The Student Room Group

Year 12 path to MPharm

Hi,

I'm currently a year 12 student with a goal of doing MPharm in Uni after my A-Levels, and I was just wondering if anyone had any extra advice so I can start strengthening my chances of getting to do MPharm at Uni.
The unis which I would probably would like to go to are University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Leeds or any other Russel group uni preferably. I am currently taking A-Level Chemistry, A-Level Biology and A-Level French. (I know French is quite a random choice but I wasn't sure what else to pick) and I'm pretty sure all those unis would be fine with these subjects (if not please let me know). I achieved 999998777 at GCSE and I am also hoping to achieve high grades for A-Levels too.
So, what else can I do now to start strengthening my chances in getting into MPharm? I have started to apply to extracurriculars but I was wondering if there is anything more I should do, and if there are extracurriculars specifically for MPharm??

Thanks!

Reply 1

MPharm requires Chem and another science, so you'll be fine.

Just remember that MPharm courses are all accredited as equal by the GPhC - there is therefore no 'better' course, and RG certainly doesn't not mean anything significant. The NHS will not care where you trained, and neither will your future patients.

You do not need w/exp in a Pharmacy, but this would help you be certain is is the career you want. Any sort of hospital volunteer work is useful for finding out more about the NHS, and any customer-service experience (retail, hospitality etc) or volunteer work at a care-home or special school etc, is good for those 'tell me how you dealt with a tricky person/situation' type interview questions.

Useful career info :
Community pharmacist job profile | Prospects.ac.uk
Hospital pharmacist job profile | Prospects.ac.uk

Reply 2

Original post
by McGinger
MPharm requires Chem and another science, so you'll be fine.
Just remember that MPharm courses are all accredited as equal by the GPhC - there is therefore no 'better' course, and RG certainly doesn't not mean anything significant. The NHS will not care where you trained, and neither will your future patients.
You do not need w/exp in a Pharmacy, but this would help you be certain is is the career you want. Any sort of hospital volunteer work is useful for finding out more about the NHS, and any customer-service experience (retail, hospitality etc) or volunteer work at a care-home or special school etc, is good for those 'tell me how you dealt with a tricky person/situation' type interview questions.
Useful career info :
Community pharmacist job profile | Prospects.ac.uk
Hospital pharmacist job profile | Prospects.ac.uk

Ok I see, thank you very much!

Reply 3

Original post
by hmn123
Hi,
I'm currently a year 12 student with a goal of doing MPharm in Uni after my A-Levels, and I was just wondering if anyone had any extra advice so I can start strengthening my chances of getting to do MPharm at Uni.
The unis which I would probably would like to go to are University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Leeds or any other Russel group uni preferably. I am currently taking A-Level Chemistry, A-Level Biology and A-Level French. (I know French is quite a random choice but I wasn't sure what else to pick) and I'm pretty sure all those unis would be fine with these subjects (if not please let me know). I achieved 999998777 at GCSE and I am also hoping to achieve high grades for A-Levels too.
So, what else can I do now to start strengthening my chances in getting into MPharm? I have started to apply to extracurriculars but I was wondering if there is anything more I should do, and if there are extracurriculars specifically for MPharm??
Thanks!

I am currently doing the same A Levels as you!! i cannot believe i found someone else that is also doing a science combination with French. Have you found a list of extracurriculars yet?

Reply 4

Original post
by Violetv.
I am currently doing the same A Levels as you!! i cannot believe i found someone else that is also doing a science combination with French. Have you found a list of extracurriculars yet?

Useful resources for MPharm PS and Interviews - The Student Room

Reply 5

Original post
by Violetv.
I am currently doing the same A Levels as you!! i cannot believe i found someone else that is also doing a science combination with French. Have you found a list of extracurriculars yet?
Wow I have never met anyone with the same combo as me! How are you personally finding it?
And no, so sorry. I think I’m gonna try focus on super curriculars anyways since they are more useful for university!

Reply 6

Original post
by hmn123
Hi,
I'm currently a year 12 student with a goal of doing MPharm in Uni after my A-Levels, and I was just wondering if anyone had any extra advice so I can start strengthening my chances of getting to do MPharm at Uni.
The unis which I would probably would like to go to are University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Leeds or any other Russel group uni preferably. I am currently taking A-Level Chemistry, A-Level Biology and A-Level French. (I know French is quite a random choice but I wasn't sure what else to pick) and I'm pretty sure all those unis would be fine with these subjects (if not please let me know). I achieved 999998777 at GCSE and I am also hoping to achieve high grades for A-Levels too.
So, what else can I do now to start strengthening my chances in getting into MPharm? I have started to apply to extracurriculars but I was wondering if there is anything more I should do, and if there are extracurriculars specifically for MPharm??
Thanks!

Hii, I did Bio, Chem, French for A-Levels and I'm now doing MPharm at Keele uni. Most unis specify either bio or chem + another science (so your bio and chem are perfect). There's no specific extracurricular for MPharm but it would be useful to get work experience in a pharmacy if you can. If you can't find anywhere that will accept you for shadowing, you can volunteer in any patient-facing environment such as a care home etc. But don't worry about it too much if you can't! Pharmacy schools don't expect you to do anything extra! Also, it doesn't matter where you get your MPharm from so long as it's a GPhC accredited uni (so doesn't have to be Russell Group) as that won't affect your job prospects in the future

Reply 7

Original post
by hmn123
Wow I have never met anyone with the same combo as me! How are you personally finding it?
And no, so sorry. I think I’m gonna try focus on super curriculars anyways since they are more useful for university!

I am enjoying it, but sometimes tho- it can be a bit difficult trying to manage the content for science and revision for french. Yess, Iv realised super curriculars are a lot more important. But im not too sure as to which ones?

Reply 8

Original post
by PharmacyCat
Hii, I did Bio, Chem, French for A-Levels and I'm now doing MPharm at Keele uni. Most unis specify either bio or chem + another science (so your bio and chem are perfect). There's no specific extracurricular for MPharm but it would be useful to get work experience in a pharmacy if you can. If you can't find anywhere that will accept you for shadowing, you can volunteer in any patient-facing environment such as a care home etc. But don't worry about it too much if you can't! Pharmacy schools don't expect you to do anything extra! Also, it doesn't matter where you get your MPharm from so long as it's a GPhC accredited uni (so doesn't have to be Russell Group) as that won't affect your job prospects in the future

Hii, what kind of supercurriculars would you recommend. Also, congratss!!

Reply 9

Original post
by PharmacyCat
Hii, I did Bio, Chem, French for A-Levels and I'm now doing MPharm at Keele uni. Most unis specify either bio or chem + another science (so your bio and chem are perfect). There's no specific extracurricular for MPharm but it would be useful to get work experience in a pharmacy if you can. If you can't find anywhere that will accept you for shadowing, you can volunteer in any patient-facing environment such as a care home etc. But don't worry about it too much if you can't! Pharmacy schools don't expect you to do anything extra! Also, it doesn't matter where you get your MPharm from so long as it's a GPhC accredited uni (so doesn't have to be Russell Group) as that won't affect your job prospects in the future

Thank you!

Reply 10

Original post
by PharmacyCat
Hii, I did Bio, Chem, French for A-Levels and I'm now doing MPharm at Keele uni. Most unis specify either bio or chem + another science (so your bio and chem are perfect). There's no specific extracurricular for MPharm but it would be useful to get work experience in a pharmacy if you can. If you can't find anywhere that will accept you for shadowing, you can volunteer in any patient-facing environment such as a care home etc. But don't worry about it too much if you can't! Pharmacy schools don't expect you to do anything extra! Also, it doesn't matter where you get your MPharm from so long as it's a GPhC accredited uni (so doesn't have to be Russell Group) as that won't affect your job prospects in the future

What super curriculars did you do? Do you have any book reccomendations?

Reply 11

Original post
by Violetv.
I am enjoying it, but sometimes tho- it can be a bit difficult trying to manage the content for science and revision for french. Yess, Iv realised super curriculars are a lot more important. But im not too sure as to which ones?

Yes, me too. French I would say is the most demanding for me right now.
In terms of supercurriculars, I have started listening to podcasts that I found on Spotify after searching up Pharmacy. I'm gonna start finding some articles too to start reading.

Reply 12

Original post
by Violetv.
Hii, what kind of supercurriculars would you recommend. Also, congratss!!

Hii, I would recommend signing up to the pharmaceutical journal newsletter as it keeps you updated on the recent pharmacy news! Also if you read any non-fiction pharmacy-related books (can't think of any at the top of my head but something like "This is going to hurt", that's about a doctor's daily life but something that kind of vibe)

Reply 13

Original post
by hmn123
What super curriculars did you do? Do you have any book reccomendations?

Hii, I would recommend signing up to the pharmaceutical journal newsletter as it keeps you updated on the recent pharmacy news! Also if you read any non-fiction pharmacy-related books (can't think of any at the top of my head but something like "This is going to hurt", that's about a doctor's daily life but something that kind of vibe)

Reply 14

Original post
by PharmacyCat
Hii, I did Bio, Chem, French for A-Levels and I'm now doing MPharm at Keele uni. Most unis specify either bio or chem + another science (so your bio and chem are perfect). There's no specific extracurricular for MPharm but it would be useful to get work experience in a pharmacy if you can. If you can't find anywhere that will accept you for shadowing, you can volunteer in any patient-facing environment such as a care home etc. But don't worry about it too much if you can't! Pharmacy schools don't expect you to do anything extra! Also, it doesn't matter where you get your MPharm from so long as it's a GPhC accredited uni (so doesn't have to be Russell Group) as that won't affect your job prospects in the future

Hii, First of all Congratulations. Also, which supercurriculars would you recommend/did you complete. E.b to write about in ps and interviews.

Reply 15

Original post
by Violetv.
Hii, First of all Congratulations. Also, which supercurriculars would you recommend/did you complete. E.b to write about in ps and interviews.

I've just added some new resources to
Useful resources for MPharm PS and Interviews - The Student Room
including links to Pharmacy taster lectures from Uni of Nottingham

Reply 16

Original post
by hmn123
Hi,
I'm currently a year 12 student with a goal of doing MPharm in Uni after my A-Levels, and I was just wondering if anyone had any extra advice so I can start strengthening my chances of getting to do MPharm at Uni.
The unis which I would probably would like to go to are University of Manchester, University of Nottingham, University of Leeds or any other Russel group uni preferably. I am currently taking A-Level Chemistry, A-Level Biology and A-Level French. (I know French is quite a random choice but I wasn't sure what else to pick) and I'm pretty sure all those unis would be fine with these subjects (if not please let me know). I achieved 999998777 at GCSE and I am also hoping to achieve high grades for A-Levels too.
So, what else can I do now to start strengthening my chances in getting into MPharm? I have started to apply to extracurriculars but I was wondering if there is anything more I should do, and if there are extracurriculars specifically for MPharm??
Thanks!
I’m just about to start uni to study pharmacy. I didn’t know I would until I was at the end of year 12, so you’re doing much better than I did already. You don’t necessarily need to do extracurriculars, I didn’t.

However, around march I applied for work experience. You don’t need to, but it helps. I was asked in all 5 interviews if I had done work experience, and it also helped me write my personal statement. I have no family connections, but online I found an NHS Allied Health thing for work experience and completed a form requesting to do it. They got back to me, and I was able to get 3 days of work experience in community pharmacy, but only with a pharmacy technician. After each day, I wrote down some notes of what I did so I can later draw from those experiences (Reading is an example of this).

If you can’t find work experience, any type of volunteering with the NHS or alike could help. I’m going to look for that website (forgotten it) and I’ll reply back if I find it.

In my interviews they had also asked if I had done any reading around the subject. I can’t recommend you any books since I never did myself, so I recommend you find some books relating to pharmacy (like about the experiences, not necessarily just science books). I can’t guarantee it’ll help you, all I can say that it was something some universities I applied to did ask about.

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