Hello, 

• Take the necessary preparatory classes in high school. 
• Starting in high school, and continuing into your undergraduate years in college, you should take classes that teach you the analytical and critical thinking skills you will need to be a scientist. This is a must to get a leg up later in life.
• Start out with the basics in college. While you will specialize in a particular discipline later, you'll need to take basic courses in biology, chemistry and physics to ground you in the basics of each science, as well as the scientific method of observing, making hypotheses and experimenting. You can also select elective courses based on areas of interest or to discover new areas of interest to help you define your specialty. In a year or two, you can commit to a more specific branch of science.
• Declare a major in a field that intrigues you. After you’ve gotten your feet wet and you’re familiar with the directions this career could take you, declare a major in a more specific branch of science. 
• Go to graduate school. While some commercial and industrial positions are available to college graduates with a bachelor's degree, most scientists have at least a master's and more likely a doctorate. Graduate programs are geared more toward original research and development of new theories, working with a professor or other scientists, and possibly using cutting-edge technology. Most graduate programs take at least 4 years, and possibly longer, depending on the nature of the research.
• Land a research internship just about anywhere. In grad school, you'll need to look for a research internship for your specific area of interest. The amount of professors that are working on something that speaks to you is going to be quite small – which means you'll likely have to go elsewhere to find it.
• Participate in a post-doctoral program. Post-doctoral programs provide additional training in whatever specialty you've chosen as a scientist. Originally lasting 2 years, these programs now usually last at least 4 years and possibly longer, depending on the field of study and other factors.
• Keep your knowledge up-to-date. During your decade and more of education (and your career), it's wise to keep up-to-date in your field and related others by attending conferences and reading peer-reviewed journals. Science is constantly changing – in the blink of an eye you could be left behind.
• Continue researching and seek out full-time employment. Scientists are always working on some project or idea. Regardless of how far up the career ladder you are, this is a given. But after your post-doctoral research, you'll likely need a job. 

Hope this helps..... 

Hi!!!!

You can be a scientist after only four years of college.For that matter, you can be a scientist now. A scientist is just someone who asks a lot of questions about how things work and tries to find answers by doing experiments or observing nature. But, if you want to be paid to be a scientist, you should have at least four years of college. It would be better to get a Masters degree, which takes 2-3 more years of school after college. If you want to do the kind of research that gets published in well-read magazines then you should probably have a PhD. That takes an additional 4-6 years after you get your Masters degree. Or, sometimes you can get a PhD with only 5-6 more years after college. It takes a lot of work, but if you like to do it you can!

Hope this helps....Thank u