r/ForensicScience

Hello, I'm a student doing a career project, and i need to interview someone who is already in that career field (Forensic science) . Would you be interested in answering up to 10 questions?

1 ​What steps did you take to land this job?​

2 What skills were most critical in your early career?​

3 Walk me through a typical day. What parts excite you most?

4 What are the biggest challenges you face?

5 ​What new skills have you had to learn?

6 What changes do you see impacting this job in the next five years?

7 How do you stay motivated and continue growing in this position?

8 What advice would you give someone like me aiming for this role?

This section is for black South Africans (like me) cuz other races did not go through apartheid so it's optional

9 How did the segregation (apartheid) under the Group Areas Act affect the distribution and accessibility of forensic laboratories and resources to black students

10 In what ways did the educational inbalances caused by the Bantu Education Act impact past representation in scientific fields (how did you study while being restricted to only few resources and not being allowed to enter laboratories made for white people)

Hello!

I’m about to enter my senior year of high school and am very excited for the upcoming year. All my life I’ve had an interest in forensic pathology and death care fields. I’ve participated in forensic science summer programs and different medical volunteering opportunities so it safe to say this is the path I want to take. Part of the senior year my school we do something called “externships” where senior students basically are able to leave the school in order to do an internship program at a career dedicated organization. I’ve been looking at different forensic science internship programs, funeral homes, medical examiner offices and death care fields to see if I could internship with them. Although most are geared towards college students and fully deny high school students.

I live in the Virginia area and I wanted to see if anyone had any advice or suggestions for forensic pathology internships for high schoolers students or programs/places I could go to in the meantime.

Thank you all and have a lovely day. 🦇

​Hi everyone. ​I (18F) need some advice on how to handle a situation with my boyfriend (18M); So, We’ve been in a long-distance relationship since April (I live in Tamil Nadu, and he’s studying in Maharashtra). He is soft spoken, carefree, quiet, guitar-playing guy who usually takes life easy, but right now he is in the middle of a massive mental and physical crisis.

​He is currently in his 2nd year of B.Sc. Forensic Science in Maharashtra (his parents forced him into this degree but his actual dream was Marine Biology). ​

About two months ago, his older roommate convinced him to switch to Cybersecurity for his Master's. Apparently it has a high pay and good scope. His roommate is a childhood friend of my boyfriend and he lives with him to supervise him. So naturally, my boyfriend is always a bit wary of him.

My boyfriend started learning basic coding on his own and while he was decent, it completely drained his soul.

​His roommate has become extremely pushy and controlling. Now, my boyfriend is not a dimwit and has a cgpa of 8.4. He keeps my boyfriend awake until 5 AM every night, forcing him to study tech and not letting him follow his own routine. And doesn't let him have any free time. Routine became going to college and then studying. No breaks.

​Because of this stress and sleep deprivation, my boyfriend turned into a pale, moody, drained version of himself. He has gotten sick twice recently and was even hospitalized for 3 days. ​He's been snapping and having outbursts, which is completely out of character for him.

A week ago, we came to a decision. ​I told him that Cybersecurity clearly isn't his true calling if it’s destroying his health like this. He doesn't have any passion for this. He made it clear long ago that he's only doing this to make himself presentable to my family in the future. My family is a well to do family and I am currently in the first year of MBBS. So, you can understand the differences between him and I. While we don't make a big deal out of it, it's just that we are scared of our future. We are still kids but sometimes it feels like we could go somehwere with this relationship. But we try to to be adults in this, helping each other to give our best in everything.

So, I suggested that he turn towards something aligned with his original passion; like Marine Biology, Environmental Science, or Environmental Toxicology so that he can get his happiness back (call me selfish but it's tough dealing with a moody marathi guy)

​He loved the idea of moving closer to me (Tamil Nadu or South India) for his Master's, but he got really upset when we couldn't find a degree specifically named Environmental Forensics in the south. It is only offered by NFSU in Gujarat which is even further away from me.

​So, what we need is ​academic or career guidance.What M.Sc programs in or near Tamil Nadu or Pondicherry accept a B.Sc in Forensic Science for entry into Marine Biology or Environmental Science/Toxicology?

​Any advice on universities, career paths would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!

I am two years into my Microbiology degree with a minor in chemistry in hope of becoming a forensic DNA anylist. I've been looking everywhere for internships, but I haven't been able to find any except an FBI internship, but that would take over a year to even start, and I'm genderqueer, which, based on their Glassdoor page, would make the experience a lot worse. Does anyone have any advice on where to look? I've searched through all my university's job and internship recourses and I always come up empty handed. I've considered getting a certificate and working part time as a phlebotomist, but I don't know if that's related enough to the field to count for anything. Any advice or recourses would be appreciated!

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hi everyone!! i really want to go into forensic science, since it's been my dream since i was young, but I'm scared that I won't be able to handle all the gore and blood. is there any way to get over this fear? blood doesn't bother me as much as seeing, lets say, actual organs.

is there any hope? how do i get over it? tysm in advance

Keen to get everyone’s take on this, because personally, I’m conflicted.

Most of us in forensics work within or adjacent to police or law enforcement agencies. We also have the privilege of being servants to science and knowing to be impartial and objective, led by facts rather than subjective assessment.

There’s a lot in the media recently about the overreach of police surveillance and I’d like your input/s on 2 things that are intelligence tools that intersect with forensic science:
- Forensic genetic genealogy
- CCTV (specifically ANPR/facial)

Both have come along leaps and bounds in recent years, and both stand to link innocent citizens to criminal activities due to their lack of specificity. For example, FIGG might link you through genealogy, despite it being a sibling or closely related family member. ANPR might detect a pattern of driving that LE consider to be suspicious and warrant further investigation.

While we know that neither of these are evidentiary tools, they do put innocent people on the radar for offences unrelated to them, and thus open up the door to potential errors or miscarriages. That’s not even to mention the misuse by rogue officers.

I used to be of the mind that basically everyone should be on a FP or DNA database because “if you didn’t do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about”, but as I’ve grown older, have kids, I’ve softened on this to the point where I’m on the fence. I’ve seen police misuse of systems. I’ve seen police take a suggestive forensic result and treat it as a smoking gun.

What’s everyone’s take?

Hello everyone! I (24f) recently graduated from college, and I'm working on my CV. Can anyone tell me if I should include my restaurant industry experience?? I'm applying for mostly crime lab jobs, and I know it's not directly relevant, but some skills transfer over. The main issue is that my current job (lab tech intern) is the only non-restaurant job I've ever had. I've dishwashed, cooked, served, and managed in different places over the last eight years.

If I did include it, I would only put a little blurb about some of the skills I've gained from it, so it's not like I'm about to tell them specific places. But at the same time, I'm not sure if including that would make me more or less hireable because of my lack of lab experience. I'm also not really sure where on the CV to put it. Thank you!!

Hi! I’m waiting to start in forensics but I’m just not sure where to start. I’ve thought about college but at this point it’s very expensive and I’m not sure it’s worth it. I’m in Utah just wanting to start with an entry level but I’ve looked at indeed and other job recruiters but nothing is showing me entry level jobs. I just don’t know what to do.