Looking to craft the very best pharmacy personal statement in UCAS will require you to deliver a top-quality statement in very few words. This is a major challenge, and one which can cause a lot of consternation for anyone attempting it. You are essentially answering, “why do you want to be a pharmacist,” as part of your personal story. But how can you effectively write an essay on that subject in the middle of your pharmacy school planning?
In this article, we provide great examples of UCAS pharmacy personal statements, as well as general tips for writing your personal statement.
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UCAS Pharmacy Personal Statement Examples
UCAS Pharmacy Personal Statement Example No.1
My father’s wristwatch lay spread out on the table in front of me in what seemed like a thousand pieces, every part in order and ready to be returned to its casing. The casing looked too small, but it wasn’t the size, it was really the complexity that grabbed me.
I love complex systems, and as I watched my father, the jeweller, reassemble his timepiece, I knew that I would be involved with complexity throughout my life. I thought of my father’s watch in my mathematics class when I was trying to solve more and more complicated problems involving formulae; I could always visualise them like that disassembled watch. It really felt like I was stripping numbers down to their component elements and putting them back together.
I used this knowledge to help other students understand mathematics when I worked as a tutor and then as a TA. I was able to explain my strategies for visualising complex systems to help my students in their own studies. One student had struggled with math his whole life but discovered a love for them once I had him visualising the numbers as components and gears and pieces. Watching his grades go from lower-middle to lower-high was very rewarding.
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My favourite place to apply my mathematics knowledge was in chemistry, and particularly in the laboratory, which I always found to be a wonderful challenge. This often felt like a puzzle as well, and success in the lab seemed to me to be wholly dependent on knowing how to put everything in just the right order; otherwise, like all of those glittering watch pieces, it wouldn’t fit or work properly. My best work in the lab was in several experiments we conducted to learn more about DNA. Even late at night when others had quit, I was still plugging away, trying to “reassemble the watch.” This hard work has paid off with the scholarship money I received thanks to those very experiments on DNA.
I knew that I wanted to take my knowledge and serve people, to make their lives better, and I have always had a lot of contact with our local pharmacist. My brother has been on medications his whole life, and they must be constantly reassessed to make sure he is still deriving benefits from his treatment. Ever since I was young, I have appreciated the precision and care with which a pharmacist creates medicine and heals sick people. This seemed to me like the best place to apply my skills.
My first taste of helping people in this capacity was in a job as a kind of medication delivery boy: I used to drive around my hometown, bringing medications from the pharmacy to sick people. This became even more vital at a time when people often couldn’t leave the house to pick up their own medications. It was an obvious plus to have someone who was willing to build on their knowledge of medications, as I was.
Since that time, I have known pharmacy was the right job for me. I’ll still “deliver” medication, albeit by making the medication instead of driving around in my used car. I will be happy to advance the application of my skills.
I know this is the perfect place for me because I can help people like my brother, which is an honour and a privilege, while doing what I love: developing complex solutions to big problems. My watchmaker father would have loved to watch me in the lab, working to my full potential, using my unique skills, and helping to get people the medications they need to live. It would make him proud. Knowing what I want to do in life and how to do it, it’s like seeing all those glittering components, spread out on the table.
UCAS Pharmacy Personal Statement Example No.2
Several years ago, my sister Flora almost died right at the beginning of our summer vacation. She was in a very bad collision with another vehicle on the road and required a series of extensive surgeries to give her back the full use of her body. Throughout this process, I cannot stress enough how necessary it was to have the right medications so that Flora could manage her pain. Those medications saved her life, along with the surgeries, and what made this all the better was how friendly and concerned the pharmacist was during our family’s hardships.
It’s this experience that made me want to become a pharmacist, so that I, too, could make people well again, all with a smile and a kind word. While providing treatment and supplying them with knowledge about their medication’s use, I also want people to feel cared for, as my sister was. Therefore, with my goal set – to become a pharmacist – I set out along two paths to achieve this end: increasing my scientific knowledge and growing my ability to care for clients.
The first path was informed most by my chemistry class. Given my sister’s experience, I wanted to understand the cutting edge of pain management. To that end, I enthusiastically joined a research team for a study on pain medications, comparing modern medicine with more traditional cures. Through this study, I found myself engaged in every aspect of laboratory work, but I most enjoyed identifying the similarities and differences between different medications. We found extremely interesting links between our modern medications and other, older types of healing.
While the study is unlikely to completely change our views – we won’t be replacing acetaminophen with an herbal cocktail anytime soon – we are being reminded that chemistry and biology are the basis for all cures, modern and ancient. Every medication uses natural ingredients at some point, and it is good to remember the history of one’s chosen profession. The study is ongoing, but the research is yielding very interesting results, which we are hopeful will inform pain management in the coming years. Furthermore, my curiosity and scientific knowledge of medications has been greatly boosted by this work.
As for my second path, I began volunteering at a medical clinic and set myself the challenge of remembering every patient’s name at the end of each day. This proved to be quite the high bar, and I didn’t always remember each person. However, I did find that, as time went on, I got better at recollecting faces and names, and I remembered several who came in on multiple occasions.
What may seem like a small thing or a first step – remembering a name and a face – humanises the patient so much more and helps me empathise with their struggles. As I move forward to become a pharmacist, preserving this attitude will help me remember to keep my clients in mind through everything I do. Our work is for them, and we should be as kind, considerate, and understanding as possible. That might seem like a small step, but I believe the whole point here is that the small things matter.
Flora’s recovery from her accident was slow. My journey to become a pharmacist, which started at the same time, is slow as well, but I could not be more excited to take this next step.
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UCAS Pharmacy Personal Statement Example No.3
To some people, I’m barely a kid, but I don’t feel that way. Losing a friend to drug abuse will do that. I had to grow up really fast in secondary school when my buddy Rod began to deteriorate. His loss is still something that I mourn and wish I could have helped prevent.
What started Rod’s downturn was abuse of prescription medication. That might seem like a strange way to talk for a future pharmacist, but the fact of the matter is that I aim to be a person who prevents the kind of disease and death that claimed my friend.
My experiences are a cautionary tale. They inform my studies because I know the kind of power that medication has. I know first-hand the concrete truth of what can happen if a pharmacist were to get medications wrong, explain their use poorly to a client, or be negligent in their duties. While no pharmacist was to blame for Rod, I still think about what happened to him in relation to who I want to be.
I have been volunteering with a youth program that helps keep teens off drugs and helps them get off drugs when they develop addiction. We work preventatively by raising awareness of the potential hazards of prescription medication. This has made me more conscientious about medications myself, and I’ve seen the benefit in my local community.
In addition, my experience shadowing a pharmacist, Troy Noble, informed my own studies in the chemistry lab while enabling me to learn about the day-to-day work of a pharmacist. This confirmed for me the practical ways that a pharmacist can interact with their clients to ensure safe medication use.
I asked Mr. Noble about prevention, and he said that clients are screened by doctors, but he gave me some good information about how to spot somebody who might be drug-seeking and who has slipped through the system. He also talked about how to minimise risk by being precise with medications and with proper paperwork. A lot of people think of pharmacy as being about the medications themselves, but I have become familiar with the systems pharmacists use to keep track of data so that mistakes don’t happen – mistakes which could have dire consequences.
After shadowing Mr. Noble, I got in some hours interning for him, mostly performing that same paperwork – since I was not qualified to dispense medications yet. I was also allowed to sit in with him on some client interactions, with their permission, to observe the clear, effective methods of communication used to make sure clients understand how to use their medications for best effects and with minimal risk of harmful side effects. Mr. Noble was even kind enough to allow me to practise client interactions with himself acting as the client.
Over the past several years, I have learned a lot, through the youth program, and through my interning and shadowing with Mr. Noble. I hope to take all I have learned, all my growth and experiences, and dedicate myself to helping with health care, as well as preventing the tragic loss of life. My practice will be for everybody like Rod who needs help and guidance.
How Should I Format My UCAS Pharmacy Personal Statement?
The thing you need to keep in mind for the UCAS pharmacy personal statement is that it is limited to 4,000 characters in length. While the exact word count will vary, 4,000 characters will only give you about 700 words on average, so you need to be precise and efficient in your language. Word counts are fixed and include spaces. Don’t exceed the limit under any circumstances. If you cross that boundary, you need to rewrite your statement to fit the spaces provided.
What’s the Purpose of the UCAS Pharmacy Personal Statement?
The personal statement helps your application by introducing you to any universities and colleges, or in this case, pharmacy schools, you are applying to through the UCAS system. This introduction is more personal than your transcript. It is not just information about how you performed on tests but provides insight into your character and who you are as a person.
Why is that important? It gives admissions committees a more complete portrait of who you are. It illuminates your personal views. Most importantly, it presents a kind of argument as to why you should be admitted to their school. Other information on your application will be universal – everybody has grades, for instance – but the personal statement is, as the name indicates, personal. Therein lies the importance of the personal statement – because if you can present yourself as a unique candidate, you’ll stand out.
Furthermore, admissions committees want to see a person who is ideally suited for pharmacy school. What traits will they be looking for?
- Experience in medicine, chemistry, or with the technical skills and knowledge required for pharmacy school. You don’t need to know everything there is to know about pharmacy, but if you have experience with mathematics, chemistry, or other related areas of expertise, this will come in handy.
- Understanding of what it means to be a pharmacist. If you spend your entire personal statement talking about how you want to heal sick people, the admissions committee might think, “Why doesn’t this person want to be a doctor or nurse?” When you talk about what makes you want to be a pharmacist, highlight the specific reasons unique to you and to the position.
- Personability. The ability to work well with others, to be empathic, to lead, and to teach – any interpersonal capability, really – are invaluable to pharmacists. Everybody benefits from having a student or pharmacist who knows how to communicate and create a friendly atmosphere at work.
- Curiosity and a willingness to learn. A curious student is a great student, and somebody who is looking forward to a lifetime of learning and personal growth is an enviable find for any university or college.
You don’t need to have extensive examples which demonstrate all four of those traits, but you should take any opportunity that you can to showcase them for the admissions committee.
Conclusion
The first step to completing your pharmacy personal statement for UCAS is looking up tips and advice. Experts can give you the edge you’re looking for to take your personal statement from good to excellent. Make sure to take advantage of all the opportunities you can to help you with your personal statement.
Now that you have perused this list of expert tips and carefully considered the examples presented, you’re ready to write a top-notch personal statement for your pharmacy application. Soon enough, you’ll be into pharmacy school interview preparation with pharmacy interview questions.
FAQs
1. What is UCAS?
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service is a charitable organisation that handles application processes for British universities and colleges.
2. How many schools can I apply to through UCAS?
UCAS allows you to apply to up to five schools.
3. Do spelling and grammar matter?
Yes. Although you won’t formally receive marks or a grade, you are presenting yourself and you want to appear in the best light possible. To that end, consider spelling and grammar to be essential elements of showcasing yourself as an ideal student.
4. What happens if I exceed the word count?
Your personal statement won’t be considered if you haven’t bothered to follow the rules of UCAS. So, if you exceed the word count, what happens is that you’ll rewrite your essay.
5. What do I do about writer’s block?
Working through writer’s block is about giving yourself ideas. One exercise you can try is to give yourself a blank sheet of paper and one or two minutes to free-associate just thinking about your interests, or about why you want to be a pharmacist. You’ll almost certainly come up with some ideas that you can grow into a good personal statement.
6. How long does it take to write a personal statement?
Spend some time on it. Coming up with a personal statement should be done over time to give yourself the room to write, edit, rewrite, and proofread your essay. You will probably want to show it to somebody else, too, or seek out professional essay writing services for assistance.
7. What should I avoid talking about in my personal statement?
Anything already covered in your transcripts. Don’t make your personal statement just a list of accomplishments. Avoid talking about too many subjects – focus is required. Of course, you also want to avoid anything that might appear to be a problem – particularly without explanation.
8. Can I edit my personal statement after writing it?
No. You would have to contact the university or college you applied to directly to see if they’ll take an updated version. Write your personal statement elsewhere before uploading it. Also write it in a plain text document to avoid formatting errors.
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