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Asked by desk492nab on 10 Nov 2023. This question was also asked by days492tam.
Question: when did you know you wanted to be a scientist
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Octavia Brayley answered on 10 Nov 2023:
When I was really young I wanted to be a marine biologist. My dad was a nature lover and he used to buy me lots of animal books when I was younger and we would watch a lot of David Attenborough together. This is where my love for science started I think. But when I went to secondary school, I didn’t have good science teachers and I stopped enjoying it entirely. I focused on English and History as I loved to write, and I thought I might go into environmental journalism. I actually took combined science at GCSE as I was sure I wouldn’t take any science for A-Level! But I had a realisation as I was finishing my GCSE exams (when I watched the David Attenborough series, Africa) that I really did still want to do science in the future, but of course, I was quite behind with my understanding. So A-levels were really tough for me. I didn’t do well in my first year, but I worked really hard in my second year and got some extra tutoring in my subjects, and I was able to get the grades needed for the University of Bristol. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do for the first year or two of my degree (and many people don’t know until they finish, or years after!) but I started tutoring and decided I also loved teaching. I was also able to get involved with lots of additional research projects at university and this helped me realise that I also enjoyed scientific research and being able to discover new things. I did a masters and then applied for PhDs, which is what I’m doing now. Although, it did take me 3 years of applications and about 35 rejections for me to actually obtain a Ph.D. place! So from all that information, I guess the takeaways are; don’t worry if you’re not sure what you want to do at this stage, it doesn’t matter if you change your mind, you can always learn new subjects along the way to reach your goal- in science, you never stop learning, and if you know what you want, always keep perservering- rejections and ‘failure’ are important parts of a career as you can learn a lot from them. Although I knew that I had a passion for science during my A-Levels, I guess I didn’t know I really wanted to be a scientist until my degree started 🙂
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Ian McKinley answered on 10 Nov 2023:
Being a scientist was certainly what I’ve always wanted since I went to secondary school. I really liked science and maths – and really hated Latin and French.
I have worked in science since 1975 – 48 years! Despite the fact that I am useless at languages, I have lived in the German-speaking part of Switzerland for over 40 years. -
Jonathan Allen answered on 10 Nov 2023:
I knew from quite an early age because I have always liked building things (e.g. Lego) and seeing how I can make them better or more interesting and also taking things apart (like toys) to see how they work. So I was always curious about that which led me to be interested in how things moves and work – which is physics and engineering. As I got older I understood things better and could experiment with more complex toys, bikes etc. And now I am doing all of that with nuclear power stations!
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Ashley Hecklinger answered on 10 Nov 2023:
For a long time I thought I would be a teacher, or even go into something to do with English or History. Science and maths were my weakest subjects. I enjoyed biology, but I struggled in Chemistry and made it by ok in Physics. Since I struggled with 2/3 science subjects and was poor in maths I thought I didn’t have what it took to go into a science field. When I started university I was required to take an introductory Biology module as part of my core education, and I really enjoyed it again – and did very well! I really liked animals, so I continued taking biology-courses through to Zoology which I fell in love with! I love studying the evolution of species and phylogenetic trees. I started taking field classes (study of fish (ichthyology), study of birds (ornithology), study of reptiles and amphibians (herpetology), study of insects (entomology)). I eventually took advanced courses in wildlife management, conservation and eventually marine biology. I am passionate about wildlife conservation and grew up near the ocean, so my Master’s degree in Marine Conservation was the clear choice for me at that stage.
In the early days of taking biology and zoology I thought I would go on to be a veterinarian, but I realised I wanted to research animals – not perform surgery. I had a conservation with a lecturer who studied birds in Alaska who inspired me to consider research biology and that’s when I decided to become a research scientist!
I think there are many paths and branches in science and different ways to become a scientist, so I would encourage you to keep an open mind, explore different science subjects, and continue talking to scientists (like you are now!) to help you discover all the potential opportunities.
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Martina Conti answered on 10 Nov 2023:
Oh great question! I always preferred the science subjects even in primary school, but in high school I really enjoyed chemistry and earth sciences; the teachers were also very good and made me enjoy the subjects even more! I chose to study chemistry at university and then specialise in organic geochemistry during my masters, PhD and job
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Paula McMahon answered on 10 Nov 2023:
I wanted to be an engineer since doing work experience at school
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Andrew Lyon answered on 10 Nov 2023:
I was always interested in how things work so chemistry and physics were always interesting and what I wanted to learn about. I was also interested in the environment and after I didn’t do very well at A-Levels decided to try and get a job that was related to the environment but didn’t have anything specific in mind. It took a while but I got a job that was like an apprenticeship where I could study at the same time.
There are lots of opportunities and routes that you can take to get into science and lots of potential career options. If you look at things that you are interested in, for example the environment, animals, buildings, engineering to name a few you will see some jobs that people do and what you would need to learn to do a particular job. Hopefully the scientists on here will also inspire you!
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Amy Stockwell answered on 10 Nov 2023:
At secondary school I loved science lessons, so knew that I wanted to study that for A-levels. Then I got to do a Women into Engineering week and decided that I preferred science to engineering, so decided to study chemistry at university. I did student placements during my summer holidays which made me decide that I definitely wanted to be a scientist.
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Ollie Thomas answered on 13 Nov 2023:
If I’m honest I don’t think I ever really thought about what I wanted to do until late in secondary school or even university, I’ve always wanted to do something which would make the world a better place but I never really thought about a specific career. I kind of just kept doing what I enjoyed and found exciting and that has always been learning how things work and how to do things with that understanding. When I was little that was baking, and modelling, and making campfires and then somehow as I grew older that sort of morphed into labs and research.
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Chathuri Silva answered on 20 Nov 2023:
When I was 10 years old because my dad also used to work in engineering and I loved hearing stories about his work.
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