What Can You Do with a Chemistry Degree?

On your way to graduation but still don’t know the full potential of what to do with a chemistry major? You’ve come to the right place! This article aims will suggest some potential careers in the industry. For starters, getting a degree in chemistry means you’ve spent ample time in the laboratory, mixing up different chemicals and predicting the element’s behaviors.

With that said, let’s explore the chemistry major jobs that may include, but are not limited to:

1. Chemist

What does a chemist do? Generally, chemists research and obtain new knowledge about chemicals to enhance our daily lives. This job requires you to perform tasks such as analyzing substances for their composition, testing the chemicals’ safety, writing technical reports and providing proper chemical testing instructions. You will often be a part of a research team. The average salary of a chemist is $59,308 in the United States.

2. Chemical Engineer

Being a chemical engineer enables you to work at labs or plants and join R&D teams. Like chemists, chemical engineers mainly design and troubleshoot processes for chemical or pharmaceutical productions. You will be hired to minimize costs in manufacturing plants while maximizing productivity and product quality. As the biotechnology industry continues to grow, getting a bachelor’s degree in chemistry would be your best bet! As of 29th March 2021, the average salary of a chemical engineer is $114,450.

3. Chemistry Teacher

Love dealing with chemicals and want to spread your knowledge? Then, becoming a chemistry teacher is what to do with a chemistry major if you have a passion for teaching. The responsibilities of a chemistry teacher are to guide students in learning entry-level chemistry components through guided materials and designing lesson plans for them to follow through. For chemistry teachers in the United States, you will be earning an average salary of $50,934 with a range between $40,921 and $72,895.

4. Toxicologist

Next on the list of what can you do with a chemistry major is a toxicologist career. Since chemicals make up everything around us, your job will be to find new ways to determine the harmful effects of substances on living organisms. The demand for this job will only increase due to the increased awareness of health and environmental consciousness. The average salary of toxicologists in the States is $79,953 as of March 29, 2021.

5. Quality Control Chemist

Quality control chemist can be an entry level jobs for chemistry majors. As a QC chemist, you will be held responsible for assuring adherence to all safety procedures. Besides, your job will also be to interpret test results, perform inspections, and document every testing procedure. Most job openings are found in manufacturing or pharmaceutical fields. This career enables you to earn an average of $58,903.

6. Materials Scientist

A bachelor’s degree in chemistry is needed if you wish to become a materials scientist. It’s a relatively new and broad field compared to the rest of the careers in this article. A huge amount of time will be dedicated to doing research and analysis of how substances react to one other. All the research done is to develop and improve the quality of products. Before taking up this job, you have to specialize in a technique or material type. On average, you will be earning $87,500 a year in the United States.

7. Pharmacologist

The duties of a pharmacologist include performing tons of research and working on data analysis. In this role, you’ll need to monitor a patient’s response to the treatment they’ve received. You will also be required to organize and compile documentation on research data. If you have a highly curious personality and attention to detail, this might be the job for if you’re looking for careers in chemistry. These scientific positions in the United States get you around $118,503 on average, topping the list today as the highest-earning job on the list.

8. Laboratory Technician

Laboratory technician is another job requiring a chemistry degree you can pursue. As an integral part of getting a lab environment to function well, you’ll deal with plenty of element research to create viable products. You will examine, collect, study and perform tests to develop new processes, mostly to reduce pollution. A laboratory technician gets an average of $60,481 in the United States.

9. Forensic Chemist

A bachelor’s degree in chemistry prepares you to become a forensic chemist. You will have to inspect unknown biological evidence from crime scenes and match them to known substances and analyzing drugs taken from scenes. These positions are often in lab settings, running tests on samples most of the time. Each finding has to be documented to support criminal investigations. Those of you thinking of taking up this job will be earning an average of $49,828 as of March 29, 2021.

10. Geochemist

Geochemists are known to analyze the chemical components found in minerals, rocks, and gases. Doing so will enable you to understand how they affect the surface of the earth. This career requires you to have knowledge in geology, chemistry, and sometimes ecology. Employers in the industry of natural resources are in constant search of geochemists. Just like every chemist-related job, you can’t run away from writing reports and producing data. Many geochemists in the United States will earn a range of $63,788 and $83,193.

At the end of the day, there are plenty of career paths you can look into upon graduating with a chemistry degree. It’s not too late to choose the career you think would be best for you, so all the best in getting a job that you’ll truly enjoy!