Pharmacy or Chemical Engineering

Originally Posted by Unregistered

can share with you about chem eng since im from it and pharm cause my friend was in it.
chem eng less than 5% is chemistry, mostly is physics and i wouldnt even say math. we learn things like fluid mechanics (how fluids behave in pipes etc, turbulent flow, laminar), heat transfer (different methods of how heat moves and how to calculate the amount of heat), distillation columns (how to design them to get a certain purity) i believe these are the main concepts

for pharm, ive seen my friend just memorise test after test and regurgitate. honestly, i would nv pick pharm over chem eng. you have so much more versatility. to do chem eng stuff (pharm, o/g, food, semi con) can even go out to banks and financial industry.

Those conceptual stuffs also covered in pharmacy... We dont only memorise tho we are needed to do so for.some of.mods and anyrelated to drug... Its quite a broad based course which means simply doesnt require just logical skills but also hardwork and good learning aptitude which is tough... And medicine/dentistry dont hv bell curve n dont.need do much chem as pharm.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

can share with you about chem eng since im from it and pharm cause my friend was in it.
chem eng less than 5% is chemistry, mostly is physics and i wouldnt even say math. we learn things like fluid mechanics (how fluids behave in pipes etc, turbulent flow, laminar), heat transfer (different methods of how heat moves and how to calculate the amount of heat), distillation columns (how to design them to get a certain purity) i believe these are the main concepts

for pharm, ive seen my friend just memorise test after test and regurgitate. honestly, i would nv pick pharm over chem eng. you have so much more versatility. to do chem eng stuff (pharm, o/g, food, semi con) can even go out to banks and financial industry.

you're delusional
there's a reason why chem eng IGP has gone down over the years

Originally Posted by Unregistered

you're delusional
there's a reason why chem eng IGP has gone down over the years

Hi, IGP isnt everything. If you are an A level student deciding which course to pick, please please please research more instead of choose your course based on IGP (which is what i did, tho thankfully it turned out well for me in the end).

IGP is really dependent on students' demand/course allocation supply.

For example, the Environmental Studies course in NUS FASS requires straight As to get in because the class size is as small as 20 per year/batch. Prospects wise though, IMHO it is not that good.

So one explanation for the IGP difference between pharmacy and chem eng now is because there are ~300 openings for NUS Chem eng while there are only ~150 openings for NUS Pharmacy.

Another is the difference in perception of how well the oil and gas sector is doing right now vs the medicine/pharm sector. Oil prices have seen better days...it halved from 2014 to 2015 and stayed approx stagnant ever since. Huge O&G majors have adjusted their bonus packages for employees ever since. In contrast, the pharm/medicine manufacturing sector is one that is here to stay.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

you're delusional
there's a reason why chem eng IGP has gone down over the years

IGP is not everything, potential first years tend to make the decision for their course of study based only on IGP and without much further thought for their future. IGP is actually only really determined based on the past year's 1) student course demand & 2) course opening supply.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are a potential first year and choosing your university course to study, please please please do research more about your course and future career paths you would be able to take and not just because your friend is entering the same course or your IGP is able to get you in.

Let me give you an example:
Someone graduating with a good class honors in business school will have it much better off during his job hunt then someone graduating with a good class honors in environmental studies. *Do note here that environmental studies has a cutoff of straight As and this is because of its ridiculously small class size of 20.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, IGP isnt everything. If you are an A level student deciding which course to pick, please please please research more instead of choose your course based on IGP (which is what i did, tho thankfully it turned out well for me in the end).

IGP is really dependent on students' demand/course allocation supply.

For example, the Environmental Studies course in NUS FASS requires straight As to get in because the class size is as small as 20 per year/batch. Prospects wise though, IMHO it is not that good.

So one explanation for the IGP difference between pharmacy and chem eng now is because there are ~300 openings for NUS Chem eng while there are only ~150 openings for NUS Pharmacy.

Another is the difference in perception of how well the oil and gas sector is doing right now vs the medicine/pharm sector. Oil prices have seen better days...it halved from 2014 to 2015 and stayed approx stagnant ever since. Huge O&G majors have adjusted their bonus packages for employees ever since. In contrast, the pharm/medicine manufacturing sector is one that is here to stay.

U are right in ur advice but i dont think pharmacy has a better cut off just coz it has 150 or rather 200 (recently)openings..... Dont tink 150 students difference can make an AAAA course become bbcb... Tbh, i tink its also because pharmacy allowed physics student to enter thus more outstanding students can enter. Chem eng used to be the alternative instead. Chem engin also has a perception of occupational hazards imho. Tbh people dont enter pharmacy for pay, its also because they are passionate to serve in healthcare (reason might be rejected from medicine, or doesnt like the sight of blood and likes)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, IGP isnt everything. If you are an A level student deciding which course to pick, please please please research more instead of choose your course based on IGP (which is what i did, tho thankfully it turned out well for me in the end).

IGP is really dependent on students' demand/course allocation supply.

For example, the Environmental Studies course in NUS FASS requires straight As to get in because the class size is as small as 20 per year/batch. Prospects wise though, IMHO it is not that good.

So one explanation for the IGP difference between pharmacy and chem eng now is because there are ~300 openings for NUS Chem eng while there are only ~150 openings for NUS Pharmacy.

Another is the difference in perception of how well the oil and gas sector is doing right now vs the medicine/pharm sector. Oil prices have seen better days...it halved from 2014 to 2015 and stayed approx stagnant ever since. Huge O&G majors have adjusted their bonus packages for employees ever since. In contrast, the pharm/medicine manufacturing sector is one that is here to stay.

And i dont tink environmental science requires straight As most of the years, more like 2As (around 81-82 igp) can secure you a place somehow

Originally Posted by Unregistered

U are right in ur advice but i dont think pharmacy has a better cut off just coz it has 150 or rather 200 (recently)openings..... Dont tink 150 students difference can make an AAAA course become bbcb... Tbh, i tink its also because pharmacy allowed physics student to enter thus more outstanding students can enter. Chem eng used to be the alternative instead. Chem engin also has a perception of occupational hazards imho. Tbh people dont enter pharmacy for pay, its also because they are passionate to serve in healthcare (reason might be rejected from medicine, or doesnt like the sight of blood and likes)

Yes, going back to my point about students' demand. Or should I say... "parents' demand".

We are very much an Asian community. A lot of parents have brainwashed their kids into thinking doctors/lawyers>>>every other occupation. As such, when students fail to get into their parents (and eventually, their) dream course of medicine, they treat pharmacy as their back-up plan to eventually break into the medical sector. Little do they know that a degree in pharma is way off in terms of prestige and recognition when compared to a degree in medicine.

This narrow-minded perspective needs to change. There are many other occupations that pay as well as doctors/lawyers without one having to forgo having a life, or at least better than a pharma degree.

Yes, chem eng is perceived to have occupational hazards. This stigma is hard to get rid of. The layperson would think of construction workers when they hear of the engineering. As such, parents are less likely to want their kids to take up engineering as they wouldnt want their kids to suffer/toil at their job.

The oil boom years back saw chem eng to be a lucrative career (as much as finance) and that is why the IGP surged to AAA. Now that this hype is dying down, everyone is shifting over to IT instead.

Having said that, I've noticed many talented individuals (my peers and seniors) not go into engineering jobs after studying engineering for 4 years. And for good reason - why go into engineering when engineering firms do not have to ability/refuse to pay market rate for talent, coupled with the not-so-good prospects that one may have if one were to stay in engineering (given SG's ecosystem right now is one that heavily focuses on IT and finance). This brain drain is really in alignment with what the ministers of SG have observed. Whether this will create problems further down the road.. we shall see.

Many students tend to adopt a very shortsighted approach when choosing their course of study and I hope to be able to give them some perspective as someone who regretted my choice of study. Hope this helps.

May I ask what are the common future prospects for pharmacy grads?
As an outside, I see most grads entering into the hospital or large chain pharmacies, some move into research roles at the big Pharma houses while some enter as sales Med reps

The Chem Engineers tend to have a more varied career, into the oil companies as engineers or more commercial facing roles or into finance and commodities

Originally Posted by Unregistered

May I ask what are the common future prospects for pharmacy grads?
As an outside, I see most grads entering into the hospital or large chain pharmacies, some move into research roles at the big Pharma houses while some enter as sales Med reps

The Chem Engineers tend to have a more varied career, into the oil companies as engineers or more commercial facing roles or into finance and commodities

Hello, afaik pharma grade work at hospital/clinic/pharmacies dispensary, some make it to the big pharm manufacturing firms like GSK, novartis & MSD (do note tho that it is very competitive to get into these MNCs because frankly speaking they’d consider chem eng and pharmaceutical science grads for their slightly more relevant technical skills as well). MOH and HSA do hire pharma grads as well (but then again, they hire from any disciplines too..) This is what I know from my pharma friends, but perhaps there are others who are more informed about this.

Chem Engineers definitely have a wider array of career choices - oil & gas, chemicals, pharm manufacturing, fmcg (lab/analyst), semicon, shipping... There are also a handful who do make it into finance/IT but they are really only a small % of the entire cohort.