Anybody studying Pharm. and chem. science?

Lynibeth

really hoping to get int DCU. Seems great. Anyone studying pharm. and chemical science? What's it like? Worth taking?

Polly19

Hey.Im studying chemical and pharmacetical sciences at the moment ding my first year exams.
If you have a passion for chemistry and r willing to do the work then go for it.In first year its all common science,doing classes wit all the other science students so after first year if you find you want to transfer into another science course that is allowed.
Chemical and pharmacetical sciences is very demanding though.In first year for semester one I had 25hours and this semester I had 30 hours of lectures,tutorials and labs.
In first year you do 3hrs of biology labs,3hrs of chemistry labs and 6hrs of physics labs.But in second year our hours go up to about 35hours in which erey week we have 12hrs of solid chemistry labs,6hrs one day and 6hrs the next.
Hope this helps you
I love my course because I want to go on and get a degree in pharmacetcical sciences,as in third year the degree breaks into two degrees chemical sciences degree or a pharmacetiacal sciences degree.So Id advise anyone who will put in the work and has the passion for the course to do it.
Also some advice would be at the beginning of the year sign up for the mentor/mentee option as you will get a mentor whos in the second year of your course and they can help u realise if this is the course you want and what the course actually entiles

rugbug86

yeah, and if you decide its not what you want, you can transfer easily enough into biotech, analytical, physics or environmental. its a common first year for all the courses.
its a brilliant course though

Creature

I'm doing it. I'll be in third year come September. Its a good course but there's a heavy workload, about 25 hours a week. A lot of lectures in first year and a decent amount of lab work. In second year the lectures are thinned out and there's more lab work to keep you occupied.
Of course there's a lot of crap in the beginning. Most of it is beneficial as it gives you the basic principals of chemistry and what you need to know of biology. Don't get me wrong though there are some utterly irrelevant aspects; namely anything physics related.
Anyway I'd say if you want to go for it then do so. If you like science then you'll more than likely enjoy it.

Polly19

Enviromental science you cant transfer into after first year I thought as it covers subjects outside of ordinary science?

rugbug86

nope, not until second year. its exactly the same first year for everyone, AP,AS,AC,CES,GCB,ESH and its all interchangable. (numbers dependant)

Hester

rugbug86 wrote:

nope, not until second year. its exactly the same first year for everyone, AP,AS,AC,CES,GCB,ESH and its all interchangable. (numbers dependant)

Are you saying that all those courses have the same first year? Cause they don't!

On the DCU website on the common entry it says:

Choose one at end of first-year:

* Analytical Science (DC 161)
* Applied Physics (DC171)
* Biotechnology (DC181)
* Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DC162)
* Environmental Science and Health (DC166)
* Physics with Astronomy (DC167)

So depending on what course you choose after first year, you could be at a slight disadvantage to the people who did it from the beginning. For example, in my course we did programming in first year while the people from common entry hadn't. In second year we had advanced programming so they had to catch up on what they missed themselves!

rugbug86

yeah, but that's just one thing. all the lectures and labs are the same. trust me, ive done it twice.

ces dont have astronomy classes either so theyre at a disadvantage for PHA. but its up to the individual. obviously if they apply to do AC and realise they hate chemistry and want to do biology, they'll make up any slack (if any) that may follow if bt have done anything extra, which they dont. AS,AC,BT,CES,GCB and ESH all have the exact same first year, with the exception of timetables. if im correct, AP have extra classes, but that's only one. PHA have their astronomy. SCI have language and extra computers and SSH are completely different.

Hester

Ah ok. I'm doing AP and the only lecture in first year we had that was the same as other science courses was Physics for General Science. We didn't do any chemistry or biology.. everything else was different. Physics with Astronomy has the same first year as Applied Physics. I didn't realise that all the other courses were the same

rugbug86

Hester wrote:

Ah ok. I'm doing AP and the only lecture in first year we had that was the same as other science courses was Physics for General Science. We didn't do any chemistry or biology.. everything else was different. Physics with Astronomy has the same first year as Applied Physics. I didn't realise that all the other courses were the same

why didnt i just go straight into ap, then i wouldn't have failed chemistry!!

Polly19

Guys the only thing is its now being said that because Physics with Austromony is such a small class its been desided noone can transfer into it after first year.I remember the lecturer telling me that on open day whenw e were discussing it

Lynibeth

Thanks for all the help guys! Lol such a heated discussion! I'm only doing biology for the Leaving Cert. Did I need Chemistry.. ? It said I needed one science subject.. hmm. How long is a day normally in first year? In every day? Just curious I haven't a clue Lol. Could i change to any science course If I didn't like it/wasn't good at it?

Thanks a million everyone!

rugbug86

its pretty tough going, quite a few hours a week. you'll have lectures monday, tues and weds and labs thurs and fri. 4 hours chemistry, 4 hours biology, 4 hours physics, 4 hours maths and 9 hours in the lab. then in one of the semesters you'll have to do a computer module which is an extra lecture and an extra lab. then there's study on top of that but its an easy course.

chemistry for first year is pretty tough but its do-able if you put the work in
biology is the same but if you have LC bio behind you you should be fine
physics is a sinch for most, pretty basic stuff
maths is all calculus but again, its not too hard.
computers is easy, basic word, excel, powerpoint

in the first semester you'll have 3 exams (phys, chem, bio) and in the second you'll have 4 (phys, chem, bio and maths)

you won't have a computer exam as such, you'll just be given it in a lab. they tend to bbe fairly handy.

the days tend to be 9-5 monday, tues, thurs and half days weds and fri but that was just the past 2 years it might change.

you could change to Analytical Science (but that has more or less the same amount of chemistry as Chemical and Pharmecutical in 2nd year), Biotechnology, Environmental Science and Health, Applied Physics or Genetics and Cell Biology (this is dependant on numbers though!)

all in all chem and pharm science is a great course and if you put the work into it you'll get a lot out of it.

hope this helps, if ya have any more questions feel free to PM me!

Brow

I just finished the common entry year in DCU (CES) and havnt a clue what to go into now. Im swayed towards chemical and pharm sciences or analytical. I never did chemistry before but so it was kinda against me but if you work at it you'd be ok.

Lynibeth

Thanks a million everyone! Sounds pretty hard but strangely enjoyable! lol the half days sound good! Thanks rugbug!

ivanh

Hi everyone, I'm really interested in this course too

Can someone tell me how many places are available? The DCU site doesn't seem to say it anywhere (unless I'm blind)

Thanks!

p1akuw47h5r3it

ivanh wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm really interested in this course too

Can someone tell me how many places are available? The DCU site doesn't seem to say it anywhere (unless I'm blind)

Thanks!

I'm not certain but I'd say it's about 20, then in second year a certain number of CES students come into the course.

If your putting this first on your CAO make sure to put CES second as you can choose this from CES, and are more or less guaranteed a place (once you pass your exams).