is pharmacy actually worth it?
hi guys i'm completely stuck can any current pharmacy students and graduates please give advice. I am in yr13 and have been thinking of applying to pharmacy, but everytime i do research on pharmacy, especially on this platform all i see is negativity about being stuck in community for the rest of my life (something i do not think i will enjoy, but not sure as I haven't done community work experience). I ideally want to end up as a hospital pharmacist or in industry, but seeing all these comments is really making me think i will waste 4 yrs and end up just stacking medicines. so can current students and recent graduates give honest insight about the career possibilities of doing an MPharm, how many hospital placements do you guys really get and is getting into hospital / industiral pharmacy really as hard and competitive as everyone makes it out to be? should i honestly just apply for biomed because seeing all this just stresses me out as I am not extremely fond of the degree myself, just picked it as it has a good merge of science and healthcare. thank you in advance 
Hospital Pharmacist - https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/hospital-pharmacist
Careers with a Pharmacy degree - https://www.bath.ac.uk/campaigns/discover-a-career-in-pharmacy-at-bath/
Careers with a Pharmacy degree - https://www.bath.ac.uk/campaigns/discover-a-career-in-pharmacy-at-bath/
Original post by seniest29
hi guys i'm completely stuck can any current pharmacy students and graduates please give advice. I am in yr13 and have been thinking of applying to pharmacy, but everytime i do research on pharmacy, especially on this platform all i see is negativity about being stuck in community for the rest of my life (something i do not think i will enjoy, but not sure as I haven't done community work experience). I ideally want to end up as a hospital pharmacist or in industry, but seeing all these comments is really making me think i will waste 4 yrs and end up just stacking medicines. so can current students and recent graduates give honest insight about the career possibilities of doing an MPharm, how many hospital placements do you guys really get and is getting into hospital / industiral pharmacy really as hard and competitive as everyone makes it out to be? should i honestly just apply for biomed because seeing all this just stresses me out as I am not extremely fond of the degree myself, just picked it as it has a good merge of science and healthcare. thank you in advance
My emphasis in bold, you are going to be studying this full-time for 4 yrs, and paying £37k for the pleasure!
I would do a lot of research before you commit.
Also around 65% of pharmacy grads end up in community/retail pharmacy. It is possible to get into industry but it isn't easy. Perhaps look at some pharmaceutical company websites and see what graduate subjects they mention to see if any of those hold more interest for you.
Original post by seniest29
hi guys i'm completely stuck can any current pharmacy students and graduates please give advice. I am in yr13 and have been thinking of applying to pharmacy, but everytime i do research on pharmacy, especially on this platform all i see is negativity about being stuck in community for the rest of my life (something i do not think i will enjoy, but not sure as I haven't done community work experience). I ideally want to end up as a hospital pharmacist or in industry, but seeing all these comments is really making me think i will waste 4 yrs and end up just stacking medicines. so can current students and recent graduates give honest insight about the career possibilities of doing an MPharm, how many hospital placements do you guys really get and is getting into hospital / industiral pharmacy really as hard and competitive as everyone makes it out to be? should i honestly just apply for biomed because seeing all this just stresses me out as I am not extremely fond of the degree myself, just picked it as it has a good merge of science and healthcare. thank you in advance
Imo in 5 years pharmacists will be far from just dispensing medicines in a community, all that stuff is super easy to be automated, it already is being automated so in 5yrs it’s reasonable to think it will all be automated. Pharmacists are more moving towards GP roles, with independent prescribing and vaccines etc, however, i think in a hospital setting it’ll be interesting to see how the role develops, no one knows for sure. I’ve applied for mpharm 2024 entry (transferring from yr2 BioChem) and am more so worried what kind of job will be around in 5 yrs after graduation because I would bet a kidney that there won’t be much demand for community pharmacists.
You should 100% speak to actual working pharmacists (multiple) on weekends/weekdays when you are free, you could just email them and ask if you can come in and ask a few questions, they’d all be more than happy to help and they’ll be able to give direct answers to anything you want to know about going into hospitals or other careers you can get from a pharmacy degree because they’ll know other students who graduated and what they went to do. (Tip is outreach to independent pharmacists, they are in my experience keener to help than those in chains like wells or Lloyds, it can be weird going in and talking to a stranger but you got to do it and it’s something you’ll do when you’re older too)
And also for placements, it depends on the uni / course you go to, i know Swansea have the majority of their placements in a hospital (it’s around the corner from campus). It’s worth saying though, medicine is the best for merge of science and healthcare 100%, if you need it, take a gap year, work a few jobs and get experience and reapply, it’ll 100% be worth it, you really don’t want to make a mistake of the wrong degree, it’s hard to pick your entire life plan when you’re young lol.
(edited 4 months ago)
Original post by boxdil
Being in the community isn't so bad, nice easy job, interaction with the public etc.
It does need good skills for management of staff etc and sorting out ordering drugs.
I’m torn too, I’m thinking about putting it as a 5th for medicine. But only reason why I would do pharmacy is that I want to open my own. How much do pharmacy owners earn and how much does this cost to do????
Tbh, a lot of the Professions eg Teaching, Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing etc are overrated and a lot of them just end up as one giant slog whereby the person ends up jaded & resentful towards the job the longer they’re working in it. They all come with lots of stress, which most likely shortens your lifespan & they’re most certainly not what they’re made out to be by the schools and Universities, which no doubt glamorise them to a large extent. The way the Universities present it, the people in these professions are hopping and skipping to & from work, whereas in reality, you’re so wrecked you just want to collapse on the sofa night after night & dread going in the next day. It’s basically a sympathetic state you’re in the whole time with very little time for R & R.
Pharmacy is absolutely no different in this regard. I’ve honestly never met a person long term in Pharmacy, especially community Pharmacy, who said they enjoyed their job. If they say they do enjoy it, they’re more or less saying they enjoy stress, which tbh is a form of self flagellation/Lunacy in itself. 😂
I never enjoyed it because I don’t deal with stress very well.
Pharmacy is absolutely no different in this regard. I’ve honestly never met a person long term in Pharmacy, especially community Pharmacy, who said they enjoyed their job. If they say they do enjoy it, they’re more or less saying they enjoy stress, which tbh is a form of self flagellation/Lunacy in itself. 😂
I never enjoyed it because I don’t deal with stress very well.
(edited 4 months ago)
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