aarrgghh... i am in such a dillemma right now...ucsi or imu?  ,wanted to go nott but due to financial prob,have to tick that off from my list,i've also gt an offer from sg to study science but i really really really wanna do pharm..though im not really excited about staying in msia as a pharmacist..but i've decided that the course is more important than d school...it would deft be best if i can have a prestigious school with the course that i want,but hey u cant have d cake and eat  it as well right? from what i heard,ucsi's environment isnt very good,in terms of safety,is it true? imu? overrated but its d only medical university in msia,so cant say much..academic-wise..both shud be around d same level,not very sure wbout that too...*sigh* any advice anyone? watever it is..need to get this out from my chest and my head...

monash is starting next year rite? haish...i dun reli like both ucsi or imu actually,but i dun have a choice,so....d last timei called monash,they said i dun meet their minimum requirements coz i gt a b for maths..god,i hate maths..i prob be goin to ucsi eventually..

ok, as funny as it might sound, i have a question to ask. Are pharmacy students considered as medical students too? i know dental students are. lol xD

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Added on July 2, 2010, 3:57 pm

haha how long have u been 'holidaying' ar?

hahaa i was merely asking. he can just say NO hahaaa.

woah since feb, that means u're deferring one year? eh how come i tot A2 is either in june/nov?

@maggi_78

okay.. so what subject you all taking now? microbiology, physical chem, biology, healthcare and?

well, i am no more in ucsi, thus not much of help to you.

would help you ask around...

Just read the article today about Monash Malaysia having a course in Pharmacy. Its a degree if I'm not mistaken? Are they doing twinning with Monash Australia or will it be full time in Malaysia?

I'm not so keen on it but dad said if I fail to make the grades for UK ones I'll have to consider my other options.

Though I'm on break now, I haven't started working in those areas yet. Maybe I'll start when I'm in first year or something.

Yes we will be sent to placements... but that is DURING the semester. What about the holidays?
@silvis : yes, Monash Malaysia has Pharmacy. They're already in their 2nd year of it. It's not a twinning program with Monash Australia as you'll have to complete the whole degree in Malaysia.

For the 2+2 program (which started in 2008) you are but for my batch and those before me (2.5 + 1), we aren't allowed to stay back. Apparently you have to be studying in the UK for a minimum of 2 years to be eligible to stay back, or so I've heard.

No idea, that's what my friend told me and said that if I want to work in the UK without coming back here then I'll have to do my postgrad there @____@ . Anyway I think a more probable reason would be that the 2+2 programme is accredited by the RPSGB whereas the 2.5 +1 one isn't XD. Why is it not accredited I don't know.

The 2.5+1 program? Well it is recognised by the Malaysian Pharmacy Board if that's what you mean and after registering with the Malaysian Pharmacy Board you can register in the UK, unlike the 2+2 option which allows you to register with the RPSGB and do your pre-reg there immediately after graduation. If it wasn't recognised even in Malaysia then what's the entire point of the degree right?  . However you said that you heard of some people who were rejected here  ? Elaborate more on that.

Hmmm in that case then it can't be the 2+2 batch as they haven't even produced their first batch of graduates yet XD . That sounds super scary though  . Well as far as I know my seniors' seniors didn't have any problems registering with the Pharmacy Board so maybe it's a few batches before them? Still a very chilling thought >_< . Honestly I kinda regret going to IMU. Should have went to Monash but at that time I didn't even know Monash had pharmacy and thought IMU was the only private uni offering pharmacy wtf -.- . How pathetic.
Then again when did Monash start offering pharmacy 0_0 ?

Hmm no wonder I didn't hear anything about pharmacy in Monash until quite recently. Well I entered IMU in 2007 so if I was to wait for Monash to start their pharmacy program then I'd have to bum around for an entire year =_= .

Omg you think I'm your personal gossip reporter ka? XD Anyway the thought of a totally useless degree is just....ridiculous. I might as well award myself some imaginary degree with a certificate made using Photoshop and a home printer =.= . Well at that time I've heard of UCSI but thought that since their pharmacy program was still relatively new at that time compared to IMU, might as well go with IMU. Same thing for Nottingham and I've never even heard of AIMST then. I don't think I could have gotten into Nottingham anyway since I was told that their entry requirement for pharmacy was a TER of 95 (for SAM/Ausmat) and I only got a TER of 94 =_______=;;;;;;;;. Super pathetic.
Well I figured that since Monash is more well known than IMU internationally then it should be more recognised internationally and might look more impressive to potential employers. Anyway I also didn't feel THAT comfortable with the environment in IMU. Don't get me wrong, most of my classmates were absolutely lovely and I've made some wonderful friends there but I felt that the 'kiasu' culture was very prevalent in IMU  and I personally found it to be quite suffocating at times.

Yeah but Monash is very well established in Malaysia so I figured that they can't be THAT bad. Also at that time I haven't heard much about Nottingham yet. Oh sorry I mixed up UCSI with SIT =_= . That's the one twinning with South Australia right? Anyway if I'm not mistaken IMU started their twinned pharmacy program around that time too, somewhere in the late 90s/early 2000s. Their BPharm program started in 2004 I think.

True, but what about when I want to enter the private sector?

Hmmmm my best friend is from Monash too and he (and his friends) seem to be VERY chilled out. Therefore from that I assumed that the general atmosphere in Monash is less kiasu XD . Also I thought that the entry requirements for Monash are lower than Nottingham? I think you only need a TER of 90 to enter. Absolutely no idea about A-levels requirements as I didn't do A levels. However the entry requirements for both unis are still way higher than IMU  .

True but I think they'll look at your degree too to some extent, right?

My friend is doing biotech and his group of friends are either in biotech or business if I'm not mistaken. However, another friend's cousin who is doing medicine in Monash is also very chilled out. Like baoz said, it depends a lot on who do you mix with but still in IMU I felt that the kiasu crowd was well....almost everyone.

I just checked Nottingham's entry requirements and they apparently require a minimum of AAB for A levels as well. For SAM apparently it'll 'be considered on a case-by-case basis' . Yet I was told at the education fair that they want a TER of 95. Wtf tipuuuuuuu T_T . AAB is quite high but at least it's not something even more insane like AAA with an A in general paper. Last time I checked the entry requirements for IMU was BBB for A levels and TER 80 for SAM. Wtf ridiculous =_=;; .

SIT stands for Sepang Institute of Technology I think.

No I mean that IMU's entry requirements for pharmacy are ridiculously low. Not Monash's requirements for medicine XD XD XD.

Everyday go ta kei, drink, yum cha, clubbing, not chilled meh? When I say everyday I am seriously not exaggerating k. As for the friend's cousin I do not know. Just heard from my friend. By the way he has time to jam and spends quite a lot of time on his band so I think that is some indication that he is QUITE chilled out. Not very chilled but not super stressed out and kiasu either. Well, you can say some of them are like that, yes but not all. A few are really hardcore kiasu cases and practically live in the library. They also have panic attacks if they think someone has studied more than them (once again, true story and not exaggerating) .

@zstan

after a semester. well, aus intakes are in feb. so i kill my 6 months by doing a semester at ucsi.

@baoz

why are you that into industrial anyway? QA and QC role?

if you want initial exposure to drugs, clinical or community would be better.

as weird as this going to sound,  i am not too sure what community pharmacy in malaysia has to offer. the least they will have toiletries and OTC the very least?