Asking for your opinion.

[Devia]

Hello everyone,

I was searching for some answers in the internet and found this amazing website. I hope that I will get some opinions here.

First let me introduce myself. My name's Simon and I'm from Lithuania. I'm 16 years old and this year I finished my 9th grade. I have wanted to study pharmacy since I was in 7th grade. But recently I have been having some doubts about my chances in getting to pharm school in UK. I know that there are several years until I actually have to apply. Nevertheless, I want to know exactly what I have to do when the time comes. So I wanted to explain my situation and ask you, pharmacists, whether I have some chance getting into a decent pharm school or not.

One of my problems is that I will have no pharmacy experience when I apply. Pharmacies here in Lithuania never let students shadow working pharmacists or assist them. Maybe it's only in town where I live, but anyway: I have no chance in getting that experience.
Another thing is that my personality differs a little from other teenagers my age. I rarely go out or participate somewhere. But that doesn't mean that I have no interests. But my interests are more indoor. Watching documentaries, reading or just surfing the net, looking for something new.
So maybe my personality will be seen as not quite good by the admission committee. However, I am member of student council in school, I am class senior. (I don't know if there is such thing in the UK, but mainly class senior helps the teachers, informs classmates of things that they need to know, etc. I have been in those positions for 3 years in a row now). Also, that introverted personality helped me keep my grades high.(Mostly A's.)

So, no experience and not so outgoing personality. These things already trouble me, but they are not the things I worry about the most.

I have a speech impediment - stuttering. I had it since I was ~5 years old. I experience difficulties pronouncing words, but that depends on lots of factors: anxiety, environment, etc. Mainly I stutter on words starting with letters D, L, P, T, G. Sometimes M, N.

I know that career in pharmacy requires excellent communication skills. Given into account that I stutter admissions committee might think that I can't communicate well. Maybe I take some more time to say what I want to say, but I am not mute: I can transfer the message.

Furthermore, only because of stuttering I developed interest in medical field. I spent lots of time searching for information about stuttering. During that search I found out about how the brain works, what are the likely causes of stuttering. (There is one drug, Pagoclone, that is in trial phase II now. I hope that it will be successful. Some say that it might decrease stuttering by a great amount). All that interest transfered to chemistry, biology. After that I only wanted to be a health care specialist and pharmacy looked like a perfect career for me. I would get lots of knowledge and I would be able to help people. Since I endured lots of negativity that came from stuttering, I became more sympathetic towards other people. If they suffered from something, I understood them.

My question is: based on what I wrote is it possible for me to get into pharm school and pursue career in pharmacy? Or should I get over my hopes and try to look for future which has nothing to do with medicine?

Sincerely,
Simon.

[johnep]

Well number one, your English is excellent. However, all boils down as to whether you will be admitted to Uk eventually to work. Position is that Non EUs now not allowed to work in community pharmacy as judged by govnmt that there is no shortage of pharmacists. still a shortage in hospitals.

Is your country in EU?, if so no problem, if not, then you will have great difficulty.
johnep

[Jeff]

My opinion only - I have nothing to do with offering jobs or university admissions.

If it was up to me and what you have just written was part of an application for a place at a school of pharmacy I'd be offering you a place.

However would I offer you a job in a patient facing role after you finish the degree - I don't know - it would depend on the degree of your speech impediment and if you had the personality to overcome it.

There are other roles in pharmacy. Your ability to write could put you in an internet/information role e.g. Clinical Knowledge Summaries or NPCi

[Devia]

Thank you both for your input.

Firstly, yes, Lithuania is in the EU.

And about having the personality to overcome stuttering; it's controversial.

Some people ease their stuttering simply by attending speech therapy. Others, even if their stuttering is less severe, can't do that. Maybe it's because stutter is different in almost every stutterer. One might suffer from repetitions, other from blocks, etc.

Personally I believe my stuttering has 2 levels:

1st level is when I am alone or speak to someone one on one: then my anxiety is lessened which causes to speak more fluently. But there are some repetitions or mild blocks, mainly on letters D, B.

2nd level is when there is much more attention to my speech, for example giving a speech in front of an audience. Then my stutter is more noticeable.

Talking to patients I guess could be having stutter level1. Patients come one by one, so there is no crowd.

However, I'm still young. There is a possibility that my stutter will become even more mild.

By the way, thanks for compliment about my english.

[Asterix]

Well number one, your English is excellent. However, all boils down as to whether you will be admitted to Uk eventually to work. Position is that Non EUs now not allowed to work in community pharmacy as judged by govnmt that there is no shortage of pharmacists. still a shortage in hospitals.

Is your country in EU?, if so no problem, if not, then you will have great difficulty.
johnep

So has the OSPAP course been cancelled?

[shan]

So has the OSPAP course been cancelled?

I don't think that will ever happen, for 2 reasons.

1) There is lot of money involved and many would still attempt to enter the country on this programme, hoping something good will turn out for them (Don't know whether this is optimism or just foolishness)

2) Other people, like me, who are not restricted by visa rules to stay and work in the UK, but need to undertake OSPAP to become a registered Pharmacist in the UK.

Hence the OSPAP will continue and Universities will keep fooling people from non-EU countries to undertake the course, ultimately to be chucked out of the country without even doing the pre-reg (current situation)

Shan

[Asterix]

shan, what's the latest with the ospap's who did the course in 2009? are they able to do pre-reg?

[Jeff]

And about having the personality to overcome stuttering; it's controversial.

Sorry not quite what I meant.
I meant a personality that allows patients to relate easily to you despite the stutter.

Talking to patients I guess could be having stutter level1. Patients come one by one, so there is no crowd.

Not in a UK pharmacy - there are usually other people about waiting eagerly to jump into the conversation.
However pharmacy in the UK has the opportunity to change - (see posts by Tony Schofield)

[Devia]

I believe that I could relate. All stutterers tend to overreact when it comes to their speech. When for me it sounds like I'm stuttering quite bad, others are listening to the message I am trying to get across, not how I say it.

I could continue, but I understand that stuttering has nothing to do with pharmacy actually, so I won't go off-topic. If someone wants to read about stutterers, their experiences and stuttering itself - stutteringforum.com/forums is the best place.

[Vilius]

Hey Simon,

I'm a student from Lithuania and I'll start the 4th MPharm (pharmacy) year in September.

As for your stuttering - there's something called the Equal Opportunities, which tend to consider any physical/mental or other disabilities the student may have. Hence, it shouldn't really be a problem.

The application for the higher education courses in the UK needs to be processed by the UCAS (UCAS Homepage). So, if you're planning to apply, have a look at their website. One of the main factors is your secondary education, i.e. the High School. I'm assuming that we're from the same country, which does not offer GCSEs, A-levels and any equivalent with an exception of the International Baccalaureate, which is available in places, such as Vilnius Lyceum. Obviously, the level of your knowledge in maths, biology, chemistry and, no doubts, English is extremely important, and the universities look at the grades in detail, unless it's the uni you don't really wanna go to .

I applied to 6 places (which is the recommended number of applications) and was offered two courses: Pharmaceutical sciences in East Anglia, Norwich, and Pharmacy (MPharm) in Kingston. And I wasn't the worst student in my high school, though...

So...To sum up, there's always a chance, and it's only a matter of you being keen enough to go and do stuff. The will can take you anywhere, mate !

P.s. The MPharm is an extremely challenging but also, incredibly diverse course. Worth undertaking - for sure.

Sorry for an epic message...

So, no experience and not so outgoing personality. These things already trouble me, but they are not the things I worry about the most.

I have a speech impediment - stuttering. I had it since I was ~5 years old. I experience difficulties pronouncing words, but that depends on lots of factors: anxiety, environment, etc. Mainly I stutter on words starting with letters D, L, P, T, G. Sometimes M, N.

I know that career in pharmacy requires excellent communication skills. Given into account that I stutter admissions committee might think that I can't communicate well. Maybe I take some more time to say what I want to say, but I am not mute: I can transfer the message.

Furthermore, only because of stuttering I developed interest in medical field. I spent lots of time searching for information about stuttering. During that search I found out about how the brain works, what are the likely causes of stuttering. (There is one drug, Pagoclone, that is in trial phase II now. I hope that it will be successful. Some say that it might decrease stuttering by a great amount). All that interest transfered to chemistry, biology. After that I only wanted to be a health care specialist and pharmacy looked like a perfect career for me. I would get lots of knowledge and I would be able to help people. Since I endured lots of negativity that came from stuttering, I became more sympathetic towards other people. If they suffered from something, I understood them.

My question is: based on what I wrote is it possible for me to get into pharm school and pursue career in pharmacy? Or should I get over my hopes and try to look for future which has nothing to do with medicine?

Sincerely,
Simon.