What can you do with a chemistry degree?

In general, chemistry is a very practical field with exceptional job prospects.  Students who graduate 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 a BS 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 obtaining a 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 the same 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 and biochemistry provide excellent preparation for medicine; these majors have a high rate of acceptance to medical schools.
• Law:  Many chemists who go on to law school do so because they have a particular interest in patent law, but other areas of law are certainly possible, too.
• Engineering:  Many students prefer to get a strong undergraduate education at a small liberal arts school, then move to larger schools to pursue a bachelor's or higher degree in engineering.
• 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 many PhD chemists gravitate into management positions on the job.
• Education:  College-level chemistry teaching usually requires a Ph.D. in chemistry; high school-level teaching requires a bachelor's degree with a broader array of science and education courses.
• Technical Writing:  Technical writers are often needed by industries and law firms, partly to deal with patents.  There are also smaller numbers of positions in the news media.
• Chemistry Research, Development and Industry:  Far from working alone in a windowless lab somewhere, most chemists work in interdisciplinary teams with many other people.  Chemists impact almost every aspect of modern life, playing a variety of roles from developing better materials for automobiles to designing new drugs to cure life-threatening diseases.

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

Analytical:  emphasis is on determining chemical composition of samples. 

examples:

• environmental monitoring (e.g. air and water quality; could be with private companies or state & 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 a specific metal ion in a solution?  how can you efficiently separate pieces of DNA and analyze them?)

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

examples:

• organic synthesis for manufacturing firms (e.g most commonly pharmaceutical companies, but also dyes, additives and chemical feedstocks for other manufacturing industries)
• synthetic polymer chemistry (for plastics, textiles, and businesses that need these materials)
• developing new uses for raw materials industries and useful applications for organic molecules (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 single enantiomer 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 as drugs, 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 molecular bases for memory, learning, catalysis and regulation of cell growth? how does the body repair DNA when it is damaged?)

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

examples:

• synthesis and testing of solid state materials and ceramics (e.g semiconductors and superconductors for electronics industries; photovoltaics for solar energy; new materials for 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 different contexts (e.g. how does the copper atom in a human enzyme help transform precursor molecules into hormones?  what is it about lanthanum copper oxides that makes them superconductors?)

Physical:  emphasis is on the mathematical modeling required to understand the underlying 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, petroleum companies, 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 the difference at the molecular level between superglue and Post-it adhesive, or  between the surface of one metal sample and another) 
• research & development focuses on developing new methods and applications for the calculation or measurement of physical properties and phenomena (e.g. how can a laser be 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?)