Is pharmacy a good career?

I've applied for Pharmacy and will be starting in September at University of Manchester, but after reading so many forums saying how the career is dying I'm not so sure anymore. I would love to work in either hospital or industry pharmacy and would never want to work in community. How hard is it to get into hospital/industry pharmacy and what kind of experience would you need tp make yourself stand out from the many other pharmacy graduates? Also, if I decide later that I want to go into research, would I be able to do a PHD in pharmacology at for example Cambridge? At a level I achieved 3 A*s in biology chemistry and business. I understand MPharm trains you to be a pharmacist but can you also get into research with MPharm?

I've applied for Pharmacy and will be starting in September at University of Manchester, but after reading so many forums saying how the career is dying I'm not so sure anymore. I would love to work in either hospital or industry pharmacy and would never want to work in community. How hard is it to get into hospital/industry pharmacy and what kind of experience would you need tp make yourself stand out from the many other pharmacy graduates? Also, if I decide later that I want to go into research, would I be able to do a PHD in pharmacology at for example Cambridge? At a level I achieved 3 A*s in biology chemistry and business. I understand MPharm trains you to be a pharmacist but can you also get into research with MPharm?

To answer your questions in reverse:

Yes you can do research / PhD with an MPharm as its aun undergrad MSc which covers a lot of principles in other biological sciences. Just be warned, you need to have good mathematical skills / fairly algorithmic thought processes for MPharm degree as there are a lot of complex calculations and clinical pathways you need to understand and use to make informed decisions.

Re job situation for hospital, gp and pharma... It is hard to get an interview, let alone a place but make sure your grades are 1st or 2:1 minimum and that you do a lot of extracurricular activities. Pharmaceutics they tend to want experience / internships during summer holidays so keep an eye out but it is insanely competitive for all sectors (hospital and gp practice has a lower chance of interview than someone applying for a public health registrar position in a competitive place. Industry is something insane like 2.6% chance based on anecdotal evidence but industry jobs usually require people to do prereg (preferably in hospital) before working.

I've applied for Pharmacy and will be starting in September at University of Manchester, but after reading so many forums saying how the career is dying I'm not so sure anymore. I would love to work in either hospital or industry pharmacy and would never want to work in community. How hard is it to get into hospital/industry pharmacy and what kind of experience would you need tp make yourself stand out from the many other pharmacy graduates? Also, if I decide later that I want to go into research, would I be able to do a PHD in pharmacology at for example Cambridge? At a level I achieved 3 A*s in biology chemistry and business. I understand MPharm trains you to be a pharmacist but can you also get into research with MPharm?

Would it be a better option for me to do biomedical science and then go on to do a bioinfomatics masters in order to get into research and also have a good salary and job satisfaction? Is a career in bioinfomatics better than a career in pharmacy? I constantly read of how pharmacy is a dying career with little growth. Thank you.

I would never recommend biomed as an undergrad degree. You can do a bioinfomatics msc after you have done pharmacy and pharmacy salaries pay way more than biomed

Also if you live up north, the job market isn't anywhere as bad as down south below the Midlands.

But then if I wanted to do bioinformatics after pharmacy, I would have to pay for an extra year of student finance because MPharm is a 4 year course and also I would have to pay for the masters by myself because student finance won't pay for it as they see MPharm as a masters

You would need to check with university admissions for bioinfomatics (say something like you have done a degree in Pharmacy, want to do msc bioinfomatics but want to confirm if you would be eligible for student finance as it is an undergrad masters)

Found this:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6201630

Looks like I would have to pay for the masters myself if I were to do a MPharm degree which is unfortunate. Bioinfomatics really does interest me and I would love to do it but then again as you said pharmacy is better than a biomed degree. However I feel as though doing biomed and then a bioinformatics masters would be better than me because I would rather work from a laptop at home then possibly having to stand around putting labels on boxes in boots lmao.

For two-thirds of pharmacy grads that is their job.

For two-thirds of pharmacy grads that is their job.

That seems quite underwhelming and boring, to spend 5 years just to put labels on boxes.... Are you sure there is no variety to the job other than labels 😭

Apart from the scripts being sent electronically now, and a few 'add-on' services like flu-jab, or morning after pill supply, or doing BP measurements, then the job hasn't really changed all that much since I started in retail 30 yrs ago!
You put the labels on the boxes and check them off, you supervise counter sales, and you provide OTC advice if asked, and that's basically it. Some areas will commission local services, like I used to do Champix on a PGD to supply to people who wanted to stop smoking. But it's pretty much Ground-hog Day! Back in the day though, the money was pretty good, where as now, wages have stagnated since 2008.

You have done 30 years of this job. Would you recommend me to do this job or would you pick a different degree and career if you had the opportunity to?

Apart from the scripts being sent electronically now, and a few 'add-on' services like flu-jab, or morning after pill supply, or doing BP measurements, then the job hasn't really changed all that much since I started in retail 30 yrs ago!
You put the labels on the boxes and check them off, you supervise counter sales, and you provide OTC advice if asked, and that's basically it. Some areas will commission local services, like I used to do Champix on a PGD to supply to people who wanted to stop smoking. But it's pretty much Ground-hog Day! Back in the day though, the money was pretty good, where as now, wages have stagnated since 2008.

Would you say the pay is good for what you do? And over the 30 years have you progressed much in your career and salary? Would you still consider the money "good" as of right now?

No
No
No

(I'm sorry!)
I haven't had an official payrise since 2008 when my rate just got stuck at £23/hr.
You can get more for short-notice work, and if you will travel to say, rural Wales, East Anglia, or do the 630am starts at Asda, or the Friday late at Tesco til 1030pm.

(back shortly)

My emphasis, NO! There's nothing really wrong with the degree, it's just the job at the end of it!
It depends how ambitious you are. I had a friend who loved working for Boots in her small home town and helping out all her neighbours, but personally I wanted to be a GP. I just wished I had been better at Maths, so I could have done Economics and politics. But I was terrible at maths.
I really liked A level economics.
Have you looked into other areas? Like up and coming industries? The so-called 4th industrial revolution, of blockchain technology; clean energy; battery power; genetics, and pharmaco-genetics; GMO food, like the Beyond burger! ; AI, etc ??