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What can you do with a chemistry degree?In general, chemistry is a very practical field with exceptional job prospects. Students whograduate in chemistry can expect to be employed in the field of chemistry if they choose to do so;

unemployment rates in chemistry have typically been below 2% for many years.

Salaries depend on degree earned and level of experience. Within 2-4 years of graduating with aBS or BA degree, the median chemist's salary is $42,000, with the lowest and highest 10%earning $31,000 and $53,000 respectively. At the other extreme, within 25-30 years of obtaininga PhD, the median chemist's salary is $104,000, with the lowest and highest 10% earning$67,000 and $170,000 respectively. While chemists with different degrees may work on thesame projects together, a higher degree (PhD vs. MS vs. BA) allows greater autonomy &responsibility.

Career Options After Obtaining a Chemistry Degree

Medicine: Because of the underlying molecular basis of disease, chemistry andbiochemistry provide excellent preparation for medicine; these majors have a high rate ofacceptance to medical schools.

Law: Many chemists who go on to law school do so because they have a particularinterest in patent law, but other areas of law are certainly possible, too.

Engineering: Many students prefer to get a strong undergraduate education at a smallliberal arts school, then move to larger schools to pursue a bachelor's or higher degree inengineering.

Management / Business: A chemistry or engineering degree, followed by an MBA,provides excellent training for management-level positions in a wide array of industries.In addition, some chemists go into sales of pharmaceuticals or instruments, and manyPhD chemists gravitate into management positions on the job.

Education: College-level chemistry teaching usually requires a Ph.D. in chemistry; highschool-level teaching requires a bachelor's degree with a broader array of science andeducation courses.

Technical Writing: Technical writers are often needed by industries and law firms, partlyto deal with patents. There are also smaller numbers of positions in the news media.

Chemistry Research, Development and Industry: Far from working alone in awindowless lab somewhere, most chemists work in interdisciplinary teams with manyother people. Chemists impact almost every aspect of modern life, playing a variety ofroles from developing better materials for automobiles to designing new drugs to curelife-threatening diseases.

Description of several different areas of chemistry and some employment scenarios:

Analytical: emphasis is on determining chemical composition of samples.

examples:

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environmental monitoring (e.g. air and water quality; could be with private companies orstate & federal agencies such as EPA)

forensic analysis for law enforcement, archeology, art restoration remote analysis using spectroscopy (e.g. astronomy, NASA) sample analysis for food industry, agribusiness and manufacturing firms (e.g. textiles,

cosmetics & fragrances, paints, pharmaceuticals, packaging, plastics, glass, electronics &machinery) process monitoring in raw materials industries (e.g. mining, petroleum, pulp & paper) research & development focuses on developing new methods and new instrumentation to

solve difficult analytical problems (e.g. how can you better detect the presence of aspecific metal ion in a solution? how can you efficiently separate pieces of DNA andanalyze them?)

Organic: emphasis is on synthesis, reactivity and analysis of carbon-based molecules.

examples:

organic synthesis for manufacturing firms (e.g most commonly pharmaceuticalcompanies, but also dyes, additives and chemical feedstocks for other manufacturingindustries)

synthetic polymer chemistry (for plastics, textiles, and businesses that need thesematerials)

developing new uses for raw materials industries and useful applications for organicmolecules (e.g. agribusiness, petroleum, coal, pulp & paper, biotechnology)

research & development focuses on identifying and synthesizing new compounds;developing new reactions and determining how they occur (e.g. can you make a singleenantiomer of a chiral drug? can you develop new macromolecules that change the

wavelength of light?)Biochemistry: emphasis is on major biomolecules (e.g. proteins, nucleic acids,carbohydrates) and how their biological function is determined & regulated.

examples:

using knowledge of the molecular basis of life to develop new biotechnologies (such asdrugs, catalysts or other chemicals useful in medicine, agriculture, etc)

using analytical skills in forensic work (law enforcement agencies) research & development focuses on understanding organisms at a cellular or molecular

level - the regulation and mechanism of biological processes (e.g. what are the molecularbases for memory, learning, catalysis and regulation of cell growth? how does the bodyrepair DNA when it is damaged?)

Inorganic: emphasis is on synthesis, reactivity and analysis of materials in which elementsother than carbon play the key roles.

examples:

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synthesis and testing of solid state materials and ceramics (e.g semiconductors andsuperconductors for electronics industries; photovoltaics for solar energy; new materialsfor manufacturers of engines, pottery, cookingware, space shuttles)

developing new catalysts for use in other industries (e.g. petroleum, coal,pharmaceuticals, polymers, agribusiness, fine chemicals)

research & development focuses on understanding the role of metal atoms in differentcontexts (e.g. how does the copper atom in a human enzyme help transform precursormolecules into hormones? what is it about lanthanum copper oxides that makes themsuperconductors?)

Physical: emphasis is on the mathematical modeling required to understand theunderlying physical reasons for chemical phenomena.

examples:

determining properties of materials (for plastics, textiles, other businesses that need these

materials) computational modeling of molecules and phases (e.g. pharmaceuticals, petroleumcompanies, environmental agencies)

studying the dynamics of chemical processes -- how reactants are converted into products(atmospheric chemistry, industrial chemistry & catalysis)

surface characterization of materials (e.g. manufacturing, metallurgy: investigating thedifference at the molecular level between superglue and Post-it adhesive, or between thesurface of one metal sample and another)

research & development focuses on developing new methods and applications for thecalculation or measurement of physical properties and phenomena (e.g. how can a laserbe used to follow the movement of atoms during the course of a reaction? what is

happening on the surface of a metal catalyst during a reaction?)