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Senior scientific associate education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a senior scientific associate. Senior scientific associates usually study chemistry, biology, or biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology. 64% of senior scientific associates hold a bachelor's degree, and 24% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 255 real senior scientific associate resumes to see exactly what senior scientific associate education sections show.

The most common colleges for senior scientific associates are the Northeastern University and the Northeastern University.

There are also many online senior scientific associate courses to help get the education required to be a senior scientific associate.

What education do you need to become a senior scientific associate?

What degree do you need to be a senior scientific associate?

The most common degree for senior scientific associates is bachelor's degree, with 64% of senior scientific associates earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are master's degree degree at 24% and master's degree degree at 8%.
  • Bachelor's, 64%
  • Master's, 24%
  • Doctorate, 8%
  • Associate, 2%
  • Other Degrees, 2%

What should I major in to become a senior scientific associate?

You should major in chemistry to become a senior scientific associate. 26% of senior scientific associates major in chemistry. Other common majors for a senior scientific associate include biology and biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology.

Most common colleges for senior scientific associates

Senior scientific associates often get their degrees at Northeastern University, University of California - Davis, and University of California, Santa Barbara. Here are the most common colleges for senior scientific associates in the US based on their resumes.
Senior scientific associate common collegePercentages
Northeastern University10.94%
University of California - Davis9.38%
University of California, Santa Barbara9.38%
University of Massachusetts Boston9.38%
University of Massachusetts Amherst7.81%

Best majors for senior scientific associates

Best colleges for senior scientific associates

The best colleges for senior scientific associates are Columbia University in the City of New York, Northwestern University, and University of Pennsylvania.

A senior scientific associate with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for senior scientific associates. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become senior scientific associates.

1. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

2. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-state tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

4. University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$14,184

Enrollment

30,845

5. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

6. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

In-state tuition

$49,816

Enrollment

6,840

7. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

8. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,522

Enrollment

13,760

9. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

10. University of California - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$13,226

Enrollment

31,568

20 best online courses for senior scientific associates

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1. Drug Development

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The University of California San Diego, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Drug Development course brings you lectures from both faculty and industry experts. With this course, recorded on campus at UCSD, we seek to share our access to top people in the field who bring an unprecedented range of expertise on drug development. In this course you will learn the different stages of clinical development as well as the regulatory including but not limited to, an Investigational New...

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5. Julia Scientific Programming

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This course introduces you to Julia as a first programming language. Julia is a high-level, high-performance dynamic programming language developed specifically for scientific computing. This language will be particularly useful for applications in physics, chemistry, astronomy, engineering, data science, bioinformatics, and many more. You can start programming with Julia within Coursera and it can also be used from the command line, program files, or a Jupyter notebook. Julia is designed to...

6. AI for Scientific Research

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In the AI for Scientific Research specialization, we'll learn how to use AI in scientific situations to discover trends and patterns within datasets. Course 1 teaches a little bit about the Python language as it relates to data science. We'll share some existing libraries to help analyze your datasets. By the end of the course, you'll apply a classification model to predict the presence or absence of heart disease from a patient's health data. Course 2 covers the complete machine learning...

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10. Big Data Science with the BD2K-LINCS Data Coordination and Integration Center

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The Library of Integrative Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) is an NIH Common Fund program. The idea is to perturb different types of human cells with many different types of perturbations such as: drugs and other small molecules; genetic manipulations such as knockdown or overexpression of single genes; manipulation of the extracellular microenvironment conditions, for example, growing cells on different surfaces, and more. These perturbations are applied to various types of human...

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Top 10 most affordable universities for senior scientific associates

The most affordable schools for senior scientific associates are University of Florida, hunter college of the city university of new york, and california state university - bakersfield.

If the best universities for senior scientific associates are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for senior scientific associates.

1. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

2. Hunter College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,182

Cost of attendance

13,998

3. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

4. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

5. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$8,987

Cost of attendance

25,527

6. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,410

Cost of attendance

20,456

7. California State University - Fresno

Fresno, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,587

Cost of attendance

16,915

8. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

9. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

10. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-state tuition

$11,207

Cost of attendance

25,275

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for senior scientific associates

The hardest universities for senior scientific associates to get into are Columbia University in the City of New York, Northwestern University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Some great schools for senior scientific associates are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for senior scientific associates based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,512

2. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

4. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

Admissions rate

10%

SAT average

1,514

5. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

17%

SAT average

1,507

6. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

7. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

8. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,456

9. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

5%

SAT average

1,520

10. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,471

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for senior scientific associates

The easiest schools for senior scientific associates to get into are D'Youville College, mount saint mary's university, and wayland baptist university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a senior scientific associate without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for senior scientific associates.

1. D'Youville College

Buffalo, NY • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,072

2. Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

84%

SAT average

1,031

3. Wayland Baptist University

Plainview, TX • Private

Admissions rate

98%

SAT average

1,003

4. University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,044

5. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

6. Notre Dame College

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

994

7. Our Lady of the Lake University

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

93%

SAT average

1,002

8. La Roche College

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

99%

SAT average

1,008

9. Notre Dame de Namur University

Belmont, CA • Private

Admissions rate

82%

SAT average

983

10. Thomas More University

Crestview Hills, KY • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

1,099

Average senior scientific associate salary by education level

According to our data, senior scientific associates with a Doctorate degree earn the highest average salary, at $107,774 annually. Senior scientific associates with a Master's degree earn an average annual salary of $87,183.
Senior scientific associate education levelSenior scientific associate salary
Master's Degree$87,183
Bachelor's Degree$72,336
Doctorate Degree$107,774

Senior scientific associate education FAQs

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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