About Pharmacology (original)

Iris_ttUID: 175245

Introdution of my article: Pharmacology is a risky field but a few people get it. Even if you get it, it does not garantee for you to be succeed in this field. But once you get through the extremely difficult and frustrating process, you'll be fine.

I was in NJ last year, I was surprised to see most Chinese researchers in pharmaceutical companies are actually graduated from a Chemistry PhD. So i don't know what's the scenario. The PhD process for pharmacology is difficult coz many (if not most) advisors did not receive enough grants (or any at all). So you have to choose advisor carefully. A pharmacology advisor can bring you into heaven and can also bring you into no where. But once you've gone through this process (5 or 6 years), you'll be fine.

A very risky field but worth to try. Be prepared for the turbulent and utterly frustrating process of the pharmacology PhD career. Most PhD students in my lab work till midnight. Most males are more suitable than most females because of the males' stronger physique and the habit of reading papers. Very few women succeed in this field, but once a woman get the inkling to shine in this field (like Lily Jan, from taiwan), that would be a really great woman.

For VISA issue, it's difficult to get VISA in Shenyang but easier in Shanghai.

Schools I recommend (Many Chinese accepted and get the VISA):
1. Oregon State University
2. Kansas State University
3. University of Maryland, Baltimore   (recommend this one for Niu Ren)

You don't need to waster time to try UCSF coz they simply don't allow you to apply from China (you have to get a US degree if you wanna apply these schools). So you don't need to waste your application fee and efforts on these schools.

Many school's pharmacology department are under their medical school, you don't need to waste your energy to apply anything from their medical school including pharmacology. I have seen too many supreme people get rejected by those medical schools in terms of VISA. ( A very Niu woman get accpeted by Yale University but rejected during VISA in two minutes. It's a pity. If I were her, I would apply a pharmacology program not under a university's medical school but under a university's pharmacy school)So you don't need to waste your application fee and efforts on these schools.

In short, apply the pharmacology under Pharmacy school or an independent department, don't apply pharmacology under Medical School.

For resume, focus on your research experience. Your GPA don't matter that much (one of the few departments don't care so much about your GPA) but you need to have very strong letters of recommendation preferably from an advisor graduated from Japan or US ( I know you may not like a Japanese to be your supervisor, but US has respects on Japanese' attitudes towards research). So if you wanna get into pharmacology, simply do research with the best teacher and the best lab in your current university.

On selecting supervisor, select those teachers that have published Nature/Science/ Neuron/ JMP,ect

Remember, you don't need to graduate from Pharmacology in order to work in big pharmaceutical companies, so be flexible and think in the long run. Good luck!

jeffjUID: 201802

I do not know much about Pharmacology in UCSF, but I am sure UCSF also give offer to chinese , at least in chemistry department. I know a Tsinghua guy got offer from there this year.

gdhdannyUID: 125843

Thanks Iris

Iris_ttUID: 175245

Thank you, Danny :)

jeffj: Natual sciences are always easier to get offer than pharmacolgy and medicine. Yes, you are right, UCSF does give offer to Chinese once in a blue moon. That's a very rare case not applied to most people. Yes, a once in a blue moon "Niu Ren" should try what he/she wants in his/her life.

圆白菜UID: 143578

Now I have finished my application, but it still matter to me.
Thank you, Iris.
And I still have several questions: According to the experience of my senior fellows' and mine,  a pharmacology program under a university's medical school is easier to get offer than that of pharmacy school because we think students in pharmacy school have more chance to find  jobs in big pharmaceutical companies, so the application is in tense competition. Is this idea correct, I am not sure.

The second question is you said students in pharmacology must bear the turbulent process in Ph.D study, then what is the defference between pharmacology and other biomedical subjects. Is students in pharmacology harder to get degrees than those in other similiar majors?

Actually, I am a Cai Niao, so please do not laugh at me.
Thank you.

[ Last edited by 圆白菜 on 2005-5-21 at 22:00 ]

晨曦UID: 177893

很感谢！

CalladabanyaUID: 163499

巨谢。虽然我不清楚哪种药理学更容易申请或拿VISA，但是去各大学看看，
两者还真有很大差别，医学院下的方向就如同临床的分科一样，而药学院下的
就包含像天然药化一类的方向，或许真的提示了两者的“天壤之别”吧。

Iris_ttUID: 175245

I have sent a message to you, 圆白菜. It's not a yes or no question and really depend on your boss and the type of research you are doing. It's indeed hard to apply VISA for medical schools. In terms of future promises, pharmacy and medical schools don't have much differences except medical schools have more funding.

Thanks Calladabanya, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology students take many courses together in many pharmacy schools.

Iris_ttUID: 175245

I say most males perform better than most females do in this field because some Chinese women in my lab switched from pharmacology to pharmacy once they married or become a mother. There are just so many things to do in the field of pharmacology and if you are bored by the repeated experiments every day, it's very frustrating to continue because most of the experiments are failures and very few had some 'results'. Moreover, most girls like to read textbooks rather than papers. Most boys don't read textbooks at all but only papers. That's the difference I realize why most boys perform better at the end. Many girls are very successful academically such as getting straight 'A's for all the courses, but very few women become ultimate successful in terms of research. Most researchers in this field become men ultimately even though girls once outperformed them in terms of school grades. By the way, even though some elites can work in pharmaceutical companies, they are still doing research. So it's actually doing research at school or doing research in companies. In terms of creativity, school is better because you can become the boss, but somebody else is your boss to tell what you have to do in companies.

圆白菜UID: 143578

I sent another message to you.

Iris_ttUID: 175245

I replied you, I think nutrition is quite easy to apply major, don't worry. You can tell VO how important nutrition it is in China (China is very concerned about nutrition). And Kentucky is a very good school both in pharmacology and nutrition!

Since pharmacology is something US kids want also, it's hard to compete in a field if US kids want it too. So don't feel bad, you are very capable. Nutrition is actually easier than pharmacology to go into a company coz food is what people eat every day, but drug is only a part of life. It's a good direction, don't worry.

nora0020UID: 104886

不知道毒理的情况怎么样?