Chemistry Major

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Nms6402

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Hello, I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the Chemistry major is like at the USNA. I also would appreciate it if someone could tell more about hat careers I could get in the navy with this. Thanks and Beat Army.
 
If you haven’t already done so, read every page, link and at dropdown usna.edu. Most answers are there at the primary source.

There are extensive descriptions of the academic departments. Much like any other college or university, Chem has required courses, lots of labs, some electives. USNA also has its own core of required courses that allows everyone to earn a B.S., regardless of major, plus the professional military courses.

The Navy and Marine Corps officer communities are open to you. Though the Cyber arena no doubt prefers mids to major in aligned fields, you can be an English major and go subs, Econ and fly, Chem and go Marine, providing you qualify. For the most part, you don’t work in your major area, as in, Chem majors don’t do chemist things in the Fleet, in general. Your major and your B.S. will equip you with strong STEM knowledge that provides a solid foundation for whatever warfare community appeals to you.
 
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Many alum and midshipmen say Chemistry is one of the hardest — if not the hardest — major at USNA. At the same time, the Chemistry department is lauded as among the very best in the country by various chemistry associations (covering both professional and educational).

Beyond the advice of @Capt MJ to explore the USNA website, a simple Google search will generate numerous outside articles about the department. I read one fairly recently about amazing internships that mids got to do.
 
My DS is a (Chemistry Major) Plebe there now. He validated out of Chem 1 and is doing well in Chem 2.
The fact that he had a "5" on his AP Chemistry test made no difference, whatsoever.
To validate out of Chem 1 (The "Plebe Killer") he had to pass a test.

Lifted from another site:

RESEARCH
The U.S. military is always conducting scientific research. With a degree in biology or chemistry, you can aid in such experiments. In the Navy, for example, you might use your chemistry training to become a biochemist conducting research on biochemical challenges that directly affect the Navy or military life. Life scientists typically have training in biology and perform a variety of functions. You might research ways to minimize the spread of disease or contamination, explore how various organisms behave, study how various environments affect human biology or work on food storage challenges. The specific projects for which you'll be eligible depend on your degree, training and aptitude, but the research opportunities in the military are myriad.

INVESTIGATIONS

From investigating crimes on military bases to analyzing the contents of chemical weapons, forensic experts play a key role in military operations. Navy forensic toxicologists, for example, may work as part of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to solve crimes. Your forensic work might equip you to teach incoming forensic officers about military forensic work. Depending on the type of forensic work you do, your job duties may change from day to day, and you may work in a variety of settings, from research laboratories to the battlefield. You might conduct laboratory experiments to determine possible perpetrators of crime, perform chemical analyses to determine the contents of a chemical weapons attack or gather evidence at a crime scene. You may need advanced training or a graduate-level degree, particularly if you want to manage a forensic laboratory.

DEVELOPMENT
The military has a long history of inventing new products and procedures. Many of these products eventually make their way to civilian life. You might work on developing new medications, vaccines or chemical weapons. For example, some military life scientists devise ways to prevent the spread of contamination in close quarters, such as on naval ships. You also might help research new products by testing their efficacy or exploring their effects on human life and well-being.

MEDICAL
All branches of the military need medical professionals to tend to soldiers on the battlefield, to staff military medical clinics, to offer advice on medical policies, to conduct medical research and to perform similar medical functions. Just like when you become a civilian doctor, you'll have to complete medical or nursing school, but a chemistry or biology degree can help you prepare for your education. In many cases, the military may fund all or a portion of your training. The specific work you do will depend on your training and the branch of the military you choose. For example, an officer in the Navy Medical Corps provides a broad spectrum of medical services, ranging from hospital work to tending to sailors and Marines on naval vessels.
 
THParent said:
My DS is a (Chemistry Major) Plebe there now. He validated out of Chem 1 and is doing well in Chem 2.
The fact that he had a "5" on his AP Chemistry test made no difference, whatsoever.
To validate out of Chem 1 (The "Plebe Killer") he had to pass a test.

Lifted from another site:

RESEARCH
The U.S. military is always conducting scientific research. With a degree in biology or chemistry, you can aid in such experiments. In the Navy, for example, you might use your chemistry training to become a biochemist conducting research on biochemical challenges that directly affect the Navy or military life. Life scientists typically have training in biology and perform a variety of functions. You might research ways to minimize the spread of disease or contamination, explore how various organisms behave, study how various environments affect human biology or work on food storage challenges. The specific projects for which you'll be eligible depend on your degree, training and aptitude, but the research opportunities in the military are myriad.

INVESTIGATIONS

From investigating crimes on military bases to analyzing the contents of chemical weapons, forensic experts play a key role in military operations. Navy forensic toxicologists, for example, may work as part of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to solve crimes. Your forensic work might equip you to teach incoming forensic officers about military forensic work. Depending on the type of forensic work you do, your job duties may change from day to day, and you may work in a variety of settings, from research laboratories to the battlefield. You might conduct laboratory experiments to determine possible perpetrators of crime, perform chemical analyses to determine the contents of a chemical weapons attack or gather evidence at a crime scene. You may need advanced training or a graduate-level degree, particularly if you want to manage a forensic laboratory.

DEVELOPMENT
The military has a long history of inventing new products and procedures. Many of these products eventually make their way to civilian life. You might work on developing new medications, vaccines or chemical weapons. For example, some military life scientists devise ways to prevent the spread of contamination in close quarters, such as on naval ships. You also might help research new products by testing their efficacy or exploring their effects on human life and well-being.

MEDICAL
All branches of the military need medical professionals to tend to soldiers on the battlefield, to staff military medical clinics, to offer advice on medical policies, to conduct medical research and to perform similar medical functions. Just like when you become a civilian doctor, you'll have to complete medical or nursing school, but a chemistry or biology degree can help you prepare for your education. In many cases, the military may fund all or a portion of your training. The specific work you do will depend on your training and the branch of the military you choose. For example, an officer in the Navy Medical Corps provides a broad spectrum of medical services, ranging from hospital work to tending to sailors and Marines on naval vessels.
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There are plenty of civilian Fed scientists throughout DOD and the Navy and other services, and I think part of the excerpt above nods to that. They are definitely civilians at NCIS but Navy in their own way.
I always thought it would be fascinating to work at DARPA, but you just can’t get anyone to talk to you about it...
https://www.darpa.mil/

I believe most of the handful of USNA grads allowed to go to med school are Chem majors, though those mids come out of others as well.

EOD folks learn about chemicals in a different way, and a solid STEM background is handy there.
 
Agree with everything said here. USNA’s goal is to produce line officers. The very large majority of grads will go unrestricted line. You can look on this board or google USNA Service Selection stats to see what each class received. The majority of Medical Corps selectees major in chemistry. It is a tough major, but is possible as a dozen or two Mids prove each year. If it interests you that always helps. There are research, acquisition, engineering, testing billets available to active duty officers. This will usually come after you completed qualifications in your career field and then usually get a Masters. That often leads to a follow on ‘payback tour’ using your new degree in one of the above mentioned areas. From there many officers will either enjoy this type of work or not. If they do there are boards to transition to Engineerint Duty Officer and specialty fields that would allow you stay in this type of work.

My next neighbor was an Army Officer with a PhD in Chemistry. He commissioned after school and has spent his entire time working in medical chemical field. He does some cool stuff, way over my head.
 
Yep - the focus is on getting your warfare specialty done, and depending how long you choose to stick around, you can go “science the heck out of things,” to roughly paraphrase Matt Damon in “The Martian.”
 
Adding to the points made by @NavyHoops and @Capt MJ: We know a USNA grad who majored in chemistry, became a SWO, attended graduate school, then returned to the Yard to teach physics. Interesting paths coming out of Annapolis.
 
My son, now an ensign, was a Chemistry major. It was definitely a challenging path for him. He was mildly interested in medical corps and according to him, a C in
physical chemistry put a fork in that path anyway. However, he hasn't entirely shut the door on that or grad school for chemical engineering down the road. He was
also a varsity athlete while at USNA and between the chemistry and his sport, he often felt he wasn't giving either the full attention they demanded. Lots of labs and they
usually spend their senior year involved in research projects.
The chemistry department at USNA is fantastic. They were always available for extra instruction when my son needed it and he managed to graduate with honors and he credits
the departments brilliance and dedication for that.
While he will probably/maybe go to grad school at some point, his goal was always to join the fleet once he commissioned. He is currently a swo and loves it. It's a whole different
kind of challenging-long hours and a gritty environment but he has said it doesn't even feel like work to him.
 
Capt MJ said:
Yep - the focus is on getting your warfare specialty done, and depending how long you choose to stick around, you can go “science the heck out of things,” to roughly paraphrase Matt Damon in “The Martian.”
Click to expand...

Or, to paraphrase me, "You can go warfare the heck out of things."

Admittedly, I am skating out of my lane of very thin ice. My DS was an AROTC cadet at a civilian college, so I'm sure other posters will remind you that the two of you have only two things in common: the military and Chemistry. I do remember wondering what avenues would be open to him in the Army with a Chem E/Chem degree.

He started out as a Chem E major. He could do calculus and reactions in his sleep. He loved Chemistry, but discovered very quickly that he hated the tedium of Engineering and the restrictions of the Engineering curriculum. Specifically, he wanted more electives to take foreign language and Computer Science classes.

Fast forward, he graduated/commissioned three years ago with a Chemistry Degree and today is a Signal (Communications) Officer attached to a combat arms group. He has done everything from jumping out of an airplane to laying cable to setting up satellite dishes in the dessert to buying SIM cards in a souk to setting up encryption. He doesn't kick down doors, but he makes sure that the cameras on the helmets of those who do work properly.

He is at a crossroads with four avenues to choose from:

1. Leave the Military ASAP and go work for a company like Verizon
2. Leave the Military ASAP and try to join a three letter Gov't Agency
2. Pursue the Signal route in the Army
3. Pursue the Combat Arms Route
4. Go back to school and get an advanced degree in whatever excites him.

@Nms6402 , the point I want to make is that you have several exciting and challenging years ahead in which you will learn infinitely more about yourself than you currently think you know. If Chemistry is what excites you and you feel you can handle the curriculum, then go for it. Just don't think that your future will be in Chemistry or that your Chemistry education will have gone to waste if you pursue something else like communications or intel or aviation or any one of many avenues that will open to you when you commission.

Best of luck!
 
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