Dentistry or Pharmacy as a career

ballsymchugh

gotta agree, as long as your degree is recognised by the professional governing body then it really really doesn't make much of a difference where you do it.
the methods will be completely different, for example, dentistry in trinity is based on problem based learning, while in UCC it's straight forward teaching.

caroline1111

One factor to consider is that dentistry is surely much better paid than pharmacy.

amjon.

caroline1111 wrote: »

One factor to consider is that dentistry is surely much better paid than pharmacy.

I heard dentists were badly hit in the last cuts to the extent that a career in Ireland isn't really a viable option at the moment. That said they do very well for themselves in the UK with an average wage of about 80k-ish.

cbds

caroline1111 wrote: »

One factor to consider is that dentistry is surely much better paid than pharmacy.

Sadly this is far from true at the minute. General dentists are suffering quite badly at the moment due to cuts to Medical Card scheme and PRSI schemes and being self-employed, if patients aren't attending, you don't get paid! I'm a dentist who qualified 4 years ago and at the time when I was filling out my CAO form I really had a tough time deciding whether to put pharmacy or dentistry as my first choice. I organised work shadowing in both professions and to be honest it was invaluable in helping me decide. My sister's a pharmacist and I definitely don't regret my choice of career. Dentistry is a great career - interesting, challenging and no day is ever the same. Having said that, being realistic, you're looking at working in the UK or Australia for a few years after graduation as job prospects for new graduates are unlikely to improve significantly in the next few years. About half my class went to the UK for a year or two after graduation but about 95% of this years graduates went due to no job opportunities here. Hope this helps, any other questions just PM me

busymum1

I'm not a dentist but I have a very good friend who is.
I think you should consider the work you will be doing after you graduate very carefully.
Dentistry involves lots of practical work and you need good manual dexterity and patience. You will be involved with patient care and clinical decisions. If you like the idea of that then go for dentistry. If patient contact and drilling teeth isn't your thing then do pharmacy. You have to be good with people and children to enjoy dentistry IMO. No disrespect to pharmacists but the patient contact in that field is much less.
I would strongly advise you to ask a local dentist if you can sit in for a morning session before you decide as it isn't for everyone.
Don't decide your future working life based on the course quality etc but on whether you would like to do the jobs available in that field afterwards.
I'm biased as if I could go back again I'd consider dentistry.
Good luck with it.

caroline1111

cbds wrote: »

Sadly this is far from true at the minute.

Its true that dentists may have taken a bad hit but so has pharmacy, its gone extremely bad in recent years, apparently - salaries are alot lower and unfortunately its not confined to ireland.

amjon.

caroline1111 wrote: »

cbds wrote: »

Sadly this is far from true at the minute.

Its true that dentists may have taken a bad hit but so has pharmacy, its gone extremely bad in recent years, apparently - salaries are alot lower and unfortunately its not confined to ireland.

Things aren't actually that bad in the UK. There are plenty of jobs with the big multiples over there. Salaries aren't horrendous either - you can start on north of 40k in full time position and as a locum you can hit 50k.

caroline1111

Things aren't actually that bad in the UK. There are plenty of jobs with the big multiples over there. Salaries aren't horrendous either - you can start on north of 40k in full time position and as a locum you can hit 50k.[/QUOTE]

Is this pharmacy you're talking about? I hope thats true cause all I've been hearing is the majority of graduates these days can't get jobs and if they do they're on 30k euro. Hope you're right though.

amjon.

caroline1111 wrote: »

Things aren't actually that bad in the UK. There are plenty of jobs with the big multiples over there. Salaries aren't horrendous either - you can start on north of 40k in full time position and as a locum you can hit 50k.

Is this pharmacy you're talking about? I hope thats true cause all I've been hearing is the majority of graduates these days can't get jobs and if they do they're on 30k euro. Hope you're right though.[/QUOTE]

Yeah pharmacy in the UK. Are pharmacists in Ireland genuinely accepting 30k?

deepimpact

amjon. wrote: »

Yeah pharmacy in the UK. Are pharmacists in Ireland genuinely accepting 30k?

I hope not, although I wouldn't be shocked if it were true. If it is true, it's probably more of a problem with the recently qualified graduates.

flowertree

I am a dentist and one of the lucky ones in the HSE so even though my salary was cut I don't have the stressful issues that the self employed dentists have.
My 2 cousins did pharmacy in Rcsi and only work parttime at weekends that is all the hours they could get.They are both seriously disillusioned.

deepimpact

I've never had a problem getting pharmacy work (locums or full-time) since I've qualified, in fact, in the month of November last year I got four (relatively well paid) full-time job offers. Just in that month. I must be lucky.

caroline1111

For getting a job, would it make a difference what college you went to and what grade you got?
Also is is generally easier to get pharmacy jobs in the city or country?

deepimpact

caroline1111 wrote: »

For getting a job, would it make a difference what college you went to and what grade you got?
Also is is generally easier to get pharmacy jobs in the city or country?

No and the country respectively in my experience.

Ability and willingness to travel long(ish) distances is a big factor in getting work in either the city or country imo. I'm glad I switched to diesel last year, much more efficient.

Anthony16

scanlant wrote: »

No and the country respectively in my experience.

Ability and willingness to travel long(ish) distances is a big factor in getting work in either the city or country imo. I'm glad I switched to diesel last year, much more efficient.

And, could u tell us what opportunities are like for pharmacists in Oz/Nz?Do many from here manage to get good jobs there with a decent wage?Cheers

deepimpact

Anthony16 wrote: »

And, could u tell us what opportunities are like for pharmacists in Oz/Nz?Do many from here manage to get good jobs there with a decent wage?Cheers

I haven't a clue about Oz/NZ tbh, on either question. I don't recall any of my class moving there either, although quite a few are in the UK at the minute.

amjon.

Anthony16 wrote: »

And, could u tell us what opportunities are like for pharmacists in Oz/Nz?Do many from here manage to get good jobs there with a decent wage?Cheers

There used to be some sort of agreement between Ireland/UK and Aus/NZ that degrees/qualifications were considered pretty much equal. This went around 2007-ish so now you will have to do a small amount of supervised work and a couple of exams along with a lot of paper work for New Zealand and probably the same for Australia.

Here is the New Zealand set up: http://www.pharmacycouncil.org.nz/cms_display.php?sn=149&pg=1218&st=1

I have only heard anecdotal reports of the state of pharmacy in New Zealand but none of them make it sound any worse than here at the moment. I'm not 100% certain about the pay in either country but it seems it is roughly comparable to UK

Anthony16

amjon. wrote: »

There used to be some sort of agreement between Ireland/UK and Aus/NZ that degrees/qualifications were considered pretty much equal. This went around 2007-ish so now you will have to do a small amount of supervised work and a couple of exams along with a lot of paper work for New Zealand and probably the same for Australia.

Here is the New Zealand set up: http://www.pharmacycouncil.org.nz/cms_display.php?sn=149&pg=1218&st=1

I have only heard anecdotal reports of the state of pharmacy in New Zealand but none of them make it sound any worse than here at the moment. I'm not 100% certain about the pay in either country but it seems it is roughly comparable to UK

and what is it like in the Uk.can u start on 35k?that would seem reasonable to me,given the amount of training involved

amjon.

Anthony16 wrote: »

and what is it like in the Uk.can u start on 35k?that would seem reasonable to me,given the amount of training involved

Alot of work available in the UK. You can start anywhere between 28k if you get done by Boots or up to 45k if you are lucky, was told not to accept less than 42k by few people in my company last year. Your wage will not grow like people in other sectors but you might have a better work/ life balance. I didn't like the UK myself but plenty of people do.

sf94117

I'd agree with all that's been said about prospects for dentists here....looks bleak for the next few years.

Also, it says on the FAS website (so not sure how much I'd read into this!!) that you can enter dental schools up to the age of 30. Now I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere on TCD or UCC's dental sites. I would wonder about the legality of expressly stating this but maybe there is a unwritten rule that they wont admit anyone over 30? Anyone know about this??

Adult Opportunities

It is possible to enter a dental school up to the age of 30 years, though competition is fierce.

Degrees in subjects such as Physiology, Anatomy or Biochemistry are particularly useful.



Link: http://www.careerdirections.ie/CD/DBAllCareerFrame.jsp?id=66