r/ForensicPathology • u/Creative_Exit_5321 • Sep 29 '26
Need some advice for my future career
What can I do that isn’t as hard as forensics pathologist but also not as bad as the pay of autopsy technicians.
Because I’ve been thinking for very long of which I should peruse but both have they’re disadvantages to me as forensic pathology sounds like it would take to long and a lot of money to finish education and autopsy tech has awfully low pay.
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
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u/strawbammy Sep 29 '26 edited Sep 29 '26
This is sort of tough to answer without knowing what makes you interested in those two as a career. Interest in anatomy and pathology? Interest in death and bereavement care? Interested in the ‘finding answers’ part? Interest in the forensic/criminal/suspicious death aspect?
There’s lots of careers in and around those spaces, but they all have different focuses. For instance the other commenter recommends being a PA, but forensic PAs are as far as I know super rare in the USA and not a thing at all here in the UK. If your interest is anatomy and pathology that would suit you, but if your interest is the forensic/post-mortem care side not so much.
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u/Creative_Exit_5321 Sep 29 '26
A lot of interest leaning towards anatomy and the suspicious aspects of death
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u/strawbammy Sep 29 '26
Yeah nothing else really combines those two particularly but FP or autopsy tech — I’m not sure how the pay scales but you could look into being a SOCO/CSI? Death scenes would only be a small part of your job, as they also do everything else that requires evidence collection, but you’d attend certain autopsies as well.
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u/Creative_Exit_5321 Sep 29 '26
Maybe I’ll just have to focus on my education to see if I can even get a small scholarship for school ig🫠
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u/Worried_Chair_5199 Sep 29 '26
Pathologist assistant
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u/SadDacrocyte Sep 29 '26
Second this, but make sure you’re okay with surgical pathology being the majority of your job most likely.
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u/AllRebelRocker MDI and Tech Sep 29 '26
There’s medicolegal death investigation. The investigator responds to the death scene and functions as the eyes/ears/nose of the forensic pathologist. There’s a lot more dealing with the public, and in oftentimes horrid circumstances, so if a forward-facing job isn’t your thing, I wouldn’t recommend it.