Pharm/Comm + Law down the track... Information needed

[burbs]

Hey guys

I'm interested in Pharm/Comm but have some questions!

1) Which is the best university for this? I know there is a method to do it at melbourne, but am not entirely sure on the pathway.
2) How is the job market for this?
3) I do like law, if I was to do it later as a post-grad, would this be useful? Or is a law degree ALWAYS useful?
4) UMAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Cheers!!!11!!!

[vea]

1) Monash Parkville has that exact double degree.
2) I was once interested in the exact same course as you but it seems that the market has been flooded with pharmacists... There have been rumours that pharmacists are earning only a little more than retail assistants.
4) Anything over 140 as an overall score seems to get you into pharm/comm these days. You might need a better ATAR if you get low 140s though- somewhere around 97-98? but you seem to be capable of this .

[burbs]

I heard that about pay, but I wanted to end up going into pharmacy management and stuff, which can only be done with a pharm degree apparently, and it good money as well.

[eeps]

I've looked into this course as well. Monash University do offer Pharmacy/Commerce as a double degree - read this for more information. You would need to sit the UMAT for entry into this course - I presume you would be. I know someone who got into Pharmacy/Commerce at Monash last year, and he got an ATAR score of around 95 and a UMAT score round 150-ish - without SEAS or anything by the way; I don't think it's as high/hard as Monash make it to be.

[rustic_metal]

If you want to do pharmacology, you do science or biomedicine, not commerce. Commerce isn't even related, so take your pick.

The job market for pharmacology is very good, particularly for Melbourne graduates (since there are ballsloads of world class pharmacology initiatives in the Parkville Precinct) and there are even more jobs for people who do commerce. If you are, for some reason, set on taking pharmacology AND commerce, you're going to struggle to find any jobs that require both equally. And no, a management major won't be useful; your boss will send you back to uni to do an MBA if they want you to move into management.

Law is useful if you're a lawyer. Lawyers are useful if you aren't a lawyer. You can alwyas do postgrad law at Melbourne, but you'll be wasting your time if you think it's going to 'add value' to your course.

[vea]

I heard that about pay, but I wanted to end up going into pharmacy management and stuff, which can only be done with a pharm degree apparently, and it good money as well.

By pharmacy management, do you mean that you intend to open your own pharmacy? Opening a pharmacy is risky business these days as almost every suburb already has a pharmacy or two...or three or four and you will be in competition with many big companies such as Chemist Warehouse and Terry White.

[burbs]

Well I actually am not sure on the logistics etc. but getting into owning them. Could be done through those companies or purchasing them, and that would be down the track.

[burbs]

If you want to do pharmacology, you do science or biomedicine, not commerce. Commerce isn't even related, so take your pick.

The job market for pharmacology is very good, particularly for Melbourne graduates (since there are ballsloads of world class pharmacology initiatives in the Parkville Precinct) and there are even more jobs for people who do commerce. If you are, for some reason, set on taking pharmacology AND commerce, you're going to struggle to find any jobs that require both equally. And no, a management major won't be useful; your boss will send you back to uni to do an MBA if they want you to move into management.

Law is useful if you're a lawyer. Lawyers are useful if you aren't a lawyer. You can alwyas do postgrad law at Melbourne, but you'll be wasting your time if you think it's going to 'add value' to your course.

I have a real interest in commerce as well though, that's the issue I face with preferences. I don't expect jobs for both, just I think it lets me follow my interests and more job possibilities in a way.
And im not sure if I misinterpreted, but did you say UoM is better?

[rustic_metal]

If it's for interest's sake, then definitely do both; I'm just saying that from a career perspective that combination probably won't make much difference. You're more likely to get the job you want by starting broad (ie 'pharmacologist') than hanging around for a job as a 'pharmacy manager' to open up, at any rate.

You can do it at Melbourne if you want by doing a BCom then a Bsci (or the other way around). It sounds like it would take 6 years (3+3), but you actually take 6 subjects from your second degree as breadth in your first, then cross credit all of the breadth from both degrees to knock it down to 5 years all up. If you want to go to another uni, double degrees are (of course) the best option.

Melbourne has a lot of health science related facilities and institutions in the Parkville Precinct, which provide some opportunities for research and whatnot while doing your degree if you're a good networker (couple of my friends do some stuff at the Howard Florey Institute, for instance). Whether or not being from Melbourne will give you an edge over a Monash graduate applying for a job in the Precinct, I wouldn't have a clue.

[Toothpaste]

If you're thinking about owning a pharmacy you'll need a pharmacy degree. I'm in pharmacy/commerce and I personally don't think it'll give *that* much of an edge over anyone in the course pharmacy wise. What you will probably get is a broader possible realm of roles you could be involved in. Most of them are not obvious roles so it's not possible to list. You do four years of pharmacy first, an intern year to get registered, then if you so wish - commerce (2 years full time). What's interesting is that with a commercy type degree you might be able to do other roles within the pharmacist profession. For example; I've worked with a pharmacist in a hospital who's delegated all the financial/accountancy stuff for the department in addition to being a pharmacist. I personally have a progressively developing interest in health economics so that's why I'm remaining in the double degree (most people drop the commerce part by the way).

By the way, here's a lecturer's profile (also director of Victoria's PSA) who's pretty establish in what you're probably interested in:

Mr William Suen - Pharmacist Member (profile)
Bill Suen has a wide range of senior management experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to being a community pharmacy proprietor in Thornbury, he had an extensive career in hospital pharmacy and was appointed the Director of Pharmacy Service at Western Healthcare Network in 1996. He was also General Manager of a leading pathology and clinical software company in Australia. Besides a pharmacy degree from VCP, Bill has a Bachelor of Health Administration from the University of NSW, and an MBA from Deakin University. Bill‘s special interest is in pharmacy management. He has established and taught in postgraduate pharmacy management and pharmaceutical sales programs at Monash University. He is currently the Victorian Branch Director of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, the unit chair in pharmacy management at Chifley Business School, and a sessional lecturer at Monash University

This guy put his CV in our lecture notes. Lol, "just to brag" (or inspire). The most random thing on there was him being an IT company manager for a while. He said he bought a pharmacy because he ran out of things to do and everyone seemed to be doing it, haha. He has a MBA instead of commerce, so look into that too. My memory is lacking but I think we once had a guest speaker who did a JD after her pharmacy degree - not sure how they complemented each other though so I'm no help there.

Here's more info about buying a pharmacy:
http://www.guild.org.au/buyingandsellingapharmacy/content.asp?id=836

Guidelines from the pharmacy board:
http://www.pharmacyboard.gov.au/Codes-and-Guidelines.aspx

Here are some forms you'll fill out when running a pharmacy:
http://www.pharmacy.vic.gov.au/index.php?view=forms&item=1038

If you're more interested in the science side of drugs, science (pharmacology as mentioned) might be a better option. Pharmacy has more healthcare focussed stuff thrown in - though if this is okay with you, you can also chug on through and do research or whatever suits you. Alternatively, the Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science is also offered.. I don't know much about the course though.

By pharmacy management, do you mean that you intend to open your own pharmacy? Opening a pharmacy is risky business these days as almost every suburb already has a pharmacy or two...or three or four and you will be in competition with many big companies such as Chemist Warehouse and Terry White.

This. Chemist Warehouse - everyone in the pharmacy biz hates it ... customers love the prices.

I've looked into this course as well. Monash University do offer Pharmacy/Commerce as a double degree - read this for more information. You would need to sit the UMAT for entry into this course - I presume you would be. I know someone who got into Pharmacy/Commerce at Monash last year, and he got an ATAR score of around 95 and a UMAT score round 150-ish - without SEAS or anything by the way; I don't think it's as high/hard as Monash make it to be.

Yep, it's only about 95 nowadays. I'd daresay lower 90's would be alright too. Used to be higher but the market's going to be saturated real soon with RMIT and LaTrobe running along side and churning out graduates.

[eeps]

Sorry to hijack this thread burbs - I didn't want to make a new thread; I have a few questions as well in relation to this course...

- If I did Pharmacy/Commerce and later on, I decided I no longer wanted to do the Commerce aspect of the double degree (though unlikely, just for interest's sake)... would I just drop it after completing the 4 years of Pharmacy?
- Are there any scholarships involved with this course?
- The course is 5 days a week?.. or does that depend on the year? (i.e. first year, second year etc)

Thanks to anyone who can answer my questions, hopefully they make some sense!  =]

[shinny]

- If I did Pharmacy/Commerce and later on, I decided I no longer wanted to do the Commerce aspect of the double degree (though unlikely, just for interest's sake)... would I just drop it after completing the 4 years of Pharmacy?
- Are there in any scholarships involved with this course?
- The course is 5 days a week?.. or does that depend on the year? (i.e. first year, second year etc)

1. Yeh, you can just drop it. My brother was in pharm/comm and he finished the pharm and dropped the comm at the end.
2. There's scholarships involved with any course really... There's a list somewhere but I'm too lazy to dig it out right now.
3. Kind of. Not sure about the specifics, but I'm pretty sure there's something on every day. But judging from my brother's attendance, there's definitely not tutes every day, so you could skip purely lecture days since they're all recorded and put online anyhow.

[Russ]

Melbourne has a lot of health science related facilities and institutions in the Parkville Precinct, which provide some opportunities for research and whatnot while doing your degree if you're a good networker (couple of my friends do some stuff at the Howard Florey Institute, for instance). Whether or not being from Melbourne will give you an edge over a Monash graduate applying for a job in the Precinct, I wouldn't have a clue.

Maybe not formally but since UoM undergrads can do research at the Bio21 cluster and all the others, it'd probably give them an advantage if they were to reapply

[mystikal]

If you want to do pharmacology, you do science or biomedicine, not commerce. Commerce isn't even related, so take your pick.

The job market for pharmacology is very good, particularly for Melbourne graduates (since there are ballsloads of world class pharmacology initiatives in the Parkville Precinct) and there are even more jobs for people who do commerce. If you are, for some reason, set on taking pharmacology AND commerce, you're going to struggle to find any jobs that require both equally. And no, a management major won't be useful; your boss will send you back to uni to do an MBA if they want you to move into management.

Law is useful if you're a lawyer. Lawyers are useful if you aren't a lawyer. You can alwyas do postgrad law at Melbourne, but you'll be wasting your time if you think it's going to 'add value' to your course.

I have a real interest in commerce as well though, that's the issue I face with preferences. I don't expect jobs for both, just I think it lets me follow my interests and more job possibilities in a way.
And im not sure if I misinterpreted, but did you say UoM is better?

u shud just do a single pharmacy degree, then apply for the MBA /JD course at UoM afterwards from memory its 3 yrs and u get both business/law fields which is what u want instead of doing 2 yrs of commerce and then another 3 years of law u save urself  2 yrs of extra study haha... but to be honest... to own a pharmacy u need ALOT of money and investing one in this time is making a loss unless u are owning a chemist warehouse... but yea... i was doing pharm/comm but i dropped the pharm since i didnt see myself owning a pharmacy but i was interested in industrial pharmacy in terms of management and u dont need a pharmacy degree for that its just harder thats all... pharmacy = becoming more of a general degree.. its basically science or biomed + benefits lols alot of ppl are just doing it so they can work part time as a pharmacist and study full time for a post grad job.