Antoine de Lavoisier began studying at the Collège Mazarin in Paris in 1754, when he was 11 years old. Collège Mazarin was one of the best secondary schools in France then. He studied to be a lawyer like his father and his grandfather. He got his degree in 1763 and practised law at the parliament; however, he really preferred scientific research to law, so he also studied chemistry, botany, astronomy, and mathematics. He got his law degree in 1763, but never practised as a lawyer. He started a career as a scientist instead.