For something so critical to life, surprisingly little is known about DNA and DNA testing. After it was discovered in the 1860s, the scientific community struggled to accept that the key to life was stored in a molecule so small. It was more than a century later before DNA testing was developed and used to solve a crime. In our present day, almost everyone has accepted the science, but logically, we struggle to grasp how a combination of nucleotide bases can create the identities of the people we love. One of the worst things we can experience is not knowing if the people we love are alive. Typical DNA testing can take anywhere from two days to several months leaving countless questions unanswered. In that time the families of victims of incidents of mass fatality are left with false hope, making the reality so much more devastating. In that time a suspected felon could be released from police custody and commit more crimes. In that time a convicted criminal can spend the precious moments of their life behind bars while waiting for the DNA test to exonerate them. Constantly developing rapid DNA technology offers a potential solution. I was placed in middle school forensic science class by mistake. It ended up being one of the best experiences. Within the first week, I knew that I had found my perfect career. After taking high school and college level classes, I have realized I also want biology and chemistry to be heavily involved in my future. I have determined studying biochemistry and political science, rather than majoring in forensic science is the ideal path to reach my dream job. Although it’s ambitious, I would love to work with a federal agency like the FBI to develop and research DNA technology like Rapid DNA testing to help the people impacted by the imperfections of current DNA technology. The amount of progress made in the genetics field in the past ten years is astounding, but there are still improvements that can be made to Rapid DNA testing. Relatively large amounts of pristine, uncontaminated DNA are needed to run an accurate test. Furthermore, there are no national standards and regulations for Rapid DNA so it is not able to be used in many states. I would like to help better that technology in my future career to providing some peace for people modern DNA testing fails.