pharmacy + stat (1 Viewer)

[Nakashima]

Another pharm student!

Yeah bio was pretty bad. It was actually quite interesting but I was just crap at it. The psychology elements of pharmacy were my favourite part. Chem was okay and maths wasn't too hard.

But yeah, that was just the first semester. A lot of pharm students say that first year is the most boring.

 

[bitchy girl]

thanks !! =]

 

[hobbit]

Yeah, I agree, first is a bit of a let down as it doesnt really seem relevant to anything as yet.....however I'm in second year and it is a lot better. The content is harder but you can actually see it's relevance and thus it grabs your interest more. First year is basically like a science course to give you the ground knowledge needed to advance. Although having said that, Introduction to Pharm Science (IPS) should motivate you guys a bit more.

 

[lala2]

Thanks hobbit! I was having higher hopes for this semester but I think IPS may be actually quite interesting. Guess we'll have to wait till next year then.

 

[melllyy]

oh thanks heaps. ok well im good at physics, but i dont like chem much and bio is ok.. soo im stil confused, it doesnt have anything to do with physics does it?

 

[lala2]

Doesn't look like it at this stage...if they wanted us to do physics, they should've made us do it last semester....so probably no.

 

[hobbit]

Pharmacy has virtually no application of physics whatsoever (well at least not so far in 1st and 2nd year). I did physics in Year 12, and the closest i've gotten to applying my physics knowledge is the tiny bit we did about electron energy levels and wavelengths and even then, it wasn't anywhere near in depth as you do it in physic. Pharmacy is drenched in chem and bio. Just to give you an idea, these are the chem/bio subjects:
1st year subjects: Chemistry A, Chemistry B, Concepts in Biology, Human Biology,
2nd year subjects: Medicinal Chemistry A & B, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Physiology, Formulations,

So if you want to do pharmacy and dont like chem or bio....start liking it. Having said that though, I started pharmacy thinking I'd hate bio, but it turns out its quite enjoyable and interesting, so it really comes down to you really.

 

[lala2]

Hey hobbit, is second year really hard? I heard it was the hardest year out of the degree.

 

[hobbit]

Well, under the old system 2nd year Pharmacy meant like 7 subjects per semester. Under the new "6 credit point" system this year I was lucky and only have to do 4 subjects, however for many things all they simply did was combine 2 subjects into one eg. "Pharmacology and Physiology" is counted as one subject now rather than two. So essentially the workload is just about the same but sitting 4 exams at the end of semester sure beats sitting 7 exams! I personally find 2nd year tougher where the content is harder and its more self-based learning (but then again i'm not the brightest pharmacy student), but I also find it a lot more interesting so I guess that balances it out.

 

[LuthienAdrianna]

Pharmacy is my dream. Some questions though...

1) Which is better to transfer from, Science or Med Science?

2) Do any of the topics in first year Sci/MedSci exempt you from having to do some first year Pharmacy topics?

3)Is the transfer into Pharmacy a really competitive one?

4) If I'm first in Bio and third in Chem now, will I have a good chance of maintaining a DAverage or is there a drastic difference between my little pond and the ocean out there?

Many thanks.

 

[shadowfia]

I am a yr 12 student interested in doing pharmacy. I am not doing bio, would that be a big problem? The biology stuff in pharmacy, are they difficult? Were i be able to learn them when I get to uni? Thanks

 

[lala2]

Oh yes, most definitely! There is a unit in first semester first year for pharmacy students to attempt if they haven't done bio in the HSC. Not hard (but then again that's just because I love bio--and yes I did do it in the HSC). Some topics you may hate--that's perfectly normal, but yeah, you should manage fine.

 

[tennille]

lala2 is right. There is a unit of study called Concepts in Biology, which is aimed at students who did not complete HSC Biology. I did this course last year and although it required a lot of memorising, it has enabled me to do Molecular Biology and Biochemistry (which I plan to major in). Two of my friends didn't do Biology and are currently doing Pharmacy, and they are doing fine.

 

[hobbit]

Yeah, I didn't do bio in Yr 12 and i survived, just make sure you do "concepts in biology" in you first semester and u should be fine as they virtually start from scratch

 

[LuthienAdrianna]

Pharmacy is my dream. Some questions though...

1) Which is better to transfer from, Science or Med Science?

2) Do any of the topics in first year Sci/MedSci exempt you from having to do some first year Pharmacy topics?

3)Is the transfer into Pharmacy a really competitive one?

4) If I'm first in Bio and third in Chem now, will I have a good chance of maintaining a DAverage or is there a drastic difference between my little pond and the ocean out there?

Thanks.

 

[tennille]

1) It doesn't really matter because you can do exactly the same subjects in first year for both science and medical science. As long as you get a decent weighted average mark (most probably a distinction), you should be able to transfer. I think I answered this earlier in the thread, anyway.

2) Typical subjects for science and medical science include Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and 2 maths subjects, for each semester. You should be exempt from doing Chemistry, Biology and Maths for first year pharmacy, but you will need to do the core pharmacy subjects when you start the course.

3) Not sure, but I imagine it would be.

4) University is completely different to high school. From my personal experience and opinions of other students, it is more difficult to achieve higher marks in university. However, this is not always the case.

 

[shadowfia]

Thank you so much, guess I should be fine. My friend who is doing bio keeps telling me that I should do bio, she reckons I would be okay in bio, instead of suffering in physics and/or Chinese BS. I didn't choose bio because Chinese I can get good marks without studing and frankly, I like physics. Actaully, I am currently in physics class.

A lot of people says that pharmacy is boring, is that true? I know someone who transfered the first week, said that she couldn't stand it, hopefully I wouldn't find it that boring. But my hopes aren/t very high, seeing that chemistry is my least favourite subject. :'(

How do you guys find pharmacy? Is it difficult, and boring?

 

[lala2]

First semester, most definitely. After that...it seems interesting for this semester! At least the people are shutting up better in lectures now....and I'm willing to work for it!

 

[frootloop]

First semester, most definitely. After that...it seems interesting for this semester! At least the people are shutting up better in lectures now....and I'm willing to work for it!

Going on a slight tangent here but couldn't resist commenting:

Haha! Yeah, 'cause people will start losing marks if they talk during PHAR1617 (Social Pharmacy) lectures.

And our Chem lecturer walked out on us today because we all came in late. (we have to walk from Bosch all the way to the Chem building every time we have chem lectures, so of course we're going to be late!) He's so annoyed at us already and it's only the second week of semester! We can't really help arriving late... it IS a long walk. It's not as if we have control over our timetables and the locations of our lectures.

 

[lala2]

Yeah, I was seriously considering e-mailing him to say that it's not physically possible to turn up on time--and anyway, lectures start at 10:05 not 10:00, so we're theoretically only 5 minutes late! Luckily someone came to tell me and my friend in Fisher that the lecture was back on, so we came in slightly late. With half the group gone, there wasn't much chatting going on, which was good.

And yeah, PHAR1617 we have to keep quiet but in general, everything else is not too bad either in terms of noise.