As I was listening to a Jesuit priest comment on the election of Pope Francis yesterday, my ears really perked up when it was mentioned that the Pope started out as a chemist. Well, after a little bit of digging, it turns out that he graduated from an industrial secondary school in Argentina as a chemical technician, probably roughly equivalent to a college diploma in chemical technology here. So it turns out you can start out as a chemical technician and end up Pope. Imagine where a bachelor’s degree in chemistry could take you!

Seriously, you really should think about it. There are wonderful careers to be had in chemistry. An article in Canadian Business last year ranked chemistry 5th among professions in terms of demand and recent salary growth. So you may not end up being Pope (or Chancellor of Germany—Angela Merkel has a doctorate in quantum chemistry), but you ought to be able to make a very good living as a chemist.