How did you get into science?

Question: How did you get into science?
- Keywords:
  career,
  inspiration,
  job
Asked by anon-312125 on 3 Mar 2022. This question was also asked by anon-319935.
- Mark Ridgill answered on 3 Mar 2022:
  
  I liked science at school but didn’t see how that could be a career at the time. I got a job as a lab technician upon leaving school and that set me on the path to a science career.
- Miguel Alena-Rodriguez answered on 3 Mar 2022:
  
  To be honest, I wanted to study physiotherapy. However, my marks weren’t good enough to get into that degree and had to choose among a few other alternatives I had in mind. I decided to try Chemistry and well, it was the best decision I’ve ever taken!
- Lesley Howell answered on 3 Mar 2022:
  
  At school, I only really liked subjects that did not require lots of writing (which is ironic as now my job involves writing quite a lot!). For A-levels I chose to study all STEM subjects and enjoyed chemistry the most so chose to study it at university. I really enjoyed the practical nature of the degree and the different types of chemistry like organic or analytical or pharmaceutical.
- Matthew Macariou answered on 3 Mar 2022:
  
  I was always curious about things around me, things I saw or experienced. From the stars at night to weather to gravity to the birds, plants and so on. I wondered where they came from, how they functioned and more.
  I did wonder about man-made things too, cars and trains and planes for example. But I was more interested in things that existed naturally.
  
  So I was drawn more towards the sciences and when I finished school I wrote to every “sciencey” company in the area to ask if I could work in their labs.
  I loved the work I did in a chemistry lab, and jumped at the opportunity to study chemistry at university. I’ve never looked back.
- Stephen Doughty answered on 3 Mar 2022:
  
  I really enjoyed science at school and so chose it to do at University. I was also interested in research (I think I wanted to find a new element!) and so I followed that path. And now I do chemistry research … but I don’t look for new elements.
- Lucy Jones answered on 4 Mar 2022:
  
  I found science lessons really interesting at school. I enjoyed finding out about how the world around us works and being able to see what I learnt put into practice. I was most interested in chemistry because it seemed to be the central science that links well with the other sciences, so I chose to study chemistry at university.
- Graeme Barker answered on 4 Mar 2022:
  
  I was always curious about finding out how things worked – at its heart, science seeks to understand how the world works and how to use that knowledge to make life better for everyone, so it’s pretty satisfying for me! I also has a high school teacher who was very keen to have his class do as much practical work as possible – chemistry becomes more interesting once you’re actually making things with your own hands. I did, however, have several classrooms evacuated after accidentally releasing a tear gas during my advanced higher chemistry project…
- Sophie Strickfuss answered on 4 Mar 2022:
  
  I started really enjoying science as a teenager, not really in school to be honest, but more outside of school, by reading books and magazines and watching documentaries. I chose to study chemistry because I could easily see how chemistry has “real-life” applications. I also liked that studying chemistry would open different career paths in different industries, so I could defer choosing “what I want to do when I grow up” until I finished my degree!
- Andrew Parrott answered on 4 Mar 2022:
  
  I always enjoyed all science subjects at school, and I was finding hard to pick which to pursue for University when I started my A-levels. But then I was very lucky and had a really amazing chemistry teacher who did lots of fun experiments which got me hooked to Chemistry. Then when trying to decide between Universities (and which Chemistry course to do) I had the luck to meet a very enthusiastic chemistry professor who inspired me to think about the environmental impact of chemistry. I have been studying Green Chemistry ever since (I went on to be a PhD student for the same professor later).
- Mahoulo Ahouansou answered on 4 Mar 2022:
  
  I have always been a curious individual. And, when in year 7 a chemistry teacher performed an experiment where the solution changed colour, my attention shot through the roof. My love for chemistry started that day.
- Emma Gibson answered on 7 Mar 2022:
  
  I liked chemistry and physics at school so did them at university and ended up hating physics. I did a placement in industry in my 4th year at uni and loved it, I think that’s what’s drove me into research.
- Richa Sharma answered on 8 Mar 2022:
  
  The world around amazed me – like how birds fly, or fireflies glow, what do plants eat and so on. Childhood fun science books inspired me to know more about this. I took a lot of interest in visiting science museums. In high school, I decided I want to pursue science in my future and started my journey. Went to engineering college to study biotechnology, learnt more, loved science more, and then continued with research in science.
- Amit Vernekar answered on 10 Mar 2022:
  
  I had a lot of enthusiasm in whatever processes where science is involved. The passion built up to take up a career in Science, in particular, the chemistry of biological processes.
- Veselina Georgieva answered on 14 Mar 2022:
  
  I wanted to be a teacher. I have to study in different topics at Uni in order to teach but by speaking with people it turns out you can be a teacher not only at school but also at Uni. However, in order to that you should have a scientific experience and boom I have started doing science.