• Question: Did you always enjoy science in school / did you know what you wanted to do when you were in school??

    Asked by swaggymcyolo to Ben, James, Jen, Michael, Susanna on 8 Mar 2013. This question was also asked by hannahstana, katieslater, bluecrystal21, dolphziggler0308.
    • Photo: Jen Todd Jones

      Jen Todd Jones answered on 8 Mar 2013:

      Like I said in my profile I originally started out as more of an arts student studying theatre and literature – I decided to do a Psychology degree because I was interested in people and the brain. I think when I was still in school I had some ideas about being a teacher, or doing work involving animals (I think a lot of people do), or acting but really I was most interested in understanding people.

      After school during my degrees at university I learned a lot of the basics of biology, chemistry and physics so I could understand what we were being taught! Looking at pictures of the brain and hearing people talk about the body as a whole and how this and the brain made us human really appealed to me. I found something that interested me and only then did I really decide that I could be a scientist, only then did I even believe I could be one! I think it’s really important to remember that you don’t have to start as a scientist, once you find something that you find really interesting anything is possible.

    • Photo: James Stovold

      James Stovold answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      I always loved science in school — especially setting fire to things and blowing stuff up — but when I was in school I was convinced I wanted to be a science teacher. Once I got to university I changed my mind and decided to go into scientific research instead, although I still teach at the university, so I guess I got the best of both worlds!

    • Photo: Ben Brilot

      Ben Brilot answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Nope, I hated chemistry and I was absolutely hopeless at physics. But I knew that I really enjoyed biology and I did always either wanted to be a zoologist or a vet. Unfortunately, you can’t get very far in biology without also knowing some chemistry, physics and maths, so I’ve had to learn to love (or at least tolerate) the other bits.

    • Photo: Susanna Martin

      Susanna Martin answered on 12 Mar 2013:

      I always enjoyed chemistry but I didn’t like physics or biology (especially looking at animal hearts!). I first discovered psychology when I was doing my GCSEs and my brother gave me a book about sleep and dreaming, from then I decided I wanted to study Psychology at uni as I knew it could be used for lots of jobs. I didn’t really mean to become a ‘scientist’ I always wanted to be a teacher, but this way I get to teach uni students and do my own research.

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