Is becoming a geneticist right for me?
The first step to choosing a career is to make sure you are actually willing to commit to pursuing the career. You don’t want to waste your time doing something you don’t want to do. If you’re new here, you should read about:
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How to become a Geneticist
In high school, prospective geneticists should have an excellent foundation and grades not just in science but also in mathematics; college education will be heavy in these particular fields.
Most schools do not offer an undergraduate genetics program. Those interested in this career major in biology, molecular biology, or some other similar course. They then proceed to graduate programs (masters and doctorates degrees) in genetics. However, a medical geneticist goes into medicine first before he or she may specialize in genetics. Those who are medical geneticists start off as medical doctors who then specialize in genetics. Some specialize even further into various genetics subfields like biochemical genetics or molecular genetics pathology.
Because genetics is a graduate level course, students typically start off as biologists on the road to becoming geneticists. They might also begin as professionals of one of the subfields of biology, like botany or zoology.