medicinal chemistry

Ronanc1

Hey everyone im a sixth year currently doing my leaving and i was wondering if there was anyone on here that does medicinal chemistry as i would like to get some more info from people doing or who have done it

all help is appreciated

thanks

ancapailldorcha

I assume you want to go to Trinity so my advice would be to actually apply for science as that will give you a taste of organic synthesis (which basically is medicinal chemistry) to see if you like it. You can then easily switch into medicinal chemistry is 3rd year. The first 2 years of the 2 courses are identical. The reason I say this is because I know 2 people who wanted out of medicinal chemistry and they were put to the bottom of the pile even though they got excellent grades. Also, organic chemistry is a lot more difficult in third level. Hope that helps!

Ronanc1

thanks a mille for the reply and advice

inis_dom

Hey, I'm kinda new to this but I saw your post and seeing as no other Med Chem students have replied I thought I'd give it a go! I'm in second year at the moment and, as was mentioned above, so far we have been following the general Science course with our subjects specified for us. In first year you do Biology, Chemistry and Maths. Then in second year the Biology course splits into two parts(oh so imaginatively named Biology1 and Biology 2!). Chemistry and Biology 1 are compulsory and there is a choice between studying Biology 2 or continuing with Maths.
Because I'm only in second year and the course hasn't really started properly yet I'm probably not going to be much help but if you have any questions ask away and I'll try and answer them(or find somebody that might be better at answering them!)
The advice above is good- you could always start off in Science and if you liked the organic part you could apply for a transfer. However, if you start off in Med Chem and decide you don't like it I think it's pretty straightforward to transfer into general Science(there is a deadline which I think is around December or January of second year...not entirely sure about that) At the end of second year in Science you choose what you want to specialise in and there is basically a points race for the places-having already chosen your course and secured your place takes alot of the pressure off and means that you just have to pass your exams.
Having read over that it seems a bit scattered and is probably not much use to you but how and ever!

ancapailldorcha

But the thing is that even if you get 3 firsts, anyone in science who barely passed will be put ahead of you. It's a really crap and unfair system and that happened to a guy in med chem who had to settle for microbiology.

inis_dom

I was under the impression that as long as you switched before the deadline then you were considered to be a Science student and competed as such...and that the situation above would only happen if you didn't transfer by the set date and so weren't considered for the splits before all Science students had been allocated courses? Have I got it wrong?

ancapailldorcha

Yeah, I'm afraid so. Basically the attitude is that you picked med chem so you should stick with it. There are very few people in chemistry and it is really easy to switch into medicinal chemistry at the end of third year as long as you have the right subject combinations in the first 2 years. Science was 20 points lower in the CAO when I was applying as well. Good Luck!

AlanSparrowhawk

I've never really understood why anyone would want to do Medicinal Chemistry. Like, I can appreciate the difference between Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacy but I don't see how a leaving certer can. Of course they can read the propaganda from the universities. I've always got the impression that the people that didn't get into Pharmacy picked Med Chem as their second chance because it sounded more like Pharmacy than Science....

ancapailldorcha

Well, thye Trinity prospectus basically said that medicinal chemists develop cutting edge drugs to combat malaria and so on. If you're good at it, it's a great subject. I agree with you about advertising it to leaving certs like that though. It's not right and courses like that should be chenged if they have such high failure rates.

oconnoao

Hey I'm a third year Med Chem and agree with most of whats been said here. Yep it's true that its easier to switch from science to med chem in 3rd year, rather than the other way around. Crazy I know!

Yep I did have pharmacy down as my first choice...! On the first meeting in first year, the coordinator got up and said 'This is not pharmacy, you will not be pharmacists...' I was a little disappointed:o

Anyway about the course itself, first and second year has been described already. I started losing interest during second year, really didn't wanna keep up chemistry. Third year has completely changed my views though- i really enjoy it now!

We take most of our classes with Chemistry-some are great, others fairly boring, and then we have about 8 courses that are seperate to Chemistry, in things like Antibacterial Agents, Steroids, Anticancer drugs....etc. These are the classes that really interest me, making me realise that I did make the right decision on the CAO! Its like a mix between full on chemistry with some interesting biology bits!

One other reason I'm glad I went in as a MedChem rather than general science is that I had a small group from the beginning. It didn't seem as daunting going into lectures of several hundred when we knew about 20 people! we got on well from the start of first year and thankfully we're still close!

Hope this helps!:)

DaXiS

I know this is barely related to the topic but I feel it's answered by now and don't wish to create an unnecessary topic..

In 2nd year science, BioI, BioII, Chemistry. Thinking about doing chemistry in third year. Any idea if chemistry fills out fast?( I'm thinking not..) or What does go the quickest? And while I'm at it, to anyone that has done chemistry in third or fourth, what's it like?

AlanSparrowhawk

I know this will sound sound clichéd but it's the truth-

it changes from year to year
and it's simply based on supply and demand

Usually neuroscience, physiology and biochemisty and immulogy are the "toughest" to get into, however NS has increased it's amount of places since I was in 2nd year but I'd imagine it's still highly compettive. Zoology is probably usually the next popular after that but it has over 20 places.

Generally speaking the courses that are available for "round 2" (after repeats) are chemistry, microbiology and botany.

So in a nutshell, if you really want to do chemistry and you pass your exams you'll be allowed in. But it's very tough!

DaXiS

AlanSparrowhawk wrote: »

So in a nutshell, if you really want to do chemistry and you pass your exams you'll be allowed in. But it's very tough!

Chemistry is very tough? Or getting into chemistry?

AlanSparrowhawk

DaXiS wrote: »

Chemistry is very tough? Or getting into chemistry?

easy to get in, difficult to pass, very difficult to get a 2.1, almost impossible to get a 1st, that's my opinion as a biologist though...

ancapailldorcha

Well, this year there are only 12 people in chemistry at the moment. After repeats and all. There were over 20 spots as well. Mind you, a third of the year failed it in the annuals so that could change.

DaXiS

Yikes..Why is it so tough?
Is there a really big jump? This worries me...I had focused on taking chemistry next year

ancapailldorcha

I think I might have confused meself afain. Well, most people passed it. Also a lot of people barely passed first year as well and carried that attitude into second year. I was **** at chemistry and I got a 2-2 after a mate tutored mo for a few hours before the exam. Working at it is the main thing. If you like it at all you should go for it!!