• Question: How did you become a scientist?

    Asked by to Dre, Charli, Heather, Oliver, Becky on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , .
    • Photo: Charlotte Flavell

      Charlotte Flavell answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Hi there maryclevergirl123, ucantseeme123 and tylerbriany,

      I became a scientist by first of all doing sciency-type A-levels: Chemistry, Biology and Maths. (2 years)

      I then went to university and did a science degree. This started off as Chemistry, but then I changed my mind and did a degree in Medical Science instead. (4 years)

      After this I went to Bristol to do a PhD. This stands for “Doctorate of Philosophy” but it really just means a long science project. At the end you have to write a big book about all the research you have done called a thesis. You get given money to do this so it’s kind of like a job. (3 1/2 years)

      Once you have done your doctorate you can have a post-doctoral job, which is what I’m doing at the moment.

      It sounds like it all takes a very long time – which it does – but trust me, you would have a lot of fun doing it!

    • Photo: Rebecca Williams

      Rebecca Williams answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Hi tylerbriany, ucantseeme123 and maryclevergirl123,

      I became a scientist by asking a lot of questions and studying a lot.

      Just the same as Charli, I did science at school. I actually wasn’t very good! I enjoyed doing GCSEs in science, but I found my A Level in Physics quite hard, but not as hard as doing Maths! I also did Geography which was my favourite subject at school. I wish I had been able to do Geology at school too.

      I decided that it was looking at the Earth that I enjoyed most in Geography so I went to University to do a Geology degree. I had a lot of fun. I learnt how to study rocks and find out where they came from. How to look at thin slices of them under a microscope to understand how they were formed and travel to lots of places to try and understand how the Earth works.

      After University I went to Hawaii and volunteered as a scientist for a while at the volcano observatory. I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do as a career. But being able to study a real life volcano was an excellent experience! I did that for 6 months and then had to come home and get a job for a while. I worked as a scuba diver, which was a lot of fun. Whilst I was doing this though, I missed science and volcanoes so decided to go back to University.

      I went to America to do a short research project to get me another degree, this time specializing in volcanoes in Ecuador. Then after that I came back to England to do my PhD, which like Charli said, is a job where you do a research project and get a special kind of degree. For this I studied a volcano in Italy.

      Not all the scientists I know have PhDs though, or even any type of second degree. Not everybody’s career paths are the same.

    • Photo: Heather Price

      Heather Price answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      Hi maryclevergirl123, ucantseeme123 and tylerbriany,

      I guess I was a bit different, because I didn’t do science A levels – I was interested in different things, so I did geography, english, media studies and sociology. I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I knew I liked those subjects.

      I realised geography was my absolute favourite subject and so I wanted to study that at university. I ended up studying ‘environmental geoscience’ which is basically just fancy words for geography. I loved doing my course and finding out more about Earth, and so I decided to stay on to do a research project (the PhD that Charlie has talked about). Since then I’ve worked on other science projects at different Universities.

      I think the important thing is that although the choices that you make (like which A levels you do) are important, if you really want to become a scientist or anything else, you just need to work hard and you’ll get there in the end 🙂

    • Photo: Oliver George

      Oliver George answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      I’m still becoming a scientist!

      At school I really enjoyed biology so I wound up doing something similar when I went to university. I finished university last year and now I’m doing a PhD. Once I finish the PhD that will mean that I am officially a scientist in my own right! 😉 But that’s only the path I’m taking. There are loads of ways to become scientists without doing a PhD, and even without going to university. All you need to become a scientist is a curious mind!

    • Photo: Andrea Cristini

      Andrea Cristini answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      I think I became a scientist when I found my love for physics in high school, because since then that’s all I’ve wanted to learn about.

      It was all thanks to the enthusiasm of my physics teacher – Mr John Perry.

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