Fear not - if we can do it, I'm sure you can too!

Pharmacists practise Pharmacy like how medical doctors practise Medicine. They give health advice, dispense drugs, provide some health services etc.

Pharmaceutical scientists are not (and cannot practise as) pharmacists if they've never studied Pharmacy and trained/registered as a pharmacist. They are involved in research relating to drugs.

Just on that matter, can you or anyone else elaborate on how the general public and healthcare professionals in Malaysia view pharmacists? Do they view us as respected professionals or just another glorified drug salesperson? I'm likely to move back to Malaysia soon and was just curious...

I'm not sure how strong the pharmaceutical industry is in Malaysia, especially in terms of research. Research in Malaysia is quite weak in general... not very impactful to say the least. Most pharmacists (with just a Bachelor's) working in industry end up in sales promotion (the job where everyone sees you as satan) pushing drugs/health food products to doctors and other pharmacists. Some probably end up in drug information services, taking phone calls from patients/other doctors and pharmacists.

If you really want to do research, I'd advise you to get a postgraduate degree in a relevant field(a PhD is good) to expose yourself to the scientific method, get some experience and knowledge. With a postgraduate degree, you will be more desirable to your future employers. If you can do your postgrad in a country well-known for impactful research like UK or AUS or SG, it would be better. Otherwise, I suppose a good local government university.

You could even consider working in academia (in university) or hospitals (clinical research only). If you like research...industry might not be a good place to look at in Malaysia but universities or research institutes are pretty decent. You can even take it a step further and work overseas first.

When I hear your story, it reminds me of myself a bit. I completed my BPharm in 2011 @ Monash, AU. However, in my 3rd year of study I realised that I loved pharmacology more than the practice of pharmacy. In my final year when I started working part time in a pharmacy (and after multiple work placements) I realise the pharmacy industry in Melbourne has gone to sh*ts.

This further compounded my desire to pursue a PhD. The road was tough however, I had to go through a research honours degree first and I have to score really well not just to win a scholarship, but even to qualify to do a PhD. I got lucky and managed to secure a scholarship from the state government of Victoria. I'm in my 3rd year now. I did not do my pharmacy internship after I graduated from BPharm, but you can choose to if you want before pursuing a Masters/PhD.

Indeed, big pharmaceutical companies (in EU, US, JP mainly) perform R&D and unlike in academia, you are very well paid and funding is often not an issue. The only trouble is the world is extra critical of your research cause you are part of a profit-first organisation. Assuming you will do a PhD next time, just remember - no industry R&D in Malaysia so you got to think hard about your future. Are you going to migrate? Are you going to do academia in Malaysia? Are you going to do clinical research in hospital?

Pharmacists are qualified healthcare professionals but in terms of drug R&D in the LAB, pharmacists are useless. The only role pharmacists have in research is in the clinical trials stage and even then, your role is quite limited. You will never be 'leading' a research project, always a follower. If you want a leadership role in research, you need either a PhD (to do scientific labwork or clinical research in combination with your BPharm) or a medical degree (only for clinical research).

At the end of the day, you got to strike a balance. Money first or passion first? Do a 4 year BPharm just to be a salesperson (but earn good money) or sacrifice extra 3-4 years to chase your passion and open many more (both research or non-research related) doors? Neither is wrong, just what tickles your fancy. But hey, if one day you get tired of research, like you said, you can always fall back on a noble profession in pharmacy - good to have options in life. You can even do research and be a pharmacist part-time too if you wanted.

Researchers can be quite flexible. There are plenty of people who have worked on different fields from Masters to PhD to postdoc. People generally have a broad preference (prefer receptor pharmacology or prefer the nervous system) but people are still willing to work on something different (switching from brain to cancer research for example.. or switching from the beta2 receptor to the muscarinic receptor). Of course the pharma company will advertise the type of research you will be conducting and you don't take the job if you don't like it.

Even in academia you don't necessarily have the luxury of option. You pick a research group that is close to your preference, if the the group wants you then you have to work within the aspirations of that group... sure you get to guide your project but it can't be wildly different to the goals of the research group. That's true where I work at least.

One way faculties and universities are judged on their performance is based on the percentage of students who actually finish their courses. Students with low GPA are less likely to finish their courses, as zstan has pointed out. While there are many cases of people who excel in university when they were poor in college/high school, it is understandable that universities do not want to take that gamble.

The other factor is of of course supply/demand. If there are plenty of students who want to do the course, might as well set a higher entry score so that you get the best, while still being able to take in the number of students you want.

I guess it should be fine. I know IMU does twinning to UK universities so those universities I'm sure will take postgrad students from IMU.