Pharmacy

I am in year 12 and thinking about what i would like to do at uni. Pharmacy looks appealing to me therefore I wanted to ask if any of you know if it is really competitive and have any tips on applying when writing personal statements . I would also love to read your experiences if any of you are studying pharmacy. What is it about , how difficult it is, do you enjoy it and etc. I would really appreciate your help! Thank you.

I am a pharmacist, I graduated in 2013 at the age of 21 (am 25 atm) and been a registered pharmacist for 1 and a bit years (had to take a year out after graduating aas I there were tonnes of issues which werent any fault of my own).

pharmacy as a degree isnt that competitive to get a place on as medicine or dentistry but it does require straight As minimum in A levels and the equivalent of Bs or above in GCSE maths, english language and As minimum in science GCSEs.

the job market is stupendously competitive however as for some reason pharmacy graduate numbers aren't capped and you have people with 2:1s and 1sts from russell groups unis unable to get work after completing your pre-reg.

additionally if you want work after pre-reg, the only way to get decent fulltime jobs is if you have connections or move to places which are virtually nowhere as in busy hubs (big cities, big towns) there are too many pharmacists, not enough pharmacies and the pharmacy owners / managers only give work to people they have connections with.

hospital as it stands only wants pharmacists with a minimum of 6-12 months experience working in hospitals (ie pre-reg in hospital) and GP surgeries require pharmacists to have been registered for a minimum of 2-3 years before applying for jobs (I am interested in GP surgery work as you more or less do what GPs do minus diagnosis for conditions outside your area of expertise for NHS patients (private you can do whatever you want) but because I have only been a pharmacist for 15 months, I have to wait :| )

In terms of the degree itself, I found it pretty straightforward (minus final year for reasons I wont go into in public but generally speaking the last year should in theory be the easiest). In pharmacy you mainly cover law and ethics (I find it boring, lectures are definately boring but the MEP book is pretty straightforward and tbh is all you need for law and ethics to get a 1st / 2:1...dale and appelbes is overrated and imo a load of crap); clinical stuff (my personal fav but it does require you to sit down and revise from year 2) and chemistry pharmaceutical stuff (in theory interesting, most lab work but exams were a pain). I posted a video on youtube about pharmacy school revision content in case you want a look.

in terms of applying to uni, Id say just be honest, enthusiastic and make sure you practice mental arrithmatic (med and pharmacy schools expect junior doctors / pre-reg pharmacists to calculate things in wards on the go). also make sure you keep up with latest medical news.

Thank you for taking time to post this. I forgot to ask what about the interview for university place? What questions do they ask? Was it really stressfull? Also yeah sure i will check out your youtube channel, what is its name?

Its not that competitive. If you have good grades and are a nice person they will give you an offer.
Currently in year 13 applied for pharmacy and I am looking forward to it
I heard its a lot of work but it seems very interesting!
Personal statement, you should get work experience because unis like you looking into pharmacy and looking at what you do outside of school.

I suggest getting work experience for a hospital or community pharmacy, cause they ask you in interviews.
Unis start giving interviews out from BBB grades so as long as you're predicted above that, you should be in a good place.

Look at the courses at the unis, theyre all similar yet how they teach it is different.
Ive applied to UCL, Kings, Manchester, Bath and Nottingham and got 5/5 offers so if you need any help with those specific unis ill be happy to help

I am a pharmacist, I graduated in 2013 at the age of 21 (am 25 atm) and been a registered pharmacist for 1 and a bit years (had to take a year out after graduating aas I there were tonnes of issues which werent any fault of my own).

pharmacy as a degree isnt that competitive to get a place on as medicine or dentistry but it does require straight As minimum in A levels and the equivalent of Bs or above in GCSE maths, english language and As minimum in science GCSEs.

the job market is stupendously competitive however as for some reason pharmacy graduate numbers aren't capped and you have people with 2:1s and 1sts from russell groups unis unable to get work after completing your pre-reg.

additionally if you want work after pre-reg, the only way to get decent fulltime jobs is if you have connections or move to places which are virtually nowhere as in busy hubs (big cities, big towns) there are too many pharmacists, not enough pharmacies and the pharmacy owners / managers only give work to people they have connections with.

hospital as it stands only wants pharmacists with a minimum of 6-12 months experience working in hospitals (ie pre-reg in hospital) and GP surgeries require pharmacists to have been registered for a minimum of 2-3 years before applying for jobs (I am interested in GP surgery work as you more or less do what GPs do minus diagnosis for conditions outside your area of expertise for NHS patients (private you can do whatever you want) but because I have only been a pharmacist for 15 months, I have to wait :| )

In terms of the degree itself, I found it pretty straightforward (minus final year for reasons I wont go into in public but generally speaking the last year should in theory be the easiest). In pharmacy you mainly cover law and ethics (I find it boring, lectures are definately boring but the MEP book is pretty straightforward and tbh is all you need for law and ethics to get a 1st / 2:1...dale and appelbes is overrated and imo a load of crap); clinical stuff (my personal fav but it does require you to sit down and revise from year 2) and chemistry pharmaceutical stuff (in theory interesting, most lab work but exams were a pain). I posted a video on youtube about pharmacy school revision content in case you want a look.

in terms of applying to uni, Id say just be honest, enthusiastic and make sure you practice mental arrithmatic (med and pharmacy schools expect junior doctors / pre-reg pharmacists to calculate things in wards on the go). also make sure you keep up with latest medical news.

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Thank you for taking time to write this. I am actually interested in nottingham uni and have went to two masterclassess so far and Im also thinking about doing the nottingham potential summer school for pharmacy. I am not too sure if I can get any work experience around where I live so do you think doing a summer school for pharmacy would be a good alternative? Also what A levels did you do and what are you predicted if you dont mind me asking.

yeahh a summer school should be alright!! If not try to do some volunteering or just go to an elderly home and learn about how to deal with elderly patients and possibly learn about medications they take!

Nottingham's interview was the most intense one I had so maybe going to the summer school would give you an insight about their course!
I do psychology, chemistry and maths and im predicted A*AA

such great advice. this lad deserves a medal!!

pharmacy as a degree isnt that competitive to get a place on as medicine or dentistry but it does require straight As minimum in A levels and the equivalent of Bs or above in GCSE maths, english language and As minimum in science GCSEs.

Straight A's at A Level? I don't know where you're getting your facts from when 99% of Pharmacy schools in the UK ask for anything from AAB-BBB, and these grades are often lowered during the Clearing period.

Multiple people have posted on TSR about getting into Pharmacy with BBC, BCC and so on during Clearing.

Hey I'm an international student from Algeria and I will be applying for an mpharma degree in pourtsmouth , do u think it's a good choice bcs after reading ur comments on how it's hard to get a pre reg here in the UK I'm starting to doubt my choice !

There are much easier ways to earn 30k a year without putting yourself through a pharmacy degree. A pity as it's an interesting degree but there are like 3000 graduates a year chasing probably less than 2000 jobs.

If I had my chance again, i'd do something else tbh.

Hey I'm an international student from Algeria and I will be applying for an mpharma degree in pourtsmouth , do u think it's a good choice bcs after reading ur comments on how it's hard to get a pre reg here in the UK I'm starting to doubt my choice !