School/Career guidance

[dopeantelope]

Hi,

 

Currently I am a second year studying to get my BSc in Chemistry. I have a huge interest in chemistry but in terms of my career I've discovered that I am really interested in psychology or neuroscience. I have a massive interest in not only the brain and how it functions but also the mind and how it works. Things like mental health and addiction interest me a lot and I would love to be able to help people. Im not entirely sure what I would like to do but I'm hoping there is something out there that could perhaps wrap my interests into one. What kind of careers do you think are available? and also is it possible to do anything like that with a chemistry degree? What would be the likely path in terms of schooling?

 

Thanks in advance for any input!

Edited June 13, 2016 by dopeantelope

[CharonY]

Well, on the intersection between chemistry and medicine there is pharmacology. While not specifically aimed at neurobiology (and far more applied in focus) it leads to some obvious career choices. If you want to go mental health there is usually the psychiatry path, which leads to an MD, and what is often called mental health studies. The latter can lead to counselor-type jobs.

However, all these areas are less neurobiology-oriented, which typically is more related to more fundamental research. There is little that covers the whole scope, obviously. If you are more interested in low-level mechanisms, neurophysiology, -anatomy etc. it tends to be more biological. High-level functions are more related to psychology or the medical area (depending on specialization). It would be easier if you could identify a job that you could envision doing and work your way backwards from there.