<p>I'm going to be a junior this September and I know I want to do Pharmacy. The thing is that I only know one good school with a competitive PharmD program. That would be USP. Would anyone know any other good colleges for studying Pharmacy (preferably with a program)?</p>
<p>Rutgers has a good pharmacy program</p>
<p>Here is an abbreviated version of the Rugg's list (based on which schools I consider to be the best): </p>
<p>MOST SELECTIVE
Suny Buffalo, butler (Indiana), creighton (nebraska), UF, U of Illinois, U of Iowa, UMich, U of Minnesota, UNC, purdue, rutgers, u of wisco</p>
<p>VERY SELECTIVE
albany coll of pharm, arizona, uconn, drake (iowa), duquesne (pittsburgh), u of georgia, howard, u of kansas, u of kentucky, umd, mass coll of pharm, northeastern, ohio state, pitt, uri, usp, u of south carolina, usc, st johns in ny, st louis coll of pharm, temple, u of texas at austin, vcu, washington state, uwv, xavier</p>
<p>I was considering pharmacy last year (i'm a rising senior) but didn't like any of the schools i found with pharm programs plus I discovered physics & am now interested in engineering.</p>
<p>It has everything you ever wanted to know about pharmacy.</p>
<p>Pharmacy</a> Forums [ PharmD ] - Student Doctor Network Forums</p>
<p>here's the USNWR ranking from 2005. not sure if there's a more current one</p>
<p>Rank Pharmacy SchoolAverage assessment score (5.0 = highest)
1. University of California--San Francisco4.6
2. University of Texas--Austin4.4
3. University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill4.2
4. Purdue University (IN)4.1
University of Arizona4.1
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor4.1
University of Minnesota--Twin Cities4.1
8. University of Illinois--Chicago4.0
University of Kentucky4.0
University of Maryland--Baltimore4.0
11. Ohio State University3.9
University of Florida3.9
University of Wisconsin--Madison3.9
14. University of Southern California3.8
University of Utah3.8
University of Washington3.8
17. University at Buffalo--SUNY3.7
University of Iowa3.7
University of Kansas3.7
University of Tennessee--Memphis3.7
21. Virginia Commonwealth University3.6
22. University of Georgia3.5
23. University of Colorado--Denver and Health Sciences Center3.4
University of Pittsburgh3.4
25. Auburn University--Main Campus (Harrison) (AL) 3.2
Rutgers State University--New Brunswick (Mario) (NJ) 3.2
27. Medical Universtiy of South Carolina3.1
Univ of the Sciences in Philadelphia-Philadelphia Col of Pharmacy & Sci3.1
University of Nebraska Medical Center3.1
30. Mercer University-Southern School of Pharmacy (GA)3.0
University of Mississippi3.0</p>
<p>2005</a> School Rank</p>
<p>Don't be overly concerned about rankings - with an average of under 100 spots per year EVERY pharmacy school is competitive, they are highly scrutinized to keep their accreditation, and once you have a Pharm D there is no real advantage to having gone to one particular school! </p>
<p>You might instead look at their retention rates, the percent of grads who pass their boards, and what kind of gpa you're required to maintain and what "assurances" the school will give you, if any, if it's a 2+4 program. I'd focus in on the kind of program you want (2+4 vs. 0-6), this could be a very key issue in how happy you are with your choice a couple of years from now. Also, some schools offer PharmD/MBA, etc. which might be attractive if you want to move out from behind the counter!</p>
<p>The link I provided above has ALL that information.</p>
<p>My mother went to Auburn (in AL) and loved it. It just depends if you can live in AL or not.</p>
<p>University of Pittsburgh has a Conditional Guarantee to PharmD program if you keep a 3.25 in your pre-reqs there. APPLY EARLY, because they only accept about 60 freshman applicants for this program. All 60 spots were taken by Nov 1 this past admissions season(Pitt is rolling admissions). Many other schools have the conditional guarantee into Pharm School too.</p>
<p>I think there is some confusion here. Some of the schools listed are definitely pharmD schools in the professional school model (ie like medical schools) while I think there's at least one 0-6 program that's been listed. </p>
<p>There are two options to get a PharmD: 0-6 and 2+4. </p>
<p>The 0-6 model takes students directly from HS and runs them through all the necessary pre-pharm courses (chemistry, bio, business, etc). You will lose a significant portion of the "undergraduate experience" by going to these schools. The PCAT may or may not be required. Competition into these schools will be tough, but depending on your stats coming out of HS, could be much easier than the competition for pharmacy school coming out of undergrad. (If you have a 35 ACT, good GPA, and a lot of pharm tech experience, you might be as close to a lock as possible - not guaranteed but very good chances).</p>
<p>The 2+4 model is much more in line with the other professional schools (ie Med, law, dentistry). Students go to college (any college will do), complete the pre-pharm requirements, take the PCAT (not required by all pharm schools but a significant number do want it) and then apply directly to the pharm school. If you know that pharmacy is where you want to go and take only the pre-reqs (no electives) you can finish those in 2 years and enter pharmacy school during what would have been your junior year of college. Or, you can just as easily stay in college and receive your bachelors' degree and apply for entrance after graduation. </p>
<p>There are pros and cons to each path, but all will lead to you being a practicing pharmacist. I don't know the stats about career placement (ie if you wanted to complete a pharm residency to do something like inpatient or critical care pharmacy). It's possible that the 2+4 schools have better placement rates into more competitive fields, while the 0-6 programs are more likely to put you in charge of a Walgreen's (I'm not saying this is the case, just that it might be). </p>
<p>There is also the obvious lack of the "college experience" (or at least reduction) that comes from a 0-6 program. I have two fraternity brothers who are both in pharmacy school at one of the schools (2+4) listed above, both of whom got their Bachelor's degrees and neither one of them would have traded their UG experience for the world, they had a great time in college. </p>
<p>Further, the 0-6 programs do run into the problems of burnout and the question of what happens if you change your mind about the career. Going to college and being pre-pharm gives you a lot more flexibility.</p>
<p>Finally, and this is important for some people, if you have the stats necessary to get into a 0-6 program, you definitely have the stats to get into a pretty highly ranked college. Most 0-6 programs are not at very highly ranked schools and so the argument is that you'd be better off going to college, and then trying to get into a higher ranked pharm program.</p>
<p>There are some pharmacists on this board, they may be able to offer more insight. But there's a lot to think about.</p>
<p>US News & World Report has pharmacy school rankings (last ranked in 2008): [Best</a> Pharmacy Programs | Top Pharmacy Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/pharmacy-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-health-schools/pharmacy-rankings)</p>
<p>Also, here is a website showing a directory of [url=<a href=“http://www.pharmdprograms.org%5DPharmD%5B/url”>http://www.pharmdprograms.org]PharmD[/url</a>] Programs. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>