I think he meant 7.30am to 5pm?

Technically, it's an exchange and not transfer. Transfer means you complete your degree in Australia and graduate there. Exchange means you do a sem in Aus and graduate back in Malaysia.

Both IMU and Monash are good in their own ways. IMU has long been established in Malaysia. Monash is long established in Australia but not in Malaysia. Should your gf come in next year, it should not be a problem because Monash Malaysia would have already been considered established. Facilities wise, I would say that Monash has the better edge compared to IMU.

Honestly it is very difficult to compare because not many people have done both in IMU and Monash. I only know of one friend who moved from IMU to Monash and she seems to be liking Monash better.

I wouldn't advise to bang on the IMU scholarship. It's probably even harder to get compared to JPA. JPA local scholarship shouldn't be too difficult to get as compared to overseas scholarship.

One other scholarship that is very popular among Monash Pharmacy students is the Maxis scholarship. You can apply for it in any year. Of course, the earlier you apply the less you'd rugi (they only start paying from the semester in which you were granted the scholarship). I'd say go for this! The only reason why I didn't go for it is because I'm not a Maxis postpaid user and none of my family members are.

Yeah, we do need to know these techniques for analytical purposes but not to great depth.

I've only dealt with antibodies (blotting) in the lab and it was a really minor experiment. Our focus is more on the drug itself rather than biomolecules. We do experiments like testing the physical stability of tablets, testing the response of tissue towards certain drugs...

There are lots of chemistry but very minimal of counting moles and equations. In fact, we don't actually learn inorganic chemisty (equations).

We have lots of organic chemistry and a bit of physical chemistry.

You do get about 1 or 2 lab reports for BPharm..

For B. Science they have lab reports every week in Sunway but not in Clayton.

I guess it's a Malaysian thing.

It's not a matter of the number of patients. But rather the population.

Technically every patient is supposed to be seen by both a doctor and a pharmacist. Unfortunately we don't have such system.

The ratio of pharmacist to the population is only around 1 in every 4000.

The elaun being cut and all that are matter of politics. Nothing to do with the growing number of pharmacists or doctors.

Clinical Pharmacy is fully integrated into your undergraduate Pharmacy degree. Taking up clinical pharmacy means you do further study eg: Masters in Clinical Pharmacy later on.

But yeah, clinical pharmacy involves working in hospitals. You learn about disease and drug management in patients. Hospital is the best setting to do this because you have full patient record, history and data.

It's a degree programme offered by Monash University Australia and Malaysia.

Because they want critical thinkers.. therefore Physics and Chem. Biology is hard facts. You can memorise your way through.

@celeste lee : the monash pharmacy is not yet accredited by MQA. It should happen around 2012-2013 when their first batch of students graduate.

A Levels and diploma are different.

After high school, you can choose two routes :

1. pre-u course > university degree
2. diploma > work or university degree


Diploma takes about 3 years in which you graduate as a pharmacy technician. You can do stuff like package medicines behind the counter, but you can't counsel patients. You can move on to do a Pharmacy degree but you will need very high grades to be accepted.

Basically, doing a diploma is risky because you need to work very hard to achieve good grades to move on and further your study to a degree level.

In the event you don't score well, you are stuck as a pharmacy technician because the prospects aren't as good as being a pharmacist.

As the name suggests, in diploma you are taught more technical stuff.

Diploma is more for people who just want to work as a technician..

Becoming a registered pharmacist is an option.

Why don't you email the respectives unis for now? Don't recall anyone from Lowyat who is studying in Taiwan for Pharmacy.

I looked through National Taiwan U's website and it is a mixture of English and Chinese. Can't tell if the course will be conducted in which language.

I'll ask a Taiwanese friend of mine and edit this post later.

According to this blog, the medium of instruction in Taiwan is Mandarin. http://tempinis.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/studying-in-taiwan/


Edit: Friend told me that textbooks and lecture material are in English, but the medium of instruction is in Mandarin. In terms of working there, medicines and drugs are written in English and doctors' notes, patient records, etc are all in Chinese/English.



This post has been edited by baoz: Apr 1 2011, 01:33 PM

Refer to Atkins textbook, or whatever textbook under your recommended text list. It's not physics, rather more on physical chemistry.

Once you hit uni you've got to self-study.

Well, what is the latest edition? Any edition will do actually. I don't remember any edition other than the white one, which should be the latest one btw.

There's no point buying the book itself it's more than RM 100. Just get the textbook and photocopy relevant chapters if you need.

I'm not sure/can't remember why our private unis aren't on the list but getting a degree from the likes of IMU, Monash, UCSI and AIMST can get you registered.

Yes definitely can study a local 4-year programme. I'm not too sure about Taylor's BPharm because it's into its first year. Anyone can enlighten?

Your safest bet would be IMU's 4-year BPharm because they have been producing graduates for a long time now.



@OMG! : yes, getting a PharmD in the US would take a longer time. They require graduate entry just like Medicine in the US, or like Melbourne Uni's graduate entries for Medicine & Dentistry. I'm guessing some countries or profession are moving towards that now.

This post has been edited by baoz: Apr 10 2011, 05:40 PM

Just a note, I've updated the first page with a link to the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society. You'll find a lot of information there relating to the pharmacy profession in Malaysia. As the name suggests, "pharmaceutical" doesn't limit it to just info about becoming a pharmacist. You can learn more about the pharmaceutical industry too.

Yes, you are right. I just had a discussion with an education counsellor the other day about this. Many people jump into these professions right out of pre-u because of peer pressure. At that time, students of 18 or 19 would also be too young to think if these courses are really the right one for them.

Imagine by 3rd year (when you are 21 or 22 and mature enough), you realise that medicine isn't what you want to do for the rest of your life. How do you jump out of it unless you have the money to do another degree?

Then again, I think this is practical for countries with a good public education system. In the event I want to do medicine after my BPharm or BSc (Malaysia via private uni) I would have to fork out at least half a million.

If public unis allow me to do this, I would be more than willing. Not eager to jump into the working world so quickly.

Unfortunately for Melbourne Uni, they have lost lots of students from the Asian region because of this Melbourne Model which they came up with (do a general breadth undergrad and move on to your professional degree). But many Australians are actually receptive towards this. Then again, they only pay 1/4 of the fees we international students pay. Not surprising.

It depends on the entry requirement for that uni. If I'm not mistaken, you would still need to achieve a certain grade (eg: first class or second upper) upon completion of your MPharm to go straight into PhD. Otherwise, you'd have to do another 1.5-2 years of postgraduate Masters program to get into PhD.

Try checking out the websites for universities such as Nottingham and Strathclyde in UK where they are famous for research.

I would cite the example of University of Queensland in Australia where they accept BPharm to do PhD if you achieve Honours (2nd upper or higher). Study hard during your undergraduate and this virtually gives you a 'short cut'. However, doing a PhD requires lots of commitment and very specialised interest. Some people prefer to do a Masters first before jumping into a PhD.



@zstan : Don't remember the exact mechanism. If I'm not wrong, it has got something to do with graded potentials rather than the "all-or-nothing" action potentials.. Constant firing of graded potentials by potassium ions can result from contraction. Just guessing so better to clarify.

I suppose every university has got good and not-so-good lecturers. Just have to accept that.

I doubt there's a perfect university in Malaysia with all the best lecturers.

University is all about being independent and self-studying. Attending lectures will help you. But the onus is on you to go home and study on your own, look up the internet and textbooks for better understanding.

For prac exams just be organised. Have a checklist and work procedure on your bench and follow it. Panic doesn't help.

For shaky hands just rest your elbows on the table while you're pouring out chemicals or other things. Everybody has shaky hands regardless.

This post has been edited by baoz: May 2 2011, 01:03 PM