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Pharmacy university courses - applicant discussion 2018

Hi guys, I just thought that it would be nice to start a thread for pharmacy applicants 2018. I am applying for pharmacy in September and I am hoping to apply for: Kings, Bath,Nottingham,Manchester and Reading
(edited 6 years ago)

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Original post by Aisha.A.A
Hi guys, I just thought that it would be nice to start a thread for pharmacy applicants 2018. I am applying for pharmacy in September and I am hoping to apply for: UCL, Bath,Birmingham,Manchester and UEA.


Hey, I want to apply for Pharmacy too at Nottingham, Birmingham, Aston, Lincoln and DMU
Read all of this!

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3930485

then apply for something else, like Medicine. Or I guarantee you will be back here in 6 to 7 years' time weeping and wailing if you do pharmacy.
When top Unis like Nottingham are in Clearing for Pharmacy, that should tell you something is very wrong with this degree course!!!

AND to some kids, (and you know who you are!!!) DON'T LET YOUR PARENTS PUSH YOU INTO PHARMACY.
Make them read the thread I have linked. This guy knows what he is on about, and explains it so much better than I or most could.


But DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH! PLEASE!!!!!! (or face a possible work-life of misery !)
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 3
I'm a Nottingham MPharm graduate, so feel free to ask me anything about the course and I'll try my best to get back to you as soon as I can :biggrin:
Original post by Jin3011
I'm a Nottingham MPharm graduate, so feel free to ask me anything about the course and I'll try my best to get back to you as soon as I can :biggrin:


Hi would you say that there is a lot of practical work on your course and how supportive are the lecturers?
Now going into second year @Reading so im also free to answer any questions you guys might have :smile:
Reply 6
Original post by chinadollfalls
Now going into second year @Reading so im also free to answer any questions you guys might have :smile:


Can I ask what your timetable for first year was like? How many lectures/seminars and workshops were there in a week/month? thank you!
Hi! I'm also thinking of applying for Pharmacy for Birmingham, Nottingham, Aston, Bath and Reading :smile:
Thinking of applying to Birmingham, Keele, Brighton, Manchester and Bradford
Original post by Jin3011
I'm a Nottingham MPharm graduate, so feel free to ask me anything about the course and I'll try my best to get back to you as soon as I can :biggrin:


Hey, how is the course like? A lot of people say that the jobs are so saturated and you won't be able to find one, do you agree with that? Also how is Nottingham student life like? I'm planning to commute for one year to test it out and then live in accomadation do you think thats a bad idea?
Hi I am hoping to apply to huddersfield, bradford, nottingham, manchester and wolverhampton.
Original post by Mehurnisa94
Hi I am hoping to apply to huddersfield, bradford, nottingham, manchester and wolverhampton.


Hi @Mehurnisa94,

You might be interested to watch our film about studying Pharmacy at the University of Huddersfield! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCFwDguboGw&t=2s

Do let us know if you have any questions about the course or about Huddersfield itself.

Good luck!
Claire - UoH
Original post by Jin3011
I'm a Nottingham MPharm graduate, so feel free to ask me anything about the course and I'll try my best to get back to you as soon as I can :biggrin:


Hi,

What are the job prospects for pharmacy graduates?

Thank you
STOP ITS A TRAP!!!!!!!!!!!! :angry:

Seriously guys don't do pharmacy, its a complete waste. Life as a pharmacist gets worse every year. They are getting paid less and less and having to work longer hours. Every year there are roughly 3000 new pharmacists, there isn't enough jobs for this kind of growth, unless they settle for lower pay at longer hours, which is what is currently happening in community and hospital pharmacies. The average salary during a pharmacists career is £35K for 6 days a week of work from 8:30am to 6pm, 10 years ago it was easily over £45K a year for regular 9-5 five days a week. Now im not saying £35K is a bad salary, but its nowhere near what pharmacists deserve for all the time and effort they have to put in and all **** they will deal with on a dialy basis. Not to mention all the responsability and liability, if you make an error it can be considered a criminal offence - you could have a criminal record, just for making a simple error during dispensing, which is ridiculous pressure for £35K.

IGNORE what the univeristy's tell you, all they want is your money, they wont tell you the real job climate: the community and hospital job market for pharmacists is oversaturated and getting worse every year, in 5 years time when you guys qualify it will be ridiculously hard to land a decent job. When they say you can go into industry or own your own pharmacy, this is practically a lie:

Industry is extremely difficult to get into in this country with MPharm. They wont even consider you, unless you have previous experience. But to get experience itself is very very hard. Theres less than 20 places in the UK that offer placements, these placements are unpaid for several weeks (12ish if i remeber correctly). So unless you live close to a placement and/or have wealthy parents who will fund everything for you to live out for 12 weeks, its virtually impossible for most people. Then theres the fact that they only take the top students because its so competetive, if you don't have a first class degree, they wont even look at your application. If you want to go industry, PhD in Pharmacology is the way to go, not MPharm these days.

You actually can't open your own pharmacy now unless you have a few million in the bank, its extremely expensive. Not to mention very unlikely, there are too many pharmacies in most areas as it is, you have to pass the pharmacy needs assessment and get permission, which wont happen in todays oversaturated climate.

For your own sakes, avoid pharmacy!!!!
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Pav94an
STOP ITS A TRAP!!!!!!!!!!!! :angry:

Seriously guys don't do pharmacy, its a complete waste. Life as a pharmacist gets worse every year. They are getting paid less and less and having to work longer hours. Every year there are roughly 3000 new pharmacists, there isn't enough jobs for this kind of growth, unless they settle for lower pay at longer hours, which is what is currently happening in community and hospital pharmacies. The average salary during a pharmacists career is £35K for 6 days a week of work from 8:30am to 6pm, 10 years ago it was easily over £45K a year for regular 9-5 five days a week. Now im not saying £35K is a bad salary, but its nowhere near what pharmacists deserve for all the time and effort they have to put in and all **** they will deal with on a dialy basis. Not to mention all the responsability and liability, if you make an error it can be considered a criminal offence - you could have a criminal record, just for making a simple error during dispensing, which is ridiculous pressure for £35K.

IGNORE what the univeristy's tell you, all they want is your money, they wont tell you the real job climate: the community and hospital job market for pharmacists is oversaturated and getting worse every year, in 5 years time when you guys qualify it will be ridiculously hard to land a decent job. When they say you can go into industry or own your own pharmacy, this is practically a lie:

Industry is extremely difficult to get into in this country with MPharm. They wont even consider you, unless you have previous experience. But to get experience itself is very very hard. Theres less than 20 places in the UK that offer placements, these placements are unpaid for several weeks (12ish if i remeber correctly). So unless you live close to a placement and/or have wealthy parents who will fund everything for you to live out for 12 weeks, its virtually impossible for most people. Then theres the fact that they only take the top students because its so competetive, if you don't have a first class degree, they wont even look at your application. If you want to go industry, PhD in Pharmacology is the way to go, not MPharm these days.

You actually can't open your own pharmacy now unless you have a few million in the bank, its extremely expensive. Not to mention very unlikely, there are too many pharmacies in most areas as it is, you have to pass the pharmacy needs assessment and get permission, which wont happen in todays oversaturated climate.

For your own sakes, avoid pharmacy!!!!


Ffs reading this jus makes me feel im fkin up my life doing pharmacy this year...


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Original post by Sexybadman
Ffs reading this jus makes me feel im fkin up my life doing pharmacy this year...


Posted from TSR Mobile


Its not too late for you, if don't like it you can transfer to something else during your first 2 years and it wont matter much.
I just did my final year (found I failed my final exam, a pointless exam, worth no credits and doesn't affect our grade, but we have to pass it. And we have to get a first in to pass it! an exam that no other uni has to do except mine ((Medway :angry:)) I realised during my 3rd year that I had made a mistake picking pharmacy, but i felt like t was too late for me to change. Well now that I have failed I have a choice, redo the year or take the exit degree (BSC Hons Pharmaceutical Studies) and move on to something else.
This seems like a silver lining to me, now that I know how bad the current pharmacy situation is. I could be dodging a bullet here.

What I would say to you, is do your own research, look on the pharmacy forums here, there are LOOOOADS of threads from people detailing how bad pharmacy is atm, and how its likely to get worse. Then speak to any pharmacists you know and see if they agree with what myself and the other complainers are saying. (noone in your uni i.e lectuers, they will just feed you the typical uni lies, to get your money every year)
If they agree with our assessment of the situation then you should probably take it as a sign to transfer to something else as soon as you can.
I wish i transferred to pharmacology or bioscience when i had the chance, much better job prospects in industry and opens more doors job wise.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Pav94an
Its not too late for you, if don't like it you can transfer to something else during your first 2 years and it wont matter much.
I just did my final year (found I failed my final exam, a pointless exam, worth no credits and doesn't affect our grade, but we have to pass it. And we have to get a first in to pass it! an exam that no other uni has to do except mine ((Medway :angry:)) I realised during my 3rd year that I had made a mistake picking pharmacy, but i felt like t was too late for me to change. Well now that I have failed I have a choice, redo the year or take the exit degree (BSC Hons Pharmaceutical Studies) and move on to something else.
This seems like a silver lining to me, now that I know how bad the current pharmacy situation is. I could be dodging a bullet here.

What I would say to you, is do your own research, look on the pharmacy forums here, there are LOOOOADS of threads from people detailing how bad pharmacy is atm, and how its likely to get worse. Then speak to any pharmacists you know and see if they agree with what myself and the other complainers are saying. (noone in your uni i.e lectuers, they will just feed you the typical uni lies, to get your money every year)
If they agree with our assessment of the situation then you should probably take it as a sign to transfer to something else as soon as you can.
I wish i transferred to pharmacology or bioscience when i had the chance, much better job prospects in industry and opens more doors job wise.


Hey :smile: so i'll be starting my first year in September...when you say transfer in the first 2 years, is that like jumping onto a different course?

Also which courses would you then recommend that similar subject wise but career wise better?

Im confused now i should of looked more into pharmacy before firming it. I just went off on what my parents said smh.


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Deleted
(edited 6 years ago)
I wouldn't worry too much about missing out on Medicine, from what i hear, their situation isn't looking good either. Imo you should be looking at pharmacology, bioscience, chemical engineering etc Things like that. These aren't vocational courses - they aren't geared to get you into a specific profession like medicine and pharmacy are. This isn't a bad thing, because it opens up a lot of career options later on.
Or if you want something vocational, check out Optometry. From what I gather their situation is a lot better than pharmacy. Similar pay but far less stress and a shorter course. But you will have to double check that im only 70% sure.

Ultimately its all up to you, do some more research, theres loads I haven't even mentioned or thought of.
Things like toxicology etc.
Check out the prospectus website, they give ideas.
Original post by Sexybadman
Hey :smile: so i'll be starting my first year in September...when you say transfer in the first 2 years, is that like jumping onto a different course?

Also which courses would you then recommend that similar subject wise but career wise better?

Im confused now i should of looked more into pharmacy before firming it. I just went off on what my parents said smh.


Posted from TSR Mobile


I made a similar mistake, I wanted to do Optom, I didn't get the grades and my parents were having a go at me constantly for not.knowing exactly what I wanted to be at the age of 17 - typical brown parents :frown:
So I made a snap decision and went with pharmacy, which I now regret.

Look at my previous posts, I gave some ideas there.

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