Pharmacy, biochemistry or biomediCal sciences
Hi,
I’m going into year 12 next year taking biology, chemistry and business for a levels. I was having a think of what course I would like to pursue at university as I think that if I have a brief idea on what i do at uni from now this would help me do suitable work experience, courses and volunteering through out year 12.
I’ve been settled in pharmacy for a while but now I’m rethinking itcomparing it with biomedical sciences and biochemistry.
I’ve read a few comments about pharmacy being a bad career as pharmacies are oversaturated, a pharmacy degree doesn’t open up wide career options and low payment. From my research I can see that pharmacy opens up a lot of career options other than working as a pharmacist in a community pharmacy e.g medical sales rep., clinical research associate ..
My questions are:
Does pharmacy open up wide career options or is it restricted to working at a pharmacy?
What sort of work experience do u need for biomedical sciences and biochemistry?
Generally speaking which of the three courses are better career wise and which are more interesting?
I’m going into year 12 next year taking biology, chemistry and business for a levels. I was having a think of what course I would like to pursue at university as I think that if I have a brief idea on what i do at uni from now this would help me do suitable work experience, courses and volunteering through out year 12.
I’ve been settled in pharmacy for a while but now I’m rethinking itcomparing it with biomedical sciences and biochemistry.
I’ve read a few comments about pharmacy being a bad career as pharmacies are oversaturated, a pharmacy degree doesn’t open up wide career options and low payment. From my research I can see that pharmacy opens up a lot of career options other than working as a pharmacist in a community pharmacy e.g medical sales rep., clinical research associate ..
My questions are:
Does pharmacy open up wide career options or is it restricted to working at a pharmacy?
What sort of work experience do u need for biomedical sciences and biochemistry?
Generally speaking which of the three courses are better career wise and which are more interesting?
Original post by M.E.xx
Hi,
I’m going into year 12 next year taking biology, chemistry and business for a levels. I was having a think of what course I would like to pursue at university as I think that if I have a brief idea on what i do at uni from now this would help me do suitable work experience, courses and volunteering through out year 12.
I’ve been settled in pharmacy for a while but now I’m rethinking itcomparing it with biomedical sciences and biochemistry.
I’ve read a few comments about pharmacy being a bad career as pharmacies are oversaturated, a pharmacy degree doesn’t open up wide career options and low payment. From my research I can see that pharmacy opens up a lot of career options other than working as a pharmacist in a community pharmacy e.g medical sales rep., clinical research associate ..
My questions are:
Does pharmacy open up wide career options or is it restricted to working at a pharmacy?
What sort of work experience do u need for biomedical sciences and biochemistry?
Generally speaking which of the three courses are better career wise and which are more interesting?
I’m going into year 12 next year taking biology, chemistry and business for a levels. I was having a think of what course I would like to pursue at university as I think that if I have a brief idea on what i do at uni from now this would help me do suitable work experience, courses and volunteering through out year 12.
I’ve been settled in pharmacy for a while but now I’m rethinking itcomparing it with biomedical sciences and biochemistry.
I’ve read a few comments about pharmacy being a bad career as pharmacies are oversaturated, a pharmacy degree doesn’t open up wide career options and low payment. From my research I can see that pharmacy opens up a lot of career options other than working as a pharmacist in a community pharmacy e.g medical sales rep., clinical research associate ..
My questions are:
Does pharmacy open up wide career options or is it restricted to working at a pharmacy?
What sort of work experience do u need for biomedical sciences and biochemistry?
Generally speaking which of the three courses are better career wise and which are more interesting?
A common misconception is that you have to get a job linked to the name of a degree so yes you can become a pharmacist with a pharmacy degree but there's so many more jobs you can do due to the transferable skills you learn. I considered a pharmacy degree and realised it wasn't for me. If you definitely want to be a pharmacist then defo go for this degree as it's the only way to become one. You could go into becoming a medical science liaison, medical sales rep or a career in industry but that being said you could do that with a biomedical science or biochemistry degree.
As for work experience, if you're referring to work experience to get into uni then for biomed and biochem its not necessary. It's actually quite hard to get it before you start a degree due to the nature of the work. I got offers for biomed without work experience and I know so many others who did too.
I personally would say that you could get similar jobs with all three except pharmacy allows you to become a pharmacist and biochemistry allows you to apply for chemistry related jobs so I can tell you the differences between the courses. I will help you by telling you more about the degrees. Biochemistry focuses on understanding biological systems at a cellular and biochemical level. Without sounding too obvious by the name it's a laboratory based science which brings together biology and chemistry to look at the processes of living organisms. Like the poster above said, it tends to be less clinical. Biochemistry is a great degree to take due to the fact there is actually a demand rn for graduates with chemistry skills according to my chemistry teacher. Biochemistry could end up with you having a career as an analytical chemist, forensic scientist, pharmacologist and a clinical scientist specialising in biochemistry. Biomed uses the applications of biology and applies it to a medical perspective. You'll focus on the human body looking at things such as genetics, metabolism, physiology and anatomy. However, biochemistry will be different and you would study biological things that occur outside the body such as plants and ecology. It honestly just depends on where your interests are. You could get similar jobs with both of them except chemistry jobs where biochemistry is the better option. If you want a degree that offers the best of both worlds maybe look at a degree in biological and medicinal chemistry. This is offered at many respected unis like Nottingham and Exeter. You may also be interested in pharmacology so that's worth looking into although you can't become a pharmacist with it. Pharmacy is clinical compared to the other two and with this it's kind of repetitive in terms of work so it's not a new thing everyday so if that's something that interests you go for it.
However, you haven't even started year 12 yet so you have plenty of time to decide. You might really enjoy chemistry and decide that biochemistry is the best degree for you or you might like learning about anatomy and physiology and think about biomedical science instead. You have great A levels which will keep your options broad. Best of luck
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