The Student Room Group

Pharmacy applicants 2012

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Reply 100
Original post by J.S
aston preferably :smile: yourself?


either Kings or Cardiff. when are you aiming to get your application in for? I'm hoping by begining of December :smile:
Reply 101
Original post by Inspire12
Does anyone know if a CV is required for work experience/ job at a pharmacy?? I'm not a pharmacy student I'm taking a gap year and need pharmacy related work experience

Any help would be great :smile: Thanks


I want to know this too. I'm not sure if you can work at a pharmacy without some sort of further qualification/ training. I spoke to a lady working at a boots pharmacy and she said that i had 2 options, either to train as a dispensing assistant or an ACT. She also said both could take between 6 months to a year. :s-smilie:
Im not sure how accurate this is because I've read alot of personal statements with people working at pharmacies, i dont think they all trained as one of the above.
An alternative would be to try and get a voluntry placement at a local pharmacy, I'm sure you'd learn just as much :smile:
Reply 102
Original post by Fazzting
does anyone know how to go about being a pharmacy counter assistant? i keep reading these personal statements on tsr wiki, and i swear all of them have done that course! :l


hey, my post above may be able to help you :smile:
Reply 103
To all prospective pharmacists on a gap year-what are you planning to do?

I'm hoping to go abroad to somewhere like South Africa and teach English at one of the schools. Anyone doing something similar?
Can anyone tell me why they want to apply for pharmacy (apart from not good enough for medicine)?
Reply 105
I got ABBD in my AS
Predicted 3 A's for my A2.
Thinking of applying to LSOP, Kings, Medway, Hertfordshire, Manchester.
I have no idea if ill get accepted, hopefully ill get offers form LSOP or Kings. i really really really want to go LSOP :frown:
Reply 106
Original post by marz bar
hey, my post above may be able to help you :smile:


thanks marz bar :smile: il have a fish round i guess. been trying to get some general work exp in a hospital pharmacy, but it seems so complicated to get in, so much admin and apparently they have too many work exp students at the hospital for that year, blah blah . and good luck on your adventures to south africa, sounds like fun! :smile:
Reply 107
Original post by Fazzting
thanks marz bar :smile: il have a fish round i guess. been trying to get some general work exp in a hospital pharmacy, but it seems so complicated to get in, so much admin and apparently they have too many work exp students at the hospital for that year, blah blah . and good luck on your adventures to south africa, sounds like fun! :smile:


yes i've also been trying to get a hospital placement, it's not going well (people can be rather unhelpful) looks like community pharmacy it is then :wink:
thank you :smile: i hope it works out, it's still in the planning stages!
Reply 108
so i have some work experience in a medical practice surgery and in a hospital in minor injuries, i know this isnt directly related to pharmacy but i dont know whether to include this in to my ps.? and where to include it??
Original post by Waking Dream
Have you considered the pharmaceutical sciences course at Kingston?



Yeah I guess that's my only chance and hope of getting anywhere near Pharmacy. Thing is, I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to transfer to another uni for Pharmacy
Reply 110
Hey, sorry to interrupt but I thought your initial answer got answered pretty well. So, I wanted to ask whether I would be acceptable for pharmacy. I've just attained my as levels, I got ABBB. I now study Chemistry, Biology and English. I have no work experience in the field and my GCSE's were mainly B's and C's.

Thanks.
Reply 111
Original post by craig12
Hey, sorry to interrupt but I thought your initial answer got answered pretty well. So, I wanted to ask whether I would be acceptable for pharmacy. I've just attained my as levels, I got ABBB. I now study Chemistry, Biology and English. I have no work experience in the field and my GCSE's were mainly B's and C's.

Thanks.


You stand as good a chance as anyone- your grades are good enough & you've picked appropriate subjects. I have been to 2 open days so far (Bath & Notts) and both have mentioned that although it is nice to see people who have done some work experience, you won't be rejected if you haven't. You'll just need to put across your understanding and commitment to pharmacy as a career in another way!
Original post by charb16
GCSE's
Physics - A
Chem - A
Bio - A
Maths - A*
Geog - A
French - A
Business - A
Statistics - A
Eng Lit - A
Eng Lang - A

GCSE short course
R.S - A
Sport - A


A.S Levels
Biology - B
Maths - B
Chem - C


Do you think i could still apply to pharmacy with these grades? I think my AS levels let me down quite a bit, especially chemisry but i'm looking at re-sitting this in January.


those grades are good!!!!

i got an A for maths, B for chemistry and C for biology. in my biology and chem grades i was like 10 ums off the next grade , i was well gutted but i got retakes too!!!
Reply 113
if you're predicted like ABB would it still be worth applying to places which want AAB if you think you will get it?
Reply 114
Original post by Inspire12
Does anyone know if a CV is required for work experience/ job at a pharmacy?? I'm not a pharmacy student I'm taking a gap year and need pharmacy related work experience

Any help would be great :smile: Thanks


Original post by marz bar
I want to know this too. I'm not sure if you can work at a pharmacy without some sort of further qualification/ training. I spoke to a lady working at a boots pharmacy and she said that i had 2 options, either to train as a dispensing assistant or an ACT. She also said both could take between 6 months to a year. :s-smilie:
Im not sure how accurate this is because I've read alot of personal statements with people working at pharmacies, i dont think they all trained as one of the above.
An alternative would be to try and get a voluntry placement at a local pharmacy, I'm sure you'd learn just as much :smile:


Original post by Fazzting
does anyone know how to go about being a pharmacy counter assistant? i keep reading these personal statements on tsr wiki, and i swear all of them have done that course! :l



I went into my local pharmacy (small independant chain) handed the pharmacist my CV and asked for work experiance. Spent a month shadowing on Friday afternnons then they had a Saturaday job going and the pharmacist hired me.

Just go in, talk to the manager/pharmacist have a CV and say you want to do work experiance. I think it is harder to get work experiance somewhere like boots and it's unlikly you will be able to do as much.:s-smilie:

To be a medicine counter assistant you have to work in a Pharmacy, the course does take 6months to a year. I have to complete an induction before I am allowed on the course (which I already completed but they updated so I have to do it again:mad:).

Hope that helps in some way.:smile:
Reply 115
Original post by AmberCD
I went into my local pharmacy (small independant chain) handed the pharmacist my CV and asked for work experiance. Spent a month shadowing on Friday afternnons then they had a Saturaday job going and the pharmacist hired me.

Just go in, talk to the manager/pharmacist have a CV and say you want to do work experiance. I think it is harder to get work experiance somewhere like boots and it's unlikly you will be able to do as much.:s-smilie:

To be a medicine counter assistant you have to work in a Pharmacy, the course does take 6months to a year. I have to complete an induction before I am allowed on the course (which I already completed but they updated so I have to do it again:mad:).

Hope that helps in some way.:smile:


thanks!! I think i'm just going to do that, its just the easier option! :biggrin:
has anyone completed their a levels but resitting exams as an external student??
If so, on ucas do u put these modules as pending i.e u don't have to put the grade you got in that module you've decided to resit???
also if you're an external student did you apply to ucas via your college or on ur own like an independent student???
Reply 116
Hii I got a three C's in biology, chemistry and maths at A Level. Which ones are worth retaking i.e essential???

I was thinking of pushing my maths up to a B but a B in Chemistry is vital so should I just focus on Chemistry in January?? Help!!!

As I'm resitting these modules do I need to put these modules as pending? If so do i need to put my results of my other modules or can i just put my over all A level result?

Has anyone else signed up to ucas independently without a college? If so how??

Helppppp!!!!!!! :s-smilie: I'm so worried!!!!!
Reply 117
Hey hey hey, I got BBBC in my AS in August, with a C in History and B's in ICT, Chem and biology. I didnt think they were good enough to apply for pharmacy so I've been looking at pharmacology instead.

I was only 4 marks off an A in biol and might resit the History which would give me an ABBB if all goes to plan.

Should I go for pharmacy?? D=
Reply 118
Original post by DrPeanuts
Hey hey hey, I got BBBC in my AS in August, with a C in History and B's in ICT, Chem and biology. I didnt think they were good enough to apply for pharmacy so I've been looking at pharmacology instead.

I was only 4 marks off an A in biol and might resit the History which would give me an ABBB if all goes to plan.

Should I go for pharmacy?? D=


Hiya, I'm in the same boat as you, I got BBB in biology, chemistry and psychology. Chemistry was 3 UMS off an A which was a bit gutting. I believe the grades are good enough, they are a fair few universities that offer BBB and also a fair few that generally accept BBB even if the offer as ABB as the uni isn't of high prestige. This doesn't matter with the course though as you can get it from anywhere and be recognized
All's i would say is make sure you are certain on pharmacy, its hard work, demanding and high content. Do a lot of research and if your sure don't let grades put you off. Oh, and if your sure GET WORK EXPERIENCE! Its a great addition to your PS. Well done on your AS levels, You did brilliant :smile:
Reply 119
Original post by Inspire12
Hii I got a three C's in biology, chemistry and maths at A Level. Which ones are worth retaking i.e essential???

I was thinking of pushing my maths up to a B but a B in Chemistry is vital so should I just focus on Chemistry in January?? Help!!!

As I'm resitting these modules do I need to put these modules as pending? If so do i need to put my results of my other modules or can i just put my over all A level result?

Has anyone else signed up to ucas independently without a college? If so how??

Helppppp!!!!!!! :s-smilie: I'm so worried!!!!!


First of all...breathe!! It looks complicated, especially applying on your own, but it's not as bad as it seems :smile:

You should definitely try to push up your grade to a B in Chemistry as that's pretty vital. Then maybe resit a module on each of the other ones too and maybe push those up to at least B's as well? (alternatively, you could have a look at some pharmacy foundation courses? would be good to have 1 as a back up)

Which unis are you looking at?

You need to declare what you got in this summer's exams- the overall grades. You don't need to include module grades. You then re-enter the qualifications in the subjects you're resitting as "pending" (again, the overall not module grades).

I started signing up independently but my old sixth form made me change it because they want to avoid unis phoning them up to verify my qualifications.. bleugh :grumble: would've rather done it myself as they tend to take their sweet time before they actually submit the app, despite the fact I'm all finished.

Anyway...if you want to apply as an independent candidate, when you register on UCAS, you choose to register as an independent candidate. You enter all details as normal, only difference is, you need to supply the email address of a referee on the form (speak to a former teacher?).

Best of luck with it and feel free to PM me if you wish.
(edited 12 years ago)

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