The best place to study toxicology depends on your career goals, as there are programs available from the educational level of an associate's degree through a doctoral degree. A program that is accredited in the place that you want to work will help ensure that you will be able to be licensed, if that is a requirement in your area. You should also consider the concentrations, or specialties, in the area of toxicology that you wish to study. Certain programs focus on such things as risk assessment, regulatory toxicology, and clinical toxicology. Other subsets within the field include forensic toxicology and product safety.
If you do not want to spend many years in school to study toxicology, you can attend a two-year community college to receive an associate's degree. This will enable you to work as a laboratory assistant with toxicologists who have higher levels of education. A bachelor's degree will provide you with more experience and the opportunity to continue on to graduate school in the future if you wish to advance your career past that of a laboratory technician or research assistant. Look for a school that has concentrations in your area of interest for the best fit.
A master's or doctoral degree program in which you study toxicology will provide you with more career options, but takes significantly more time and money than an associate's or bachelor's degree to complete. Having a master's or doctoral degree will enable you to become a supervising toxicologist after you gain relevant work experience in the field. The best master's or doctoral degree program should be chosen based upon your research interests and area of specialization, which can be found by looking at the research interests of the school's toxicology faculty members. When choosing a graduate school, cost and location are factors that should also be considered, as well as whether you meet the admissions criteria to be accepted.
It is important to choose a school to study toxicology that is accredited by a professional toxicology society in the location that you wish to eventually work. This will enable you to become certified or licensed in the field of toxicology, which is a necessary step towards finding a job in many parts of the world. The school environment is also important, so you should visit before attending to talk with current students about the experiences they have had. This will help you decide if it is the right place for you to study toxicology.
