering astrophysics, has anyone done any study in that? is there a large job field for that? what are the best unis?

[Uncle]

Originally Posted by kooltrainer

if u like science, do an engineerin degree so u can actually find a job... coz whatever is being offered in science degree as its own path in engineering..so if u like biology, u can do biomedical engineering... and so if u like chemistry, u can do chemical engineering...physics, u can do civil/ mechanical engineerng..

thanks captain obvious

[kr73114]

Originally Posted by rama_v

Being an academic isn't so bad - you get average pay, pretty good hours, not much stress, and you get to do cool research and publish papers in journals. Oh, and you get to travel heaps :-)

what's an academic?

[Studentleader]

There is quite a spectrum on how easy it is to get a job with a science degree - engineering, computer science and mathematics would be the easiest to get a job whilst psychology and game design would be considerably harder.

You have to look at what types of jobs you want to do aswell - my girlfriend does biomedicine and I think her career is limited to research/acedemia/labwork.

what's an academic?

People who work at university - you do lecturing, administrative stuff and your own research.

[sikhman]

a couple of professors i talked to said it's becoming more difficult to secure funding and keep your tenure in australian unis because of some reforms done by the government/unis themselves....not too sure about this, just what i heard...

you can always become a teacher