Reflections of a 4th yr pharm student--pls read if you're considering pharm (3 Viewers)

[thetai903]

I'm in third year at the moment. And pharm gets considerably harder after 1st year. If you want Ds and HDs then first year is the only really reasonable opportunity your going to get. Second year and third year is way more difficult lots of content etc.

TBH i think your philosophy is flawed, because chances are you may not get into med/dent and may be stuck with pharm. Your taking the place of someone who may really have wanted to be a pharmacist.

Thanks for the reply. But I want to clarify something, I really wanted to do pharmacy. The reasons I'm interested in it is because I was inspired by my relatives who are also pharmacy and i personally like many other aspects of the career such as opening up your own business and working with science. It is only recently that i am aware of the downsides of the career, as some stated above: you do not get to open your own business anymore but have to wait for a pharmacist to get old and sell his/her shop to you, the work is an insult to your intelligent, etc and especially the chance that Coles and Woollies get the permission to open their own pharmacy in the near future, just like in the USA. If I have known about these things , I would not had gone around and answered "Pharmacist" to the many people who were interested in what I want to be in the future. Instead, I would shut my mouth and spend little more time in studying and sit the UMAT test properly to maximise my chance to Med/dent, if I had wanted them that bad.
I have thought about my chance of being "stuck" with pharmacy too. I am more than happy to finish pharmacy then apply for postgraduate Med/Dent. If other people like lala has survived it, i can do it too. However, if I work with your logic, I would take the place of someone who wanted to do Arts if I do Art, and likewise for other degrees?
I know a lot of Med/Dent rejects study Pharmacy then reapply for the courses later on.Did you think i was on of them? Are you unhappy or even jealous to study with them? As I know a lot of Dent/Med rejects,some are friends of mine at school, do Pharmacy.
PS: I do not try to be rude but I feel offended by your reply.

 

[danz90]

The reality is, and I see it myself - so many pharm students are there because they ultimately wanna do med. They tell me this themselves.

To answer your question, thetai903, getting Ds and HDs in first year isn't impossible - but you do need to put alot of work in and be consistent. If you wanna keep a HD average,I'd say you need to work harder than HSC. But it depends, everyone is different. Can't say about 2nd year onwards - I'm about to find out.

 

[lifequest]

I don't know why it bothers people when someone doesn't make it first round and decides to go for a similar course in the hope to get into what they originally wanted.

Who cares if you take some other person's place? It's reality! There is no fairness, life is a dog eat dog world. If you're passionate about something and can't get it, go for second best, then strive for what you want, ignore what others want. They're not going to die if they don't get it.

Good on you for wanting pharmacy. You did brilliant with your ENTER and you deserve every right to do whatever you want.

You didn't take away another person's dream, they just didn't work hard enough to get it. Why should you give way to someone who didn't put as much effort in as you?

 

[Mambomeg]

if you graduate from pharm and don't like it because its boring, then it will be a good job to keep the money coming in while you do postgrad study.

you can only try it! I do a fair bit of Pharmacy type work in my job (although I get to prescibe and dispense... pill counting is such fun.... ) but i could never do it full time. How do you know though if you don't try it out first?

 

[lala2]

I agree with all the answers that have been posted so far in response to Linee's, meilz92, thetai903's questions.

 

[tmahendradatta]

so now im extremerly torn
pharmacy vs science/commerce????????
>_<

Figure out what you'll enjoy doing 10 years from now. Sound sentimental; but its a good way to figure out which way to go. I can give you some info here on sci/comm if you want.

I'm not a sci/comm; but I do know the careers you can go down with sci/com because I'm currently doing alot of 'biotech' stuff. before i start; sci comm is 5 years I think. Not sure if that includes honours or not.

Science/commerce at unsw + a diploma of innovation management(for e.g); means your options will be ALOT wider than just being qualified to 'stick stuff onto boxes'. (keep in mind though; alot of options might not be a good thing for some people who can't/too scared to make big decisions) With sci/comm; you can do just the science bit (so medical science lab work, geo, psych [don't reccomend it], etc); or you can just do the comm bit (accounting; marketing, etc). The things you can do where sci/comm crossover might be being a patent attorney, science sale, business analysis, or anything else in biotech. Only probelm is...

biotech is not as alive in NSW compared to Queensland atm. And biotech in Australia is not as alive as biotec in the US or Europe. Alot of investment is in the mines.

 

[tmahendradatta]

if you graduate from pharm and don't like it because its boring, then it will be a good job to keep the money coming in while you do postgrad study.

you can only try it! I do a fair bit of Pharmacy type work in my job (although I get to prescibe and dispense... pill counting is such fun.... ) but i could never do it full time. How do you know though if you don't try it out first?[/quote]

+ 1000. Work experience is so valuable.

 

[Tim035]

All of investment is in the mines.

fixed.

 

[princess101]

wow this was so helpful really opened my eyes to whats out there and what the bachelor of pharmacy is really like..thanks

 

[lala2]

You're welcome Just out of interest, did you end up preferencing it down in the end?

 

[485h324s]

Do not do

 

[eriito]

Re: Pls read if you're considering pharm (warning: very lengthy)

i just started my first year of pharm and this thread scares me a little

 

[24lover]

2nd year pharmacy in melbourne.
after 1 year i'm really tired of it already. coursework is hardly relevant to what you'll use in the pharmacy - i know because i work at a pharmacy and pharmacists are sadly too good at sticking labels onto drug packages because that's what they do all day. sure, there's some chat to patients about how to take it, when to take it, etc - but there's nothing interesting going on in a community pharmacy unless you get the occasional bad customer.

if you're someone who needs something interesting, something exciting in your daily job don't choose pharmacy. it's a dull career and pretty much everyone i know studying it is trying to get out one way or another. i'd hate to be a downer but it's the truth.

also, while the profession is gaining more respect, when you become a part of the pharmacy world you realise that yes, it is an insult to your intelligence. even from the very start when you begin university. it'll soon enough no longer be a part of the "top courses" you want to get in like medicine or optometry because people with such low scores are able to get in. at my uni people with scores of 90 got in easily. and as someone who achieved a score in the top end, i felt like all my hard work at school was for no reason at all. i'm really quite upset about it.

 

[Taketheatrain]

My dreams are crashing down on me...
4 years of slaving away to become a glorified SA.