How many years of school do u have to go for Forensic Science???

Question

just wondering cuz that is what i want to do when i'm older.

Answer 1

Hey dude,

Depends on what you want to do in forensics. It's a broad field.

To be a police officer (or detective, but you have to be a cop first), CSI investigator, or so on any bachelor's degree (which normally takes 4 years to complete) is fine. While any bachelor's degree is fine for that, if you're really interested in the field get it in forensics, criminal justice, psychology, sociology, criminology, criminalistics, or so on.

To actually work in a laboratory setting or do actual forensic analysis, a degree in the hard sciences (biology, chemistry, physics) or forensic science is needed. This must be at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, but preferably even a Master's.

To do forensic psychology requires the bare minimum of a Master's in clinical or counseling psychology but preferably a Ph.D. or Psy.D. A Master's program takes an additional ~2 years on top of your 4-year bachelor's. A Ph.D./Psy.D. takes an additional ~3-5 years on top of a Master's.

To work as a medicolegal death investigator (forensic pathologist) you need 4 years of pre-med, then medical school (you need to be a M.D., Medical Doctor), on top of tons of specialty training. Forensic psychiatrists also require the M.D. (A psychiatrist can prescribe medication, a psychologist cannot).

To do something that requires a narrow specialty such as forensic entomology, anthropology, osteology, or other scientific specialty you need a Ph.D. in that field.

So it all depends what you want to do dude how you're gonna go about it.

Answer 2

forensics takes longer than a doctor. you do the same amount of college and residency, then another 4 years I think to learn forensics. to be a medical examiner anyway. to assist, you don't need to study as long.