Overview
What is Pharmacy?
Pharmacy is the study of all aspects of drugs, both natural and synthetic in origin, including their chemistry, their uses in medicines, and how they work within the body. Pharmacists work in a variety of settings – community pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and within the pharmaceutical industry, to name just a few. In many respects, their role as a key healthcare professional is to help people achieve the best results from their medications.
Pharmacy: The course for you?
While this degree is an essential requirement if you wish to practise as a community or hospital pharmacist, Pharmacy at Trinity opens up a wide variety of professional opportunities in both industry and the wider healthcare sector. A strong interest in science is important to fully enjoy the course.
Pharmacy at Trinity
Trinity is ranked in the top 25 universities in the world for Pharmacy and Pharmacology (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022). The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has world class facilities with research space in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), which develops Trinity’s leadership position in immunology, neuroscience and cancer. The School also has purpose built teaching spaces in the Panoz Institute, including the Boots Unit, a technology-enhanced learning space which allows students to dispense drugs and develop communication skills.
Structured professional placements are integrated throughout the new programme and these take place in second, fourth and fifth year. A particular strength of the Trinity programme is the undergraduate research project, which may take place abroad and gives students the opportunity to develop focused laboratory or field research with one-to-one supervision.
Graduate skills and career opportunities
As an expert in the discovery, development and optimal use of medicines, many career paths are open to pharmacists. Your career prospects as a Pharmacy graduate are excellent. Employment opportunities exist in community, hospital and industrial pharmacy, as well as in state services such as medicines licensing. In addition, you can opt to undertake research, or apply for entry to one of the postgraduate courses in hospital, industrial or community pharmacy. See: www.pharmacy.tcd.ie/postgraduate for further details.
Would you enjoy...
- Combining science with a healthcare profession?
- Being a healthcare leader in your community?
- Becoming part of a community of scientists advancing knowledge to improve health and healthcare?
Your degree and what you’ll study
The Pharmacy syllabus has been designed to provide you with an all-round education in both the basic and pharmaceutical sciences and in the practice of pharmacy itself. The five-year integrated Pharmacy programme comprises a variety of approaches to teaching Pharmacy including: lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops, small-group teaching, problem-based learning, site-visits, computer-assisted learning, web discussion boards, wikis, online group assignments, communication skills, career planning, clinical case studies, inter-professional learning, laboratory and dispensing practicals, and a research project.
The programme is delivered as a series of integrated modules, examples of which include:
- Natural Sources of Drugs and Substances used in Medicines
- Formulation and Pharmaceutical Technology
- Molecular and Chemotherapeutic Pharmacology and Clinical Therapeutics
- Blood, Cardiovascular and Renal Pharmacology and Clinical Therapeutics
- Neuropharmacology and Clinical Therapeutics
- Physical Pharmacy, Formulation and Pharmaceutical Technology
- Sterile Products and Advanced Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
- Advanced Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Drug Discovery and Design
- Addiction Pharmacy
- Practice of Pharmacy and Integrated Pharmacy Skills
- Professional Practice and Public Health
- Organisation and Management Skills
Modules are assessed by final examinations and continuous assessment, such as written assignments, essays, lab reports, OSCEs (objective structured clinical examinations), etc. which contribute to the overall mark in a module. There are approximately 16 hours of lectures, 6 hours of laboratory classes and 1 tutorial per week over the course of the first year. Work experience in clinical and non-clinical settings will take place over all five years of the integrated Pharmacy programme.
In the fourth and fifth year, you will undertake a research project. The following are some examples of research projects which students have undertaken in the past:
- Medicines use and burden in people with intellectual disability
- New targets for old drugs: Development of novel beta-lactams with anticancer activity
- The development of dapsone cocrystals for pulmonary drug delivery
Click here for further information on modules/subject.
Study Abroad and internship opportunities
We encourage our students (second and third year students) to undertake the summer research placement programme. This programme allows pharmacy students carry out their research projects abroad (UK, Germany, Austria, France, US, Canada) over the summer (12 weeks) as part of their undergraduate degree programme. Students are either funded by the Erasmus programme or the School.
Study Pharmacy at Trinity College Dublin
Overview of 5-year integrated MPharm Pharmacy Programme by Prof. Gilmer (Head of School) and Dr. Sasse (Director of Teaching and Learning Undergraduate).
Course Details
Awards
B.Sc. (Pharm.) Honours Bachelor Degree and M.Pharm (NFQ Level 9) Optional: B.Sc. (Pharm.) only (NFQ Level 8)CAO Information
CAO Points 613 (2022) CAO Code TR072Number of Places
75 Places
Admission Requirements
Special entry requirements
Leaving Certificate O4 or H6 mathematics
H4 chemistry or physics/chemistry
H4 in one of physics, biology, mathematics, applied mathematics, geography, geology, computer science or agricultural science
GCSE Grade B mathematics
Advanced GCE (A Level) Grade C chemistry
Grade C in one of physics, biology, mathematics, geology, geography, or further mathematics
International Bacccalaureate: SL Grade 5 Mathematics
HL Grade 5 Chemistry
HL Grade 5 in one of physics, biology, mathematics, geology, geography, applied mathematics and computer science
Combinations of subjects not permitted:
Physics/chemistry may not be presented with chemistry or physics to satisfy requirements.
Graduate Entry:
A graduate entry route to this degree is also available. Click here for further details.
Students will have to undergo a Health Screening.
Students will be required to undergo Garda Vetting, see https://www.tcd.ie/students/orientation/undergraduates/garda-vetting.php for further details.
Note: In order to qualify to register as a pharmacist with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland students must also complete a fifth year, culminating in a M.Pharm. degree. There will be a postgraduate fee associated with the fifth year on the postgraduate register in Trinity, payable by the student.
A full listing of fees may be found on the Trinity website. The M.Pharm. degree carries with it an entitlement to apply for registration as a pharmacist in the Republic of Ireland.
Course Fees
Click here for a full list of undergraduate fees.
Apply
To apply to this course, click on the relevant Apply Link below
EU Applicants
Read the information about how to apply, then apply directly to CAO.
Non-EU Applicants
Advanced Entry Applications
Read the information about how to apply for Advanced Entry, then select the link below to apply.
Testimonials
What our current students say
Karen Padden
“The School of Pharmacy at Trinity College Dublin provides a welcoming and close-knit teaching and learning environment, in which all aspects of pharmacy, both theory and practice are delivered to a degree of excellence.”
Mark Lyons
“If you have an interest in science, a desire to learn more about how medicines and diseases work and want to be part of one of the most rapidly expanding industries in the country then this is the course for you.”
Negoescu Eduard
“Choosing Pharmacy in Trinity, a course that ensures a successful career, has been the best decision ever. I love all the placements we have undergone each year. I feel like part of a large family, thanks to the super-friendly staff and the Pharmaceutical Students’ association (DUPSA), who arrange social gatherings, wine receptions, and memorable events like the Pharmacy Ball.”