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March 29, 2024, 05:06:50 am

Author Topic: Jobs after Bachelor of Science?  (Read 3252 times)  Share 

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friedjelly

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Jobs after Bachelor of Science?
« on: January 19, 2017, 04:13:30 pm »
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Pretty much as the title says, after a bachelor of science, are the only job opportunities related to research work?

Thanks!!
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uoiea

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Re: Jobs after Bachelor of Science?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2017, 05:25:06 pm »
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I'm in a similar predicament, except if I can't find a reason to keep on doing bsci then I plan on accepting an RMIT offer.

The only people I've heard of getting a job relevant to their major after they graduate that isn't research, tends to be engineering / comp sci majors, and even then it seems kind of rare. They had a presentation last year featuring former students who took certain life science majors and it wasn't very encouraging - pretty much the only person who had a non research job was a marine science major who became an oyster farmer..
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extremeftw

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Re: Jobs after Bachelor of Science?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2017, 05:32:15 pm »
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 I would advise you to have a look at gradstats for some valuable statistics. Here is a link to one of their reports: http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/GCA_GradStats_2015_FINAL.pdf

  The stats suggest that many of the sciences, including chemistry, the life sciences (I interpret that to mean biological science), physics, and geology have very poor employment outcomes for many students. There is another report somewhere on the gradstats website where you can see the most common jobs obtained by each degree which you could find interesting.

 Don't let that scare you though. If science is your passion and you are good at it, then go for it. You can absolutely make it work if you do well (as over half the graduates do according to gradstats). Just be realistic and make sure you assess your options. Do not do a different course that you have zero interest in just because it has seemingly better employment outcomes.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2017, 05:48:45 pm by extremeftw »

mahler004

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Re: Jobs after Bachelor of Science?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2017, 11:35:40 pm »
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I would advise you to have a look at gradstats for some valuable statistics. Here is a link to one of their reports: http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/GCA_GradStats_2015_FINAL.pdf

Statistics only tell half the story - for most science careers you'll need an additional qualification to actually be 'employable'. This is may be a professional degree (e.g. MD, DDS, etc) coursework Masters or research Masters. In my field, you pretty much need Honours as a bare minimum. The three year degree doesn't give you the research/lab experience, nor the 'soft skills' (writing, presentation, data analysis, etc) you need to actually get a job (which is a failing).

So the fact that it's pretty much just looking at three-year degree recipients, when most people need an extra degree to become 'employable.' In most fields (speaking broadly here, not just science,) a three year degree isn't enough any more. If you're interested in a career in science (not just research) you'll be spending four (BSc+Hons) to five (BSc+Masters) at university minimum. That's if you don't use it as a launching point for a professional Masters.

It should be stressed that the (three year) BSc at Melbourne Uni basically assumes that you'll be doing a Masters to pick up those technical/soft skills if you want a career in 'science'. A three-year degree isn't really all that employable.

Anecdotally most of the people I knew that went through Honours with me found something (or were successful in getting a PhD scholarship). Of course, that's just my experience - if you go through your Honours/Masters and do poorly, you might find it hard to get a job.

Likewise, there's more to science then just 'research', which is a pretty broad thing anyway. There's jobs in QA/QC, industry (which can be 'research,' or jobs in advanced manufacturing), diagnostics, (scientific) sales, etc. You probably will be (mostly) working in a lab for the first part of your career, though.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2017, 11:57:14 pm by mahler004 »
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extremeftw

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Re: Jobs after Bachelor of Science?
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2017, 02:34:42 am »
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Statistics only tell half the story - for most science careers you'll need an additional qualification to actually be 'employable'. This is may be a professional degree (e.g. MD, DDS, etc) coursework Masters or research Masters. In my field, you pretty much need Honours as a bare minimum. The three year degree doesn't give you the research/lab experience, nor the 'soft skills' (writing, presentation, data analysis, etc) you need to actually get a job (which is a failing).

So the fact that it's pretty much just looking at three-year degree recipients, when most people need an extra degree to become 'employable.' In most fields (speaking broadly here, not just science,) a three year degree isn't enough any more. If you're interested in a career in science (not just research) you'll be spending four (BSc+Hons) to five (BSc+Masters) at university minimum. That's if you don't use it as a launching point for a professional Masters.

It should be stressed that the (three year) BSc at Melbourne Uni basically assumes that you'll be doing a Masters to pick up those technical/soft skills if you want a career in 'science'. A three-year degree isn't really all that employable.

Anecdotally most of the people I knew that went through Honours with me found something (or were successful in getting a PhD scholarship). Of course, that's just my experience - if you go through your Honours/Masters and do poorly, you might find it hard to get a job.

Likewise, there's more to science then just 'research', which is a pretty broad thing anyway. There's jobs in QA/QC, industry (which can be 'research,' or jobs in advanced manufacturing), diagnostics, (scientific) sales, etc. You probably will be (mostly) working in a lab for the first part of your career, though.

 Yup, you're right. I just linked to those stats because the OP asked specifically about the opportunities a regular BSci offers.