I will start off honestly. Just like 90% of Indian students, I didn't know a course called "Bachelors in Pharmacy" even existed the first time I sat for my medical entrance examinations.
Three failed attempts at medical entrances later, I finally decided to opt for this course. And even then, as I was sitting in the counseling room, I had no idea what this course was about, and this continued until almost halfway through my first year.
I will admit, it was depressing. B.Pharm never felt like an opportunity but more like a failure on my part. I wasted away three years trying to get into a medical college, but couldn't. And here I was, studying with people three years younger to me. It had made me believe that I was the worse among all of them.
I dragged myself through most of the days. But one day, a realization hit me. I had to stop feeling sorry about my life. Maybe I am worse than my classmates, maybe I am not. But for better or for worse, I was stuck with this course for four years, and merely sulking around won't change anything.
I changed my attitude towards this course and my life afterward. I was more attentive and enthusiastic about classes. And I soon started to see how this course suited me the best.
Following are a few reasons why I would choose pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy all over again, should I get the chance:
Firstly, upon hard retrospection, I came to realize that the reason I could never have qualified for a medical college was that it had a lot to do with being able to memorize stuff, something I have always been terrible at. I never could recall the plethora of scientific names or plant hormones or other stuff that toppers had on their fingertips.
Instead, I have a more analytical brain. I liked solving sums in physics and numerals in physical chemistry.
Pharmacy was exactly the type of course for me. From analysing the quality of drugs under Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance to studying methods of drug manufacturing in Pharmaceutics, it took an in-depth understanding of concepts pertaining to the same. In fact, some of the concepts in Pharmaceutics were directly related to physics of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics, and various other unit operations.
Now, this was something I can get my head around. I couldn't have recalled what drug to prescribe to a patient presenting with a particular set of symptoms, but I can understand how a drug interacts with our body and helps overcome those symptoms. I wouldn't have been able to remember the name of some complicated drug, but I can understand why and how a structure is proposed for a drug.
Secondly, I have always been ambitious about research. I know, I was stupid and I had no idea how I would get into research had I qualified to get into a medical college, but that was all I knew back then. I just hoped I'd figure it out along the way.
However, the current pharmaceutical landscape has a huge scope for research and development, be it developing new drug molecules, or finding new ways of drug synthesis and manufacture, or developing Novel Drug Delivery Systems. Research and Development in pharmaceuticals has practically endless applications.
Not to mention the immense scope of growth. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the fastest growing industries, with revenues exceeding 1 trillion dollars worldwide. The market in India alone is third largest in terms of volume and thirteenth largest in terms of value, with it being the largest market for generic drugs.
Lastly, I would like to speak for the versatility of this course. This course is not limited to one particular type of employment opportunity, but instead, opens doors to many.
- Interested in drug testing and quality assurance? You got it.
- Want to get into drug manufacturing? You sure can.
- Clinical Practice? You have Therapeutics and similar choices.
- Interested in sales and management? You can always opt for Pharmaceutical Management and Administration.
I understand that many of you have doubts. Pharmacy as a course is rarely discussed as a career prospect and the general picture about pharmacists is bleak. Sure, pursuing this course was never my first choice either, but I have now realized that it should have been.
Prateek Gautam
22 |
Manipal, Karnataka, India |
Second year, Bachelor of Pharmacy |
Content Creator intern at Konversations |
Certified web developer |
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