Career outcomes
Overview
After completing the Chemistry major in the Bachelor of Science, you’ll be well placed to move into the workforce, further study, or graduate research.
Career outcomes
With this major you might pursue a career as a chemist in a commercial laboratory or look to a career in research.
Outside of the lab, you could look at jobs in marketing, sales, teaching, patent law or consulting within government or private enterprise. For those with an interest in communications, you could look at science publishing or communication.
You can find our chemistry graduates in:
- universities and other research organisations such as the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the Florey Institute
- biotech and pharma companies such as CSL
- professional services firms such as Deloitte and Strategic Project Partners
- publishers such as Wiley and Springer Nature.
Further study
You can complete an honours year in Chemistry as part of your Bachelor of Science, or you can immediately move into graduate studies.
GRADUATE DEGREES
If you wish to continue your studies at graduate level, this major is a great foundation for the Master of Science (Chemistry).
Other graduate degrees you could consider are:
Depending on the subjects you take in the Bachelor of Science, a range of other graduate degrees may be possible – in fields as diverse as science and technology, health sciences, teaching, law, business, humanities and more.
GRADUATE RESEARCH
If you complete an honours year or a masters course with a significant research component, you can go on to study a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), or another graduate research program.
This will set you up for a rewarding career in research with a university, research institute, government or company.
Berin Boughton
For an analytical chemist, Berin Boughton spends a lot of time with biological systems.
He says: “To name but a few projects, I have worked on assorted disease models in mice and rats, the distribution of cyanide-forming glycosides in plants, malaria in the mosquito, and other parasites and drugs in different model systems.”
Berin started his chemistry journey at the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Chemistry. His interest in bioactive chemicals and treatment of disease led him to undertake an Honours year, followed by a PhD in Organic Chemistry.
He currently works for Metabolomics Australia, using mass spectrometry techniques to conduct metabolomics and spatial metabolite analyses.
Berin says: “Throughout these endeavours, my deep knowledge base and background in chemistry has been invaluable and has provided a unique window into the biosciences, enabling me to conduct ongoing and advanced analytical research.”