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Course indecisiveness

So I have an Offer to study Medical sciences at UCL and have insured Pharmacy at Medway. My medical science degree does not lead to a guaranteed job and finding a job is not really that easy, the only good thing this dehree will lead to would be something like graduate/undergraduate medicine.

On the other hand with pharmacy it’s a year extra but you have a job and you can just spam Locum and make tons of money and then do another degree if you please etc. the thing is my pharmacy course is still in clearing so I’m wondering if it’s worth it to release myself from my firm on results day and just go to clearing for the pharmacy.

I do a Btec btw with grades predicted D* D* D* so by using grade. Calculator I’m gonna meet my ucl offer
I think the employment situation for pharmacy isn't quite as rosy as you think it is. I gather firstly you're almost inevitably going to end up in retail pharmacy. In that area from what I understand it's actually often quite hard to get a full time equivalent role as a lot of the major high street pharmacy chains just hire part-time staff and fill the rest with locums, which aren't as lucrative as I think you are unless you are in an area where there is very high demand, low supply, and you are very flexible with hours and able to travel between different locations.

Note that neither a degree in medical sciences nor a degree in pharmacy are better or worse for pursuing graduate entry medicine. They're both equally fine for that purpose.
Reply 2
Original post by artful_lounger
I think the employment situation for pharmacy isn't quite as rosy as you think it is. I gather firstly you're almost inevitably going to end up in retail pharmacy. In that area from what I understand it's actually often quite hard to get a full time equivalent role as a lot of the major high street pharmacy chains just hire part-time staff and fill the rest with locums, which aren't as lucrative as I think you are unless you are in an area where there is very high demand, low supply, and you are very flexible with hours and able to travel between different locations.

Note that neither a degree in medical sciences nor a degree in pharmacy are better or worse for pursuing graduate entry medicine. They're both equally fine for that purpose.


I understand your points but locuming is still a huge thing and with pharmacists being able to prescribe now it’s only gonna get better. The thing is I have no clue what I wanna do with my life and medical science doesn’t help since it doesn’t lead to employment but at the same time ucl is a really good uni so I’m just lost
Original post by YuccefTheKurd
I understand your points but locuming is still a huge thing and with pharmacists being able to prescribe now it’s only gonna get better. The thing is I have no clue what I wanna do with my life and medical science doesn’t help since it doesn’t lead to employment but at the same time ucl is a really good uni so I’m just lost

Any degree leads to employment if you aren't a lemon. If you have the mindset of "I'm going to go to lectures for three years and expect someone to give me a job at the end with no effort on my part" then you aren't going to get a job out of any degree, including pharmacy. Just because pharmacy has a profession associated with it doesn't mean you're guaranteed (much less entitled to) a job. The only degree which guarantees (at present) a job on graduation is medicine, due to how (up until recently) medical school intake has been pegged to the number of foundation posts due to be available at the end of that degree cycle.

If you want to get a job as a graduate you are going to need to make yourself employable by aggresively pursuing work experience opportunities, internships, placements, etc. If you do that then a degree in medical sciences from UCL will set you up as well as a degree in any other subject from any other uni more or less. If you don't do that then you're not getting a graduate job, full stop.

You need to manage your expectations and completely change your perspective on how employment for graduates works.
Reply 4
Original post by artful_lounger
Any degree leads to employment if you aren't a lemon. If you have the mindset of "I'm going to go to lectures for three years and expect someone to give me a job at the end with no effort on my part" then you aren't going to get a job out of any degree, including pharmacy. Just because pharmacy has a profession associated with it doesn't mean you're guaranteed (much less entitled to) a job. The only degree which guarantees (at present) a job on graduation is medicine, due to how (up until recently) medical school intake has been pegged to the number of foundation posts due to be available at the end of that degree cycle.

If you want to get a job as a graduate you are going to need to make yourself employable by aggresively pursuing work experience opportunities, internships, placements, etc. If you do that then a degree in medical sciences from UCL will set you up as well as a degree in any other subject from any other uni more or less. If you don't do that then you're not getting a graduate job, full stop.

You need to manage your expectations and completely change your perspective on how employment for graduates works.


Your points are valid but I forgot to mention that I want a job in healthcare. Also I want to pursue medicine at undergraduate level after my first degree and I understand this is very expensive since you need to self fund. So I was thinking graduate jobs tend to be rlly low paid and I don’t just want any old job I want a healthcare job. I know it sounds like I want to do pharmacy but the thing is I somehow need a way to fund a medical school dwhree and the uncertainty of a medical science degree leading to a decent job afterwards is unclear. As with pharmacy you’re way more likely to get a job and jobs are readily available as per my research especially in my area.
part of me wants to do pharmacy for my own future carwer since I’m not interested in finance or tech or research bjt another part of me thinks rejecting ucl is a bad idea.

for reference I know someone is going to say don’t do a degree for sole purpose of medicine, I understand this but my educational circumstances did not allow me to pursue A levels so I had to do an alternative qualification
Original post by YuccefTheKurd
Your points are valid but I forgot to mention that I want a job in healthcare. Also I want to pursue medicine at undergraduate level after my first degree and I understand this is very expensive since you need to self fund. So I was thinking graduate jobs tend to be rlly low paid and I don’t just want any old job I want a healthcare job. I know it sounds like I want to do pharmacy but the thing is I somehow need a way to fund a medical school dwhree and the uncertainty of a medical science degree leading to a decent job afterwards is unclear. As with pharmacy you’re way more likely to get a job and jobs are readily available as per my research especially in my area.
part of me wants to do pharmacy for my own future carwer since I’m not interested in finance or tech or research bjt another part of me thinks rejecting ucl is a bad idea.

for reference I know someone is going to say don’t do a degree for sole purpose of medicine, I understand this but my educational circumstances did not allow me to pursue A levels so I had to do an alternative qualification

I really think you are vastly overestimating how well pharmacy pays relative to a grad scheme role. @quasa might be able to provide some more insight into this but my impression is it's not nearly as lucrative as you seem to think (and hasn't been for quite a long time - I also very much doubt prescribing is going to affect that, and my understanding was that doesn't come until at least a few years after qualifying?).
Reply 6
Original post by artful_lounger
I really think you are vastly overestimating how well pharmacy pays relative to a grad scheme role. @quasa might be able to provide some more insight into this but my impression is it's not nearly as lucrative as you seem to think (and hasn't been for quite a long time - I also very much doubt prescribing is going to affect that, and my understanding was that doesn't come until at least a few years after qualifying?).

Based on my research in my area Locum pharmacist roles go for £250-300 a day. Also all students starting mpharm now come out as independent prescribers. Also I’ve checked some jobs and they tend to be £45-55k which I think pays better than a grad scheme

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