U Waterloo Medicinal Chemistry Program

[punter]

I'm curious what your thoughts are on this program:

https://uwaterloo.ca/science/current-undergraduate-students/majors-minors-specializations/medicinal-chemistry-co-op-only

It's a new program at Waterloo. It sounds to me to be similar to pharmacology, but I was under the impression that pharmacology was mainly a graduate degree.

The career that this degree prepares you for sounds like something a pharmacologist, graduate chemistry or graduate pharmacy student might do. While there is a decent co-op, what do you guys think the job outlook is for someone with an undergrad degree in medical chemistry? Is this along the same track as someone persuing an undergrad in Medical Physics, who hopes to get a related job in healthcare, only to realize that an Honors Physics degree and Masters in Medical Physics tends to be the bare minimum requirement for such a job?

 

[SheldorMD]

I'm curious what your thoughts are on this program:

https://uwaterloo.ca/science/current-undergraduate-students/majors-minors-specializations/medicinal-chemistry-co-op-only

It's a new program at Waterloo. It sounds to me to be similar to pharmacology, but I was under the impression that pharmacology was mainly a graduate degree.

The career that this degree prepares you for sounds like something a pharmacologist, graduate chemistry or graduate pharmacy student might do. While there is a decent co-op, what do you guys think the job outlook is for someone with an undergrad degree in medical chemistry? Is this along the same track as someone persuing an undergrad in Medical Physics, who hopes to get a related job in healthcare, only to realize that an Honors Physics degree and Masters in Medical Physics tends to be the bare minimum requirement for such a job?

I think you have a fairly good understanding of what your prospects will be with this degree. You'd likely be able to find a job as a "Research Associate" in the pharmaceutical industry but will likely not be able to advance very far without a PhD or Pharm D.

So depending on your ultimate goal it may prepare you to be a competitive applicant for grad school, but I would count on leading too much research with only a bachelors.