• Question: How long ago did you decide that you wanted a career in chemistry?

    Asked by Tigx to Francesca, Laura, Matthew, Andrew, Rebecca on 10 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Andrew McKinley

      Andrew McKinley answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      When making university applications I was close to flipping a coin between chemistry and physics. Ultimately it was my chemistry teacher – who showed me that chemsitry was much more than what the A level syllabus described – that motivated me to apply to study chemistry.

      So, I guess about 16 years?

    • Photo: Matthew Camilleri

      Matthew Camilleri answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      This was 6 years ago when I started my undergraduate, although I did know I loved science for quite a few years. Ofc, it is important to note that I am still a student, and it is not impossible for me to decide to have a career in a different areas in a few years time, especially seeing that my PhD is 50% chemical engineering.

    • Photo: Laura Schofield

      Laura Schofield answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      I’d narrowed my search down to science when I started college at 16, but it wasn’t until part way through Year 13 that I decided on Chemistry. I had an awesome teacher! She was completely mad but managed to engage us all and we sped through the curriculum! When we’d finished that, we were allowed to do experiments and practicals that supported what we’d learnt and I realised how much fun it was! To me, Chemistry isn’t about sitting down with a text book and memorising facts, it’s about trying out experiments and seeing what happens! Only then do you really learn about science!

    • Photo: Francesca Palombo

      Francesca Palombo answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      I love chemistry since my teacher at school started teaching it, so back in 1995.

    • Photo: Rebecca Ingle

      Rebecca Ingle answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      I’ve known since around A levels but what really decided that I wanted to be a researchers was some work experience in my first year of university. I didn’t enjoy labs as part of my undergraduate degree that much but when I got into a research lab it was a completely different experience.

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