Pharmacology/biomed/medicine

Original post by Ajhdhd

Has anyone done pharmacology at uni?
I find the development of drugs and the effects it has on the body very interesting but I'm not sure the course is for me :/
You have to do a foundational year at the end of a 4 yr course - this is done in a hospital/GP which I really didn't want to do - I wanted to go into industry and research.
I also am not really a fan of chemistry. I've taken it as it's required for most med related courses but I don't want to devote another 4 yrs to it once I finish my a levels.
I went to a kings open day and the head guy said that if you want to go into drug development in industry and not the NHS you'll need to get to PhD level. I don't want to embark on like a 10 year journey just to get to where I want to be.
Biotech is currently my first choice but very few top unis offer it. Also considering biomed - even medicine?
Is it better to just do medicine over biomed? I hear that biomed is just for people who don't get into med school. It all sounds rather interesting apart from physiology so maybe it's worth just doing medicine and having it all in depth. But obviously a med degree is not something to take lightly.
Very confused any advice would be greatly appreciated 🫠

Do you really mean pharmacology? It sounds like you're actually talking about pharmacy, as this is 4 years with a foundation year after. Pharmacology is 3 years.
Pharmacy is more chemistry related but pharmacology really doesn't have an awful lot of chemistry content

Reply 3

OP

Original post by Dr_Jo

Do you really mean pharmacology? It sounds like you're actually talking about pharmacy, as this is 4 years with a foundation year after. Pharmacology is 3 years.
Pharmacy is more chemistry related but pharmacology really doesn't have an awful lot of chemistry content

I'm incredibly confused because kings offers ONLY pharmacology bsc. But on their leaflets yesterday and even the talk was about pharmacy??

Reply 4

King's definitely offer pharmacy. I think they've been sending you info on the wrong course!
I am course lead for a pharmacology degree, and am currently helping put together a new pharmacy degree so if there's anything specific you want to know about either I'm happy to help (though not at King's just to be clear, so can't help on the specific of that exact Uni course)

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 5

OP

Original post by Dr_Jo

King's definitely offer pharmacy. I think they've been sending you info on the wrong course!
I am course lead for a pharmacology degree, and am currently helping put together a new pharmacy degree so if there's anything specific you want to know about either I'm happy to help (though not at King's just to be clear, so can't help on the specific of that exact Uni course)

I've just googled it and found they do offer pharmacy mpharm which must be what they were talking about. Really wish they'd made it more explicit! Thank you so much I'm glad it's been cleared up before I completely wrote it off.

I guess the main question is am I going to have to embark on a 10 year journey knowing I won't get into anything cool until I do a PhD. I want options after my undergraduate degree in research and industry I don't want to have to keep studying and studying 😭

Do you have any thoughts about the biomed/medicine thing?

Reply 6

If there is any chance you'd want to be an accredited biomedical scientist, then biomedical science is a good option (as long as you take a course that's actually accredited), it's also useful for getting on to graduate entry medicine. Otherwise I don't think it would be worth it for you.

I did my undergraduate degree in pharmacology, then did a masters and PhD but was still in an interesting job by 25 so it didn't take 10 years. Lots of my previous graduates haven't gone on to additional study after doing a PhD and I know a lot of people who work in the drug discovery and development industry who don't have a PhD, but it's undoubtedly more difficult to get a job and to progress if you haven't done a PhD.

There are some good biotechnology masters courses that you can get onto with a degree either in pharmacology or pharmacy. Pharmacy is more chemistry heavy as I mentioned, but also has the advantage that there's a good set out career option for you to move into once you graduate. There are a number of other options for pharmacists that don't necessarily need a PhD. In terms of pharmacology (which obviously I'm going to think is a great option), if you find the development of drugs an interesting topic and would like to learn about how they work, it would definitely be something you'd enjoy.

I'd advise against taking medicine just for the sake of it. Firstly, it's hard (both the work and actually getting onto the course, and we expect students to show a long-term commitment to studying medicine way before they apply to us)! And it's 5 or 6 years depending on where you study, in which time you could have almost completed a BSc and PhD. The latter would be more useful if you want to pursue a career in research and development.

Reply 7

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Original post by Dr_Jo

If there is any chance you'd want to be an accredited biomedical scientist, then biomedical science is a good option (as long as you take a course that's actually accredited), it's also useful for getting on to graduate entry medicine. Otherwise I don't think it would be worth it for you.
I did my undergraduate degree in pharmacology, then did a masters and PhD but was still in an interesting job by 25 so it didn't take 10 years. Lots of my previous graduates haven't gone on to additional study after doing a PhD and I know a lot of people who work in the drug discovery and development industry who don't have a PhD, but it's undoubtedly more difficult to get a job and to progress if you haven't done a PhD.
There are some good biotechnology masters courses that you can get onto with a degree either in pharmacology or pharmacy. Pharmacy is more chemistry heavy as I mentioned, but also has the advantage that there's a good set out career option for you to move into once you graduate. There are a number of other options for pharmacists that don't necessarily need a PhD. In terms of pharmacology (which obviously I'm going to think is a great option), if you find the development of drugs an interesting topic and would like to learn about how they work, it would definitely be something you'd enjoy.
I'd advise against taking medicine just for the sake of it. Firstly, it's hard (both the work and actually getting onto the course, and we expect students to show a long-term commitment to studying medicine way before they apply to us)! And it's 5 or 6 years depending on where you study, in which time you could have almost completed a BSc and PhD. The latter would be more useful if you want to pursue a career in research and development.

Did you feel the impact of having a bsc and PhD but no experience in between? Assuming you went from one straight to the other. Unless of course you juggled a job alongside?

I've been told it's something to consider because you may end up academically overqualified but experience wise - underqualified.

Reply 8

I did an MSc in between but didn’t have any actual job experience (apart the teaching work I did whilst doing my PhD). I didn’t struggle at all. I had 2 job offers after my PhD, and I started the one while I was still writing up. I’ve never heard anyone complain of graduates being overqualified but under-experienced. It’s expected that people just out of a PhD won’t have much in the way of work experience.
That being said if you can do a degree where you can be supported in doing relevant summer placements or a year abroad, or even something like pharmacy where placements are part and parcel of the course, you would have some level of work experience before even graduating from your undergraduate degree.

Reply 9

OP