Working while studying Pharmacy

Generally, unis advise against working more than 16hrs when you're doing your degree. However, I know numerous people doing pharmacy and only one had a part time job which she quit. It's too much work and I think many people just don't have the time to have a part time job too.

Thanks for the insight there kat2pult.

I guess I should add that one of those bills is a mortgage. If I don't find the time to pay that, I'll have no where to live. Add to the fact I won't have any money means I'm going to need to find time to work.

I know a bunch of students who are currently working while studying pharmacy. I think during the first year, you should have no trouble with studying while working. It might start to get tough in second year though when most of the material will be new to you.

I'd like to ask you 2 questions before I go on any further with my opinion:

1) have you studied at the University level before, and if so, what have you studied (e.g. physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, chemistry, biology, pharmacology, etc.)

2) i don't think studying on a full-time job is a great idea, but it's not impossible if you're willing to put in the hours, plan ahead (or lose some sleep if you don't plan ahead). the main concern here would be, if you can learn fine using just the lecture notes posted online, and maybe some extra hand-written notes that you could get from someone you meet in your classes, chances are in first year and second year, you can pass all the exams with that and not go to any of your classes (except the compulsory ones). I have not done my 3rd year of MPharm yet, so I won't have any information on anything after the first 2 years yet.

Personally I didn't find the first 2 years difficult. First year was dead easy, and the only problem with second year would be the amount of material you are required to memorize.

To also include what New...Romantic commented on, I'm expecting to attend the majority of the classes, rain or shine, sleep or none, compulsory or not.

New...Romantic, student loans I will only use as a last resort. I'm not too keen on increasing the debt I already have if I can help it. Though I'm glad to know and I thank you for the insight in saying that you think it is possible to work and study.

Yes I am wondering this too.

Will I be able to manage studying an Mpharm degree as well as actually having a part-time job and doing extra-curricular activities such as Taekwondo? How much time must we dedicate to studying pharmacy at university?

If you don't mind me asking, what is your job and what hours do you work? Because most full time jobs are 9-5/6, Monday to Friday and those are the same hours you'll be expected to be available for uni.

And it might be possible but I wouldn't want to do it. I'm working full time at the moment and I know I couldn't do this alongside uni.



Of course, uni's not that time-consuming. They recommend you don't work more than 16 hours a week though. I worked Saturdays and it didn't have any effect on uni at all so if you just do weekends it'll be fine. And it's a full time course so ideally it should be 40 hours a week. But I don't know how many people actually spend that much time on it.

Extra-curriculars aren't anywhere near the commitment a full time job is though, you can just wait and see how much time you feel you have for them. They're not essential.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your job and what hours do you work? Because most full time jobs are 9-5/6, Monday to Friday and those are the same hours you'll be expected to be available for uni.

And it might be possible but I wouldn't want to do it. I'm working full time at the moment and I know I couldn't do this alongside uni.

While the structure of the course may vary from university to university, the core content remains the same. Either way, first year seems like it's designed to get everyone to the same level and settled into the way university works (which shouldn't be difficult for you), and then second and third years will give you most of the knowledge you'll need for when you become a pre-reg. 4th year should be project and maybe some special topics in pharmacy.

The pass mark for most (not all) of the modules is around 40%, so you don't need to be especially smart to do well in the course. With some effort, averaging around a 60% is not difficult, and achieving 80% is definitely do-able. Of course this is not taking into account balancing work and school, so you're going to have to make sacrifices in one or the other.

Working through 1st year will probably cost you on grades a bit, but it's doable (personally I didn't, but that's a case of not being employable myself for various reasons). After first year if you've done well enough there are bursaries and other 'prizes' you can attempt to recieve like the Harold and Majorie Trust Fund.

Secondly: Scotland is cheaper if you have to pay your own tuition fees, this status won't last much longer as it's due to be brought up to match England to prevent an obvious rush of English students to Scottish universities.

A 40 hour week is pretty much impossible at my university which requires a minimum attendance of 70% of all modules lectures, courseworks and tutorials to be allowed to sit the exams.

Thanks for the info on the "other prizes". I'll look into those.

Can I ask what's the total time of modules, lectures, coursework and tutorials you had per week for the first and second year?

Three or four of us on my MPharm were mature students who needed to work to finance our studies. I managed 16 hours per week part time through all four years and still got a good 2:1. My friend was a gym instructor and taught regular classes between lessons and got a good 2:1. Another mature had a variety of jobs and got a good degree.

None of us got firsts and none of us worked full time. With the benefit of hindsight I can see that appropriate part time work is possible and may enhance your employment potential as you can demonstrate good time and task management. Full time work would risk leaving you unable to fulfil your potential. As a pharmacy manager I would look upon this favourably when interviewing a vacation student.

The best piece of advice I ever got given was that your degree classification is never questioned once you have your GPhC number - potential bosses look at the employer's references after that. This shouldn't stop you working hard for a good degree but it does mean that you shouldn't kill yourself trying to get a first.

HTH