Pharmacology/Pharmacy

Hiya,
I am new to these forums, so please be gentle. :P

Okay, I have three main questions, I am studying Biology, Chemistry, Economics and Psychology at A-Level.
Pharmacy as a course at university has really appealed to me! So here we go...

1) I have seen Pharmacy and Pharmacology degrees at Universities, is this the same degree? Or are they different? If so, what is the difference between the two.

2) Can anyone recommend what are good Universities to go to that allow you to study for Pharmacy.

3) Finally... what does a Pharmacy degree actually involve? Is it a fun course to study?

Thanks!

Oh right, thanks for your help.

I am hoping to apply for Pharmacy, I just hope I get that B grade i need in AS Chemistry.... but im really worried I havnt got it

If you are a registered Pharmacist, can you still go into industry? Cos I have heard that most money is made in industry eg. factories etc.

I hope i get a B too, theres a strong possibility i could be getting a C, but if i do i'll retake. Good luck with those results
Yep you can go into industry, although there are fewer places so they tend to select the best people, but thats not a problem if you come up top And industrial pharmacists can earn up to and beyond 60k

I am with you on that one. I guess we are in the same boat.... and I am too fearing a grade C, I think I would have got one. There is the possibility of retaking.

However... If I was going to retake, would you recommend me dropping one of my As subjects for A2? Becaue if I dont drop a subject I will be doing 4 A2 levels plus Gen.Studies... what would you recommend? I am very tempted to drop a subject to make the work load a bit lighter next year... however, I dont know whether I would do any extra constructive work in those extra free periods I would be getting....

Well it depends, i'm doing 3 a levels and an AS next year and will probably retake most of my exams. It depends on whether you think you can manage taking ALOT of exams in January. Whats AS subjects are you studying? What would you drop? Its always an advantage to have an extra A level but i won't have one and it doesn't matter that much.

At our school, I think we do our retakes at the end of the year rather than at the beginning.

I am studying; biology, chemistry, economics, psychology.

If I was to drop one, it would be economics, I am slightly losing interest in it :/

It might be worth it if you think your other grades will improve, because you will have less to learn. But if you get good grades on thursday it may be a good idea to keep it

YAY! Another chance for me to talk up my degree

1) Ramaya already much pretty covered this one. Pharmacology is the study of what a drug does to the body and what the body does to the drug. You do pharmacology in a pharmacy degree as well but with lots of other stuff to.

2) CARDIFF! *LoL* okay so I'm a bit biased there but it is an excellent university with an excellent pharmacy dept. Aston, Manchester, Bath and Nottingham are also good but to be honest all the degree schemes have to accredited by the society so they'll all be of good quality.

3) This year I've done ...


All of this gets built on in the following three years and new things get introducted such as drug design and formulation.

It is a lot of hard work and sometimes this year I found myself thinking I wasn't clever enough to be there but it's what I really want to do

YAY! Another chance for me to talk up my degree

1) Ramaya already much pretty covered this one. Pharmacology is the study of what a drug does to the body and what the body does to the drug. You do pharmacology in a pharmacy degree as well but with lots of other stuff to.

2) CARDIFF! *LoL* okay so I'm a bit biased there but it is an excellent university with an excellent pharmacy dept. Aston, Manchester, Bath and Nottingham are also good but to be honest all the degree schemes have to accredited by the society so they'll all be of good quality.

3) This year I've done ...


All of this gets built on in the following three years and new things get introducted such as drug design and formulation.

It is a lot of hard work and sometimes this year I found myself thinking I wasn't clever enough to be there but it's what I really want to do

you make it sound so good, i can't wait to leave school and do it! lol.

So what is actually tough about studying Pharmacy?

Is it just the HUGE amounts of information you have to learn? Or is it something else?

The science gets very complex as the course goes on. I can't speak for other universities but the chemistry I did this year was very challenging and there was also a lot of it. Even the brainy people who didn't bat an eyelid to get an A at A Level came out of the exam saying it was difficult. As long as you're willing to sit down and learn it though you'll be fine. I'm guessing also that once your brain makes the transition to thinking at that level then it'll be easier to cope (okay I am hoping this will be true for my three years left *LoL*)

You've also got to have good communication skills, but you get taught that too

What kind of Chemistry did you find tough? Were there calculations? Or was it just theory?

Mainly the physical as that's the part of chemistry I don't really like. The organic was tough too though. I guess it was mainly to do with how much there was to learn. To be honest I didn't work as hard as I should have this year, I'm gonna get my head down this year cause it counts!

What is physical chemistry when it comes to Pharmacy? the chemical structure of medicines?
What does oragnic involve aswell?