NUS Pharmacy

[eddief4]

Bit of both. I had no particular interest; I thought I was interested in a healthcare and science after doing well in Biology and Chem.

Back then parents tell me pharmacy earn big bucks, the pharm staff overglorify the industry, saying it's a guaranteed bright future and say "we need more pharmacists". So yes, money's in my mind as well.

But truth is they don't have the money for more pharmacists. They need more budget in healthcare. I didn't know it was saturated already. Some more after army delay 2 years, saturation got even worse.

Our preceptor told us hospitals can fully function without pharmacists. In a recession, the first one to be axed in healthcare is the pharmacist. They cannot lose their doctor, nurse, social worker. So, we had better contribute VALUE, cannot just hide in the background anymore. So we see them proactively conducting seminars/talks/presentations.

Sorry if I'm too negative. But if you talk to any 2016 & 2017 graduate, they'd probably tell you the same thing. Many of them are still unemployed now after getting the license.

I'm not entering pharmacy. I'm pursuing social work when I matriculate this upcoming semester. I've just wondered why pharmacy was such a high demand course.

Medicine and law are no brainers, accounting as well but pharmacy always made me wonder because as a layman, to me, pharmacists just order medication when low on stock and just get whichever medication the doctor prescribed. Not to mention during my NS time when I worked in the medical center, the dispensary was run by NSF's so didn't really think you need any special skills for that.

I already decided long ago I was going to do something in social services so I guess I had something to work to. Even if I had scored AAA (only 2 A's unfortunately for me), I would still have chosen the course I intend to enter.

 

[kaldorei204]

Well, the older folks usually have the misconception that pharmacists became wealthy due to the profession when actually, these folks were wealthy to begin with. After all, usually the wealthy were the only ones who could afford to attend university in the past lol. And to be honest, there were not many pharmacists back then, so even if you are some mediocre individual, you are still highly sought after.

Pharmacy is a course in high demand cos it is the nearest you can get to be a doctor. Hence, the large quantity of medicine rejects in the course lol.

NB: A tip to any potential/current pharmacy student reading this thread, go get internships/exposure to pharmaceutical companies cos it comes in real handy when you realise that the hospital settings is not your cup of tea. Do not limit yourself to just hospital attachments.

 

[evilsaigon]

Well, the older folks usually have the misconception that pharmacists became wealthy due to the profession when actually, these folks were wealthy to begin with. I mean back then, usually the rich are the only people attending universities so naturally most of the older pharmacists are wealthy now and back then. lol. And to be honest, there were not many pharmacists back then, so even if you are some mediocre individual, you are still highly sought after.

Pharmacy is a course in high demand cos it is the nearest you can get to be a doctor. Hence, the large quantity of medicine rejects in the course lol.

NB: A tip to any potential/current pharmacy student reading this thread, go get internships/exposure to pharmaceutical companies cos it comes in real handy when you realise that the hospital settings is aint for you. Do not limit yourself to just hospital attachments.

Oh ya, good point. Ask the profs see if they have any random internships during the holidays. You'll gain the experience advantage compared to your peers, and better chances of employment.

I'm not entering pharmacy. I'm pursuing social work when I matriculate this upcoming semester. I've just wondered why pharmacy was such a high demand course.

Medicine and law are no brainers, accounting as well but pharmacy always made me wonder because as a layman, to me, pharmacists just order medication when low on stock and just get whichever medication the doctor prescribed. Not to mention during my NS time when I worked in the medical center, the dispensary was run by NSF's so didn't really think you need any special skills for that.

I already decided long ago I was going to do something in social services so I guess I had something to work to. Even if I had scored AAA (only 2 A's unfortunately for me), I would still have chosen the course I intend to enter.

Law is NOT a no-brainer lol. There are a lot of unemployed law graduates too, and similarly not enough training slots. I'm not too sure about accounting. Medicine's alright for now, but with NTU school of medicine massively adding to the supply, I honestly foresee an oversupply of medical graduates, probably in the next 10+ years. There are already jobless doctors in countries like Canada.

The tasks you mentioned in the NS dispensary, are done by Pharmacy technicians in the real world context. They have a diploma in pharmaceutical science, and they generally assist in the backend plus patient counselling as well.

By the way, cut off grades for the NUS arts is minimum 1 A and 2 B's. Straight A's are quite common there actually. But congrats on you finding your passionate course!

 

[Purplestars]

Can't be bothered to write a big response anymore, but you can see for yourself what a big joke this is.

Maybe I should CSI this evil h0lyseer out. Shouldn't be too hard to find out who is the guy who transferred from pharmacy in this year one batch.

I hope you guys are glad that your medical profession are filled with assholes and snakes though. On one hand claims to be defending "his profession", on the other hand he applied out of the profession the first opportunity he gets. And he even appealed to get out of it! Lawl. What a two-headed snake. That's the people that are going to be saving your lives folks. And these are the kind of people that lead you in your parliament too. Two-faced, not even my words and words from siblings who know them better.

You pathetic losers are screwed. Still come here and post self-righteous words

 

[omnisilent]

Bit of both. I had no particular interest; I thought I was interested in a healthcare and science after doing well in Biology and Chem.

Back then parents tell me pharmacy earn big bucks, the pharm staff overglorify the industry, saying it's a guaranteed bright future and say "we need more pharmacists". So yes, money's in my mind as well.

But truth is they don't have the money for more pharmacists. They need more budget in healthcare. I didn't know it was saturated already. Some more after army delay 2 years, saturation got even worse.

Our preceptor told us hospitals can fully function without pharmacists. In a recession, the first one to be axed in healthcare is the pharmacist. They cannot lose their doctor, nurse, social worker. So, we had better contribute VALUE, cannot just hide in the background anymore. So we see them proactively conducting seminars/talks/presentations.

Sorry if I'm too negative. But if you talk to any 2016 & 2017 graduate, they'd probably tell you the same thing. Many of them are still unemployed now after getting the license.

Grad few years earlier - in industry now.
First of all, like to say holyseer smoking a lot of weed.

For you, the picture not all that gloomy. We can find our niche as well... The problem is that the our education trains us to function with definitives but not much emphasis on uncertainty. So when system fails, we think it's the end of the world...

It's not.

 

[omnisilent]

Btw your preceptor might not have full appreciation of how economy works...

In a recession, healthcare is usually a defensive sector. Irregardless public healthcare is funded by government... And retrenching staff in an otherwise secure employment during a recession is a big no-no...

When and if that happens that pharmacists get retrenched during a recession, I guarantee you job security is probably the least you be thinking about

 

[mohdnawfal]

Pharmacy seems like one of those subjects where you need more than an interest in Chemistry. From what I've heard from a friend, it involves a lot about studying the human body, interacting with people and what not. If you are more interested in the theoretical part of chem, you might want to consider chemistry or even pharmaceutical chem.

 

[McFadden]

why only nus offer pharmacy? ntu,suss,sit ,sutd dont have?im interested in pharmacy