Forensic Science but at a posh university

[fakenamefornow]

I've changed my name for this so I'm not identified as an embarrassing show off. Daughter in Y12 thinking of forensic science for a degree or similar to work in forensic science. She's very academic, doing chemistry, biology and history A levels and predicted 3 A stars (got 6 grade 9s and 5 8s gcses). She wants to go to a posh University, ideally Oxford or Cambridge (if possible) but they don't do forensic science degrees. Any advice?

Surrey and Keele have courses in Chemistry with forensic investigation. Need AAB/ABB for the Masters degree.

www.studyin-uk.com/study-guide/top-five-uk-universities-forensic-science/

That link only includes SIU partner universities . Here’s some that include all UK universities

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/forensic-science

www.theguardian.com/education/ng-interactive/2021/sep/11/best-uk-universities-for-forensic-science-archaeology-league-table

www.university-list.net/uk/rank/univ-8032.htm

www.eviscan.com/en/top-10-universities-for-forensic-science/

But of course it depends on your interest. If you are interested in Fire Science you should go to Lancaster or Edinburgh. If it’s forensic anthropology or forensic odontology, its Dundee . Cambridge for Biological Anthropology.

Without maths A level would struggle to get an offer from oxbridge for sciences and quite a few chemistry degrees require maths A level.

I was going to say much the same. My DC is studying Chemistry at a "posh" uni. Lots of maths and computer programming in a Chemistry degree. The uni required an A in A Level maths.

Virtually no one who works in forensic science has studied it for their degree.

She will be better off with something like chemistry. She should look for courses accredited by the Charted Society of Forensic Science

www.csofs.org/quality-standards/accredited-course-search/

The vast majority of students on forensic science degrees are not great scientists but have watched a fictionalised version of what life as a forensic scientist might be like in too many detective tv shows and think it looks fun. There aren't a huge number of job openings in the field and when they do come up they don't go to graduates from these courses.

When a student has top academic potential they are better off studying their favourite "pure" academic subject just for the joy of it at undergraduate level, and then do a masters degree in whatever vocational direction they are inspired towards later on. The best universities don't do vocational undergraduate degrees, and vocational undergraduate degrees don't attract the best students or the best academics

Thank you all, that's really good advice.

What about Forensic Archaeology?

This girl did Archaeology at Oxford, then went on to do a masters in forensics at Cranfield University and now works at Cambridge University.

Search through some of the videos she made 2-3 years ago during her undergrad years.

https://www.youtube.com/c/RosieCrawford/videos

Just realised she’s not doing maths. Unfortunately that rules out an Oxford chemistry degree.

Posh? Oxford and Cambridge are excellent, but I don’t think that “posh” is the right description. The majority of students are from state school.

I agree with PP saying encourage her to do a core subject degree and not specialise too early. Lots of DC change their mind about what they want to do during undergraduate years. She can always specialise at MSc level.

I'd suggest applying for Chemistry or Biochemistry at the unis she'd most like to go to.

What on earth does 'posh' mean? What's a posh University??

I'm a Forensic Scientist and I did a BSc (Hons) in Forensic Science and an MSc in Forensic Science, neither at a red brick uni, as it was only the newer unis that did the course when I did.

I chose this course because I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and that's what I am now doing. At the right uni (check accreditations etc), it gives a good overview of the relevant areas in Biology and in Chemistry, with the really interesting forensics aspects thrown in. I disagree that if you study forensics then you can't do anything else in science, but it may limit you if you fully want to go into biology or chemistry.

There are FAR more forensics graduates than there are forensics jobs. You've got to be fully committed, together with a bit of luck or good fortune, to get a job.

Your daughter is clearly very intelligent. From someone in the field, I'd say half of us did forensics degrees and the other half biology or chemistry or combinations of. So whichever she chooses, she can still get a job in forensics if she still wishes in 5 years time. You're definitely not less-favoured by having not studied forensics. Doing a masters is advantageous, but not a requirement.

I hope that helps in some way 😊

Also to note, depending on how important this is to your daughter, it's a shockingly underpaid career given how important the work is you're doing. My starting salary, with a masters, was £16,500.

I’d also point out that if you actually get a job in forensics, it’s really not that fun and very repetitive. There are very strict protocols that must be followed (obviously, for the evidence trail) . It’s not like working in science, where you often to have the freedom to try different experiments and techniques to prove a hypothesis.

if she really wants to do it, and can get the grades, I’d suggest she does medicine. There’s a shortage of pathologists (who look at samples, determine cell types and look for evidence of disease in the samples) .