Education · 1 of 4

The path

The degree is the entry ticket. What you do inside the degree decides which door it opens.

1. 1

   High school

   Grades 11 and 12

   Chemistry, physics and calculus. Any of them missing makes the first year of the degree much harder than it needs to be.

2. 2

   Bachelor's degree in chemistry

   4 years

   Four years of coursework and lab. Get into a professor's research group as an undergraduate: it matters more than your grades for graduate admission.

3. 3

   Industry job, or graduate school

   Decision point

   With the bachelor's you can work in analysis and quality control now, or apply to funded doctoral programs.

4. 4

   Doctorate

   5 to 6 years

   Five to six years of original research on one narrow problem, paid a stipend to teach and to do it.

5. 5

   Industry, government or academic research

   After the doctorate

   Some fields expect a postdoctoral position of two or three years first, especially if you want a university job.