If you like the theoretical side of chemistry

[grauduroi]

What kind of jobs would it lead to? My DS (year 12) loves organic and the theory side more than the practicals. He is also taking Biology, Geology and Core Maths but no real clear idea of what interests him.

Is it better to look for a more generic biochemistry degree or a more niche one (virology and immunology at Bristol) that he has gone 'sounds interesting' to ! He wants to go to university but doesn't know which direction to start looking at.

Thank you for any suggestions

The good news is that Organic Chemistry is relevant for lots of jobs e.g. in drug development, medical related, pharmacy etc.
I would suggest looking a Biochemistry, biomedical Science, pharmacology / pharmacy and see what interests him the most.
I would also suggest asking about practical work and how much this is part of the degree course. University practical work tends to be much more interesting than that done in school, but takes up a large part of the timetable for many science degrees.
I would suggest looking at more general courses first and see if you can specialise later on in the course e.g. Yr3 or specialise later for an MSc but it depends what your ds would prefer.
So if he chooses virology/immunology and finds it isn't what he expected would there be a point where he can change his mind e.g. switch to microbiology or biochemistry later on.
I hope that makes sense.
PS in chemistry degrees there is a "theoretical" chemistry side but it's very maths/physics based so assume that isn't what you meant!

How's his computer skills/coding/maths?

There's loads of science jobs these days which are more computer based than lab-based doing data modelling/analysis

Organic chemistry is allllll about the lab work! I have a theoretical chemistry background - loads of us went into the City/finance and loads of us are still in science; quite a lot of us in bioinformatics/genomics where you need a lot of theory and, ideally, programming skills. I would caution against a degree that’s too specific.

My DS is doing a degree in pure chemistry and loves it. He's currently on his year in industry placement and the work he does (organic) is applicable in all sorts of industries (anything that's manufactured I guess)
It's definitely worth doing the four year MChem with the industrial placement, the experience he's gained this year has been invaluable.

Thanks for the all the advice. He will take a gap year, so not in a rush and will hopefully try and get some work experience/volunteer to see what's out there. He's ok with practical work but finds the theory side more interesting.

Is a masters better than a Bsc or more important if you want to carry on in research?

Isn't the masters just a year longer with the year in industry? I know when he was looking at uni options you needed higher grades for the masters (AAA at his uni)

There is more than one type of Masters degree.
You can apply straight for a degree with Masters included via UCAS.
Or you can do a 3 year BSc followed by 1 year in a more specialised field. The one year MSc can involve some teaching/lectures and a research project. You usually need to achieve a 2(i) degree for this type of course.
It may also be able to do a pure research masters degree (MRes) and this can take 1-2 years.

Integrated Masters have the advantage of being funded as part of the degree, so same Student Finance rules.

There's also metallurgy/materials science which has obvious industry and research applications. Things like the crystal structure of metals and plastics.

Geology can lead into some very theoretical chemistry either on computer or in the lab (environmental geochemistry, hydrocarbon reservoir chemistry, hydrology, climate chemistry, ore chemistry, planetary chemistry, or pure petrology and mineralogy) in either industry or research, but you need to look for a more hard core 4yr Earth Sciences course with a decent amount of maths.

If it's a choice between a 4 year undergraduate masters and a 3yr bachelors, apply to the 4 year. You can normally drop out with a bachelors after 3, but he'll probably find he under qualified in the future without a masters and it is expensive to tag one on after.