Pharmacy - Trinity, Cork or RCSI???

thetonynator

I think I want to do pharmacy (not positive yet!) but have no idea where I should go, the three options being, trinity, UCC and RCSI.

Dublin is probably a bit more accessible to me, but I won't let that put me off going to Cork.

So has anyone any advice?!!!

Just Like Heaven

From what people have told me there isn't much in it. An increasing number of people seem to be choosing RCSI over TCD as their first choice, saying the first year in Trinity is a bit too general science based, whereas RCSI is hands on Pharmacy from the get go. Apparently.

woodchuck

I did a science degree in trinity and a postgraduate in RCSI. So purely from a ‘college life’ point of view I think trinity is much better. In RCSI there’s no proper campus as such, just a few buildings beside Stephens green.

Don’t underestimate how much having a campus will add to your college experience. Trinity has the pav, the buttery, the JCR and a new state of the art gym. Not to mention various other amenities including cafes and student union shops. RCSI does not come close to these things by comparison… there is a small canteen (that everyone including postgrads and lecturers use) and a coffee dock in the basement. The basement is the only real student ‘hangout’ kind of area and has some nice couches, pool tables, tvs and a small gym. But that’s literally everything and all crammed into the basement of one building.

Both colleges have clubs and societies, but again I think that trinity outdoes RCSI in this area purely because RCSI a much smaller college.

So to sum it up I think RCSI is much more of a close knit community where you see all the same faces every day. While you do bump into your friends all the time in Trinity too, there’s also much more scope for meeting other students from different courses.

There’s one other thing I want to mention, purely because it’s something that Irish undergrads have mentioned to me and it’s something that they didn’t realise before they started. It’s that Irish students are the vast minority in RCSI. RCSI seems to attract a lot of international students. There are lots of pros and cons to this that I can expand on more if you want but just pointing it out purely because most people aren’t aware of this before they start! This may be more the case in medicine rather than pharmacy though…

End of the day you’ll end up with a pharmacy degree no matter which college you go to… personally I’d put up with a few extra science based courses in the first year and go to Trinity Sorry for the long post btw :P

revz

I did a year in a science course in TCD and then switched to Pharmacy in RCSI last year.

While I would generally agree with what woodchuck has said, don't let that put you off RCSI. If you decide Pharmacy is the course for you, then you'll be happy wherever you end up.
I was a lot, lot happier this year in Pharmacy in the smaller college that RCSI is than doing science in TCD.
It's a tough course, but I really liked it, and while RCSI is smaller, there was still surf trips, a free golf trip being organised this year to Nottingham, and quite a few sports clubs & socs. And we managed to go out once or twice a week most weeks (some people pushing that to 3-4 times a week, think they have a few repeats this week though :P).
True that RCSI attracts a lot of international students, although this is mainly the case in Med. Our Pharmacy year has...~5 international students out of 60 of us.

Before I rabble on any more PM me if you have any questions!

pfannkuchen

I'm also in RCSI Pharm, going into 2nd year too! Just to add to what revz has said, don't let RCSI's size put you off - we still have all the facilities you need, a fair amount of clubs and socs and we definitely DO have the craic Great location too - I love being so close to Stephen's Green, Grafton St. etc, literally a minute's walk away

I found it really easy to settle in when I started and I think that we're really lucky to be able to see the same faces all the time - I know that I like being able to arrive into college and know that I'm going to see a familiar face soon enough. Our class are fairly tight-knit too and that's a major upside of the small-ish group... In fact, a group of us went to Madrid in January after our exams and probably will do something similar this year - was an interesting couple of days

I have a good friend in TCD and for a number of reasons, she doesn't seem to be enjoying the course/college as much as I am. They've had a number of dropouts and a couple are actually transferring to RCSI.

But again, as woodchuck says, you'll end up with the same degree at the end and it's really a matter of personal preference. It's hard work but you'll definitely enjoy it!

woodchuck

revz wrote: »

True that RCSI attracts a lot of international students, although this is mainly the case in Med. Our Pharmacy year has...~5 international students out of 60 of us.

Thanks for clarifying, I wasn’t sure if this was just the med students or not!

Sorry if my post came off as bias btw… but I guess I am :P

The only other advice I can give you is to obviously attend the open days when they’re on to get a feel for the different places. RCSIs is normally early in January and they do talks/lectures on various aspects of the courses and college life… so you might need register in advance, but not 100% sure. Best to just keep an eye out!

thetonynator

Thanks for all the replies and info!!!