For anyone to answer who works as a CSI or forensic scientist or knows someone who is...?

Question

The job of a crime scene investigator is very appealing to me. But, I have a few questions about it:

Education:

What classes should you take in high school to get started?

What are the best (impressive) colleges to go to?

What would you major in? What other classes would be helpful to take?

How do you get started working?

The Job

What is the best part? The worst?

Is it demanding/challenging?

Is the pay substantial?

What are normal hours?

Can you work in the field AND in the lab?

What are the different job titles associated with forensic science? I don't want to be stuck in a lab all day.

Anything else about the job you feel is important to know....

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong category.

Thank you!

Answer 1

This question gets asked a lot on here so don't worry about the category.

Forensic scientists are nothing like what you see on CSI.  They spend their whole day in the lab doing the same tests over and over again.  They don't go into the field at all.  The police collect the evidence and the scientists analyze it.

There are several Forensic scientist programs you can choose from but I would guess that it isn't all that easy to find a job.