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Am I good enough for pharmacy?

Hey, any help from some pharmacists or pharmacy students would be really appreciated.

So I've just finished school and my GCSEs are okay but not as good as I was expecting or hoping for:

Maths: B
Englit: B
Englang:B
Biology: A
Chemistry: A
Physics:A
Electronics: B
German: B
History:A
Computer science: B

I've now been accepted to go to my first choice of college to do biology, chemistry, psychology. I'm expecting to get between ABB at the least and A*AA at the best.

Other things I do/ have done: loads of extra curricular activities such as MMA, rock climbing, and playing guitar; dofe bronze; regular volounteering with the rvs; ncs; chrarity events with st Basil's; and being part of the school rugby team. These a few examples.

Looking at my GCSEs, my expected A levels, and the sort of things that would be in my personal statement. Do you think a pharmacy degree could be a reality for me. I've been looking at places such as kings and ucl. Thanks for any advice
Original post by vachall
Hey, any help from some pharmacists or pharmacy students would be really appreciated.

So I've just finished school and my GCSEs are okay but not as good as I was expecting or hoping for:

Maths: B
Englit: B
Englang:B
Biology: A
Chemistry: A
Physics:A
Electronics: B
German: B
History:A
Computer science: B

I've now been accepted to go to my first choice of college to do biology, chemistry, psychology. I'm expecting to get between ABB at the least and A*AA at the best.

Other things I do/ have done: loads of extra curricular activities such as MMA, rock climbing, and playing guitar; dofe bronze; regular volounteering with the rvs; ncs; chrarity events with st Basil's; and being part of the school rugby team. These a few examples.

Looking at my GCSEs, my expected A levels, and the sort of things that would be in my personal statement. Do you think a pharmacy degree could be a reality for me. I've been looking at places such as kings and ucl. Thanks for any advice


You're fine.
Reply 2
Original post by GradeA*UnderA
You're fine.

you reckon bro?
Reply 3
Original post by vachall
you reckon bro?


Naw he's just saying it for the good of his health mate


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Reply 4
Original post by BadboiQ
Naw he's just saying it for the good of his health mate


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<3
Original post by vachall
Hey, any help from some pharmacists or pharmacy students would be really appreciated.

So I've just finished school and my GCSEs are okay but not as good as I was expecting or hoping for:

Maths: B
Englit: B
Englang:B
Biology: A
Chemistry: A
Physics:A
Electronics: B
German: B
History:A
Computer science: B

I've now been accepted to go to my first choice of college to do biology, chemistry, psychology. I'm expecting to get between ABB at the least and A*AA at the best.

Other things I do/ have done: loads of extra curricular activities such as MMA, rock climbing, and playing guitar; dofe bronze; regular volounteering with the rvs; ncs; chrarity events with st Basil's; and being part of the school rugby team. These a few examples.

Looking at my GCSEs, my expected A levels, and the sort of things that would be in my personal statement. Do you think a pharmacy degree could be a reality for me. I've been looking at places such as kings and ucl. Thanks for any advice


Good set of grades so you should be ok. Just work hard on your Alevels :smile:


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Reply 6
Original post by velvetsky
Good set of grades so you should be ok. Just work hard on your Alevels :smile:


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Do you know if its worth bothering to get some pharmacy work experience? so far I've got one week of work experience in a hospital but I don't really think that its useful for pharmacy.
Original post by vachall
Do you know if its worth bothering to get some pharmacy work experience? so far I've got one week of work experience in a hospital but I don't really think that its useful for pharmacy.


Any type of health related work experience is completely relevant to Pharmacy. I know the NHS do a work placement for 6 months at the hospital which is actually really useful, because it shows your dedicated and determined. Also, while you're doing that work placement in the hospital, you can ask to see if you could shadow a Pharmacist in the hospital pharmacy. I recommend working in care homes as well, and doing anything during school for example befriending, giving health related presentations in assemblies (I had to do one on Mental Health), mentoring lower level classes for example a junior Biology class etc. It's also worth taking a part time job in retail as that also significantly improves your application. Your work experience doesn't need to be directly related to Pharmacy at all, but it's definitely worth asking around retail pharmacies for work experience. Sometimes they might not allow it due to confidentiality issues etc so you could try more independant, small pharmacies as well. But get as much work experience as you can, even if it's not directly relevant.

I am applying to Radiography this year and my work experience has been in a pharmacy, at the hospital for 6 months: cancer wards, x rays departments etc, and a carehome. Along with that i've done befriending at school and various other bits and bobs in and out of school. It all does count. Good luck!
Reply 8
Don't do pharmacy, it's a bad career. It's like working in a factory, dispensing prescriptions like a machine.
Reply 9
Original post by sameehaiqbal
Any type of health related work experience is completely relevant to Pharmacy. I know the NHS do a work placement for 6 months at the hospital which is actually really useful, because it shows your dedicated and determined. Also, while you're doing that work placement in the hospital, you can ask to see if you could shadow a Pharmacist in the hospital pharmacy. I recommend working in care homes as well, and doing anything during school for example befriending, giving health related presentations in assemblies (I had to do one on Mental Health), mentoring lower level classes for example a junior Biology class etc. It's also worth taking a part time job in retail as that also significantly improves your application. Your work experience doesn't need to be directly related to Pharmacy at all, but it's definitely worth asking around retail pharmacies for work experience. Sometimes they might not allow it due to confidentiality issues etc so you could try more independant, small pharmacies as well. But get as much work experience as you can, even if it's not directly relevant.

I am applying to Radiography this year and my work experience has been in a pharmacy, at the hospital for 6 months: cancer wards, x rays departments etc, and a carehome. Along with that i've done befriending at school and various other bits and bobs in and out of school. It all does count. Good luck!


Really appreciated, thanks. I currently do regular volunteering with the RVS doing coffee mornings and get together's for service users in a care home. Would this be useful even though it's not a clinical setting?
Reply 10
Original post by Gadero
Don't do pharmacy, it's a bad career. It's like working in a factory, dispensing prescriptions like a machine.


I'm more interested in research and global health, so really I'm aiming to go to a top uni so I could maybe do a graduate scheme with GSK or something similar. Retail pharmacy is more something to fall back on, that I don't really mind the idea of.

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