I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Organs Zone. It has scientists studying health and disease in various parts of our bodies. Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
There are many different ways to come at a science career. The easiest is the traditional way. Get good marks, do well on your exams, and jump straight into a science course at uni. But there are plenty of people that come to science late. People don’t enjoy high school or don’t know what they want to do, and so they do something else for a time and apply to uni later. A friend of mine left school in year ten to work on his family’s farm, and has just now started uni (at the age of 45) to get a biochemistry degree. My mother finished her university degree five years ago in environmental management and is now a working scientist. You don’t have to go the same route that everyone else does…find your own way and do what’s best for you!
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I always tell people that you don’t have to be the fastest runner, the funniest kid or the brightest or smartest kid to be a scientist. It’s very important to be curious and interested, but we scientists use lots of different skills every day so it’s important to have varied interests. It’s important to work hard, but I think it’s important to work hard and do your best at all the things you do!
I wasn’t the smartest kid in my class, but I was curious and excited! I have worked hard, at high school and at uni, but I think I’m just the average joe. I’m not a genius! If you work hard, you definitely have a great opportunity to do what we do! Especially if you live science!
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Hi Patrick – thanks for the question!
There are different pathways to become a scientist and grades count when you apply to get into a course at TAFE or university or even for some jobs. Experience is also important (and helps you to decide if you really want to be a marine biologist, engineer, pharmacologist, museum guide, etc). You can volunteer to gain experience be participating in local community projects and with time you will gain valuable skills important in becoming a scientist.
The more effort, passion and curiosity you apply – to everything – the more options and opportunities you will have in the future!
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There are many ways to get into science as the girls have stated.
Straight from high school good grades in you vce subjects including maths (methods), chemistry, physics, biology will mean you get a good ENTER (if that’s what it’s still called) score. Anything above 85 and you should be sweet to get into a science degree somewhere. Looking at low 90s to guarantee a spot at the big universities.
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I agree with the others. You don’t always need to be getting A+ grades to be a scientist. I certainly didn’t in every subject. It helps to be excited in what you’re doing of course, but occasionally you might come across a science subject that is difficult and you feel like giving up, or you don’t try hard enough and get a bad grade. This happened for me with genetics in university. Despite my less than fabulous grades in that subject all those years ago I now use my knowledge on genetics everyday. AND I’m interested in it. So perseverance is important too.
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