Pharmacy: SUNY Buffalo, Rutgers, or St.John's

<p>This question has been on my mind for so long these days. Cost in my opinion won't be too much of an issue because of financial aid (parents earn less than 50k), 1st generation Chinese, 2100+ SAT score, 3.588 GPA in high school (Stuyvesant High School, New York). Anyways I was wondering which school should i choose they all have their pros and cons.</p>

<p>SUNY Buffalo:
Pros: Gymnastics Club (I am captain of my school's gymnastics team), and I'm a New York resident, get to dorm</p>

<p>Cons: Does not accept Bio or Chem AP exam credits as substitutes for taking introductory Biology or Chemistry which is a required prereq, I need to maintain a 3.5 gpa til my second term sophomore year in math and science prerequisite courses and then I have to pass an interview in order to be accepted into their pharmacy school</p>

<p>Rutgers:
Pros: 0-6 Program which means I'm guaranteed a seat at their school of pharmacy, accepts up to 8 AP credits (which means I can skip Bio or Chem prereqs), New Jersey is the state that's surrounded by big pharmaceutical companies</p>

<p>Cons: No gymnastics club and it's in New Jersey</p>

<p>St.John's
Pros: 0-6 Program which means I'm guaranteed a seat at their school of pharmacy, I get to live at home.</p>

<p>Cons: No gymnastics club, they only accept AP credits in math and english and i need to have a 5 on the math related aps (I have a 4 in AB Calc and AP Stat -_-)</p>

<p>*Note: According to most people, bio and chem are known as the weed out courses, they require lots of time and studying just to pass.</p>

<p>rutgers if the costs do come out to be about the same. the pharmaceutical company thing is huge - my mom is in the industry and we live in ny, but she knows tons of people over in nj who are just looking to scoop up talented new pharm grads.</p>

<p>Rutgers, if out-of-state costs were not an issue.</p>

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<p>Do you know your estimated EFC yet? I think you should do a bit more research on financial aid before coming to this conclusion! At public schools, financial aid is mainly Pell grants ($5550/year max), NYS TAP ($5,000/yr max), loans (Stafford max is $5500 for freshmen, Perkins may or may not be available depending on the school but is usually in the $1-3K range/year) and work study. </p>

<p>I think you should apply to all three schools but I believe that you’ll find SUNY to be your most affordable option and you’ll likely receive a decent merit scholarship there as well. St John’s will also give merit but the COA is very high…make sure you understand all of your financial aid options before you make a final decision!</p>

<p>Very few school will accept math/science AP’s…for good reason. The courses taught in college have more depth than you would see on an AP exam and are important foundations for the coursework that follows. However having AP Bio and Chem will help you do well in your first year, so don’t think of it as wasted effort! I wouldn’t worry about the interview requirement at UB…if you can maintain your gpa and have some reasonable speaking skills you’ll be fine. They do offer “practice” interview sessions too!</p>

<p>Enlighten me if you will, and I worked at J&J research for a while but not in the capacity of a scientist. The Pharmacy schools we are talking about in this thread should relate to Phamacist License right? So why it has to do with the Drug Companies in NJ? My dear cousin went to Rutgers and it is a great profession. The differnce of Rutgers, SJ and UB is that UB requires you maintain a higher gpa is that the debate over here?</p>

<p>As far as I know, a Pharmacy License is a License, it is school blind, am I corrent?</p>

<p>If Phramaceutical Research is your primary target, a Biomedical degree seems more appropriate.</p>

<p>it depends on what the OP wants to do. the big pharm companies have all sorts of positions that he/she would be qualified for after completing their schooling.</p>

<p>I don’t think so, very few, if at all, these pharmaceutical companies hire Phamacy School grads. A pharmacist is much more valuable work in a pharmacy then go to work in a big pharmaceutical company. They are trained for that capacity - to dispense drugs. </p>

<p>If I were op, I would apply to all big name schools and see who will give more FA.</p>

<p>[Rankings</a> - Pharmacy - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-pharmacy-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-pharmacy-schools/rankings)</p>

<p>do not rule out UNC-CH either</p>

<p>Well, right now there are 17 job openings at J&J Pharmaceuticals alone that specifically state that a PharmD is desired. Looks like the pharma companies do recruit PharmD’s.</p>

<p>PharmD is not just dispensing drugs (though dispensing drugs itself it is not as simple as it sounds). Pharmacist are now trained for future in research and many varied clinical fields. The reason why now it is “Doctor of Pharmacy” and not “Bachelors of Pharmacy” as it used to be.</p>

<p>And “artloversplus” definitely has no idea what he is talking about. OP, here, wants to apply to 0-6 pharmacy programs. Almost all the top 10 colleges (if rankings even make any sense) for pharmacy require a bachelors degree before apply for a pharmacy program. </p>

<p>Finally, Kenny, all three colleges are great choices for pharmacy. Go where you feel most comfortable (it will be your home for 6 years).</p>

<p>As a recent St. John’s grad, as much as I loved the school their financial aid is not the best. I doubt you would be able to afford it even with financial aid (although living at home would help).</p>

<p>As a NY resident, I think UB is going to be your best bet. OOS tuition at Rutgers would be hard for you to pay.</p>

<p>I concur with the above poster. St. John’s financial aid is not the best, even if you are low income. Rutgers would be an excellent choice, but the out-of-state factor makes me say that University of Buffalo is your best option. You’ll get to live away from home - if that’s what you want - and pay a somewhat reasonable price.</p>