4 rejections.. chosen a different route.. but is it the right one?

If you are sure you aren't going to reapply for medicine, then Aston is a great choice.

Going for a university just for the name is silly, especially with a vocational course like pharmacy. It's not like UCL even do pharmacy. It's a good stable career option, although as you have noticed you do miss out on some of the clinical stuff.

It's easy to say just have another go, but it can be hard to put your life on hold for x amount of years, and making a decision (whatever that may be) can be a really helpful and positive step.

Good luck whatever you do.

People aren't really listening... are they?

You've said that you've given up on medicine - fair enough. It's not like there's a 'doctor gene' in which not doing medicine would make you unhappy for the rest of your life.

Doing pharmacy in any university is a lot better than biomed in UCL in terms of job prospects. You've got to go into your course with the career in mind, not the degree. Pharmacy's not a walk in the park, you'll have to put in the effort to pass.

As far as I'm aware there are 3 main paths you can take after graduation (and after pre-reg, of course); work full time in a pharmacy, work locum (go to pharmacies as a temp staff for between a day to a few months, pay is better but it's harder to manage and you may be sent to some dodgy areas) or work as a hospital pharmacist (you'll have to deal with hospital ethics, pay is lower initially but I guess it might be more interesting). I think you can also work in research/dev for pharmaceutical companies, but you've already expressed your thoughts on that.

Good advice, thanks very much My friends have been saying 'go for UCL, you could use your degree and go into investment banking and become a high flyer in the city ...' but thats a bit unrealistic i think, with the recession, and purely on the basis i know nothing about anything business related. Tempting though.

Are you doing pharmacy at the moment?
Hope everything is going well for you

Good advice, thanks very much My friends have been saying 'go for UCL, you could use your degree and go into investment banking and become a high flyer in the city ...' but thats a bit unrealistic i think, with the recession, and purely on the basis i know nothing about anything business related. Tempting though.

Are you doing pharmacy at the moment?
Hope everything is going well for you

Bu can't you apply for another course (even pharmacy) at UCL or some other university? I mean, with AAA it just seems a bit... wasteful to go to a course which requires BBB! Why would you need to work so hard at A level then, and waste 1 year of your life doing a GAP year?

Its just my personal opinion, but with AAA you can choose from a much wider variety of universities, why settle for something less? I am not deliberately slating aston, but fact is it is not as good as ucl or imperial and the likes; i dunno... i guess i am just quite frustrated for you because you have AAA and are not fully using it - i feel you are wasting a lot of your hard work that you put in during your A levels

Thanks a lot for the support It is hard putting your life on hold just for something that may never happen, and 18 year olds these days I think need to have a more open mind ... back in sixth form, every 3rd person wanted to go for medicine as thats all they knew and it just frustrated me.

Anyway, I will go for Aston, dreading it now but who knows I might even like it a lot more than I think?

P.S your sig is genius :P

If you're dreading it, then I think you're making a big mistake.

Here's the way I see your situation. You've got the grades, amazing grades too might I add, so you're in a position where you just need to get an interview, nail the interview and obtain satisfactory health checks...etc. I think it shows real dedication to put your life on hold, as such, for something that you really want to do. Don't settle for something less. It's certainly not ideal but I personally think it will reflect well if you can put it across effectively in your personal statement.

I can't recall which medical schools you applied to but I think you chose to apply to King's and Soton? I don't think any reapplicant should consider applying to King's. Should you choose to reapply again, be tactical with your choices.

I really don't think you should give up on this.

Pharmacy from what ive seen, is a profession, is stable and will provide you with an OK income.. I guess thats all you need right?

I know, trust me im frustrated and dissapointed too- i want to study at a university from the likes of UCL or imperial but they dont pharmacy unfortunatley... thats why i created this thread- i just wanted to know peoples opinions of going for Aston and going for pharmacy when I have the grades for other things. Aston is the only place left with spaces for pharmacy. Well Bath has some too, but i didnt like it there very much.

You say apply for some other uni or course but I cant think of anything else asides from pharmacy or optometry that would give me a place (this late!) for THIS year with my PS being geared towards medicine.. Its all very well doing biomchemistry at Imperial, but im just wondering what it would get you afterwards apart from lab work? any ideas anyone?

Thanks for your opinion