so i’m pretty sure i’m doing early decision to a pharm school and wanted to know the pros and cons for doing early decision. has anyone else had experience with doing it? I’m pretty sure this school is my top choice so would it be benefical to do early decision?
Are you full pay?
sry but what does full pay mean?
Full pay means you don’t need any financial aid be a use your parents can afford to pay the full cost.
Generally, early decision, is not recommended if you need financial aid.
why would it not be recommended if you need financial aid?
[Quote=Wikipedia]
Controversy surrounds early decision. Critics of the program think that binding an applicant, typically seventeen or eighteen years old, to a single institution is unnecessarily restrictive. **Furthermore, candidates for financial aid are, if admitted under early decision, unable to compare financial aid offers from different colleges
The perceived benefits for the applicant are the increased chance of acceptance to the number one choice, and the reduced stress of needing to prepare only one application if accepted. The applicant must then decide if the financial aid offer is sufficient.
You would definitely want to try to get into a school with lower tuition if possible. With the job market being terrible and getting even worse each year, many students graduate with $200k+ in loans and have a hard time finding a job.
Early decision means that you will definitely go to that school, if admitted, come heck or high water. (I didn’t think they had ED in grad school.) That means you guarantee the school that you will go and pay their full fees. You don’t have a whole lot of options for any aid; it’s a post-grad program. Most programs run about $60k per year, so you need to have some good funding.
My daughter will be applying to pharmacy programs this fall, and there is little financial aid for post-grad pharmacy programs. Even with her high PCAT, and URM status, she can’t get any financial aid other than loans. We will be funding her and paying full fees. Pharmacy grads currently have a weak job outlook, so we are hoping her former and current internships at clinics will help her find a job in 3 years.
@auntbea Where is she applying? UW-Madison School of Pharmacy has some scholarship money for URMs.
Thanks @Madison85!
Dd has a huge pile of school letters that were sent to her after her PCAT Results.
Right now, we don’t care where she goes. She’s out of the country right now. If she gets money, that would really help!
From what I understand, I think pharmacy is like vet school. Starting salaries are pretty good but there is not a lot of upside for the vast majority of people with those degrees. And because grad school rarely comes with anything other than loans in terms of financial assistance, undergrad as cheap as possible becomes the mantra.