<p>Hi everyone,
I’m a senior in high school. I got into some pharmacy schools. I just want see what are your opinions on them because I can’t go visit the schools. So below is what I got accepted into so far. Thank you in advance for your help. </p>
<p>Regards</p>
<li>University of the Sciences (6 years)</li>
<li>Rutgers University (6 years)</li>
<li>University of Rhode Island (6 years)</li>
<li>Massachusetts College of Pharmacy (6 years)</li>
<li>Albany College of Pharmacy (6 years)</li>
<li>University of the Pacific (2+3 “pre-pharm advantage”)</li>
</ol>
<p>I’ll hear from Northeastern University and St. Louis College of Pharmacy soon.</p>
<p>There was a student from UOP who wrote about his experiences-try a search. Everyone I know from UOP was happy with the education-I believe you go year round.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting. I found the post from j.project. I believe you're a pharmacist, who graduated from USC. On another note, do you know anything about the other schools? Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Pitt is a great pharmacy school. Nice facilities and staff, and being in Pittsburgh with the UPMC Health System, there are TONS of opportunities for internships and research. Pitt has many health related schools (med, dent, nursing, pharm, pt, ot, dietician, etc) so it is like a little community of health related students. If retail/business is more your cup of tea, well you can't spit around Pittsburgh without hitting a pharmacy. Pitt also seems to be well connected with their alumni and offer a good bit of CE, which I think is a good sign of a vibrant program. </p>
<p>It is pretty competitive to gain admission. I think you need at least a 3.6 to be competitive. I know a student who works as a hospital pharmacy tech and had a 3.5 gpa who had to apply three times to get in.</p>
<p>Hi lkf725,
Do you know anything about the programs that I was accepted into?
1. University of the Sciences (6 years)
2. Rutgers University (6 years)
3. University of Rhode Island (6 years)
4. Massachusetts College of Pharmacy (6 years)
5. Albany College of Pharmacy (6 years)
6. University of the Pacific (2+3 "pre-pharm advantage")
7. Northeastern University (6 years)
Regards, and thank you in advance for your help.</p>
<p>Not much, unfortunately. Most of the people I work with went to either Pitt or Duquesne. I do know one person who went to Rhode Island, and that person is an outstanding professional. One way I would check on how good a program is would be to check on the percentage pass rate for graduates taking the state board exam. After all, that is the goal.</p>
<p>Hi lkf725,
That's the root of all my problem. I don't have enough data to make a comparison. Right now, I'm leaning toward URI because the school is paying my tuition for six years; however, I plan to go back to California, and relatively few grads from URI have taken the CPJE. Do you have any suggestions? Is there a way that I can contact the "outstanding professional" that you mentioned? Are you a pharmacist yourself? Thank you in advance for your help.
Regards,
nebuchadnezzar</p>
<p>Yes, I am a pharmacist and I work with that URI person. If you go to school in any other state, CA doesn't reciprocate licenses (nor does FL). Therefore, you will have to take the actual CA board exam. It is probably pretty much the same except for the law part. You could get the info and self study. Another option is to see if there is a CA review course to prepare you. I know several people who passed the FL exam without any problem, so you will probably be okay. Six years of tuition is hard to pass up!</p>
<p>CA law changed a bit. When I graduated most of us took CA and NV because CA did not reciprocate. NV reciprocates with several states. CA now uses NAPLEX and a CA law. If you took the NAPLEX after a certain date-(very recent) and pass CA law they will allow you to reciprocate. CA used to have a higher failure rate with out of state & foreign grads-it is lower now. The change came because of the shortage of pharmacists. (& push from retail chains-my biased opinion). New grads should not have a problem. I agree-6yrs of tuition is very hard to pass up. I work with several new grads who own $100K+ All from CA but chose to go out of state for pharmacy school. I saw a link recently for self-study for CA. I'll look at my "archived" files.
LA</p>
<p>New graduates can now transfer NAPLEX scores to FL as well. Those wishing to be licensed in Florida must also take the MPJE law exam in Florida - and those graduating more than 12 years ago must retake the NAPLEX.</p>
<p>Hi lamom,
Thanks for the info. If you don't mind me asking, which out of state pharmacy schools did your new coworkers attended? This is simply out of curiosity. They may have attended some of the schools that I'm looking at. Thank you in advance.
Regards,
nebuchadnezzar</p>
<p>One went Creighton, two attended in NY, another somewhere else on the east coast-I forgot. Creighton was the only one with the name I recognized. I did a summer w/Abbott, one of the other interns was from RI-she was very happy. The Iowa gal went on for a PHD, the Univ Michigan was happy also.</p>
<p>I asked. Two guys went to Long Island-both had BS degrees-one in chem the other in chem or bio. Another went to Boston-I am not certain, but I think it was the acccelerated program-he said it was not too bad for him because he already had a BS-it was very fast and hard for others to keep up. All passed the new CA board w/o problems, all CA undergrads, English second language for all.</p>
<p>Our s is in the 6-yr pharmD program at Northeastern. At the summer orientation, the head of the program said that NU grads have had a 100% passing rate of the NAPLEX on the first try for the last 3 years. S worked during summers for a CA pharmacy and the pharmacists told him when he graduates should be able to study for the CA law exam with some self-study. They also said there is such a need for pharmacists that finding a job once he's licensed in CA should be no problem and no one will care which pharmacy school he attended. (BTW s loves Boston and NEU.)</p>