Hey guys. I’m starting to make final decisions and my final two choices are between Pitt and Northeastern. I got a full ride to Pitt and full tuition at Northeatern and will be studying pharmacy. Any advice?
Pitt…and it isn’t even really close. Pitt is a much better Pharmacy and health sciences school and the reputation for such is much greater nationally.
not to mention your costs will be under 10K a year with a full ride at pitt and probably around 20k a year at Northeaster, over 4 years, that will be at least $40000 to 50000 in savings. go to pitt
You have a great opportunity for an excellent program at Pitt. Full ride means no taking out loans first 4 years and there might be scholarship opportunities for year 5 and 6 also. Tuition for last two years is $30,000 I think so you could potentially leave pharmacy school with less than $80,000 in grad loans with housing figured in.
Northeastern lists almost $15,000 for room, board and books alone. That would be $60,000 for just the first 4 years and then year 5, 6 you would be full pay. Also off campus housing in Boston is most likely much more expensive than in Pittsburgh.
@BlueRX How did you get a full ride at Pitt? Have the Chancellor’s scholarships been announced?
@indianboy2400, she posted in the acceptance thread about receiving the Helen Faison scholarship.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pittsburgh/1727327-scholarship-chances-p2.html
check this thread for some info about Chancellor’s scholarship
i am stuck with the same decision! i don’t have the same scholarship opportunity as you but i am so confused between pitt and northeastern pharm.
northeastern seems perfect co-op, already in pharm program, and boston…but it’s suuuuper pricey!
pitt the best you can get is a conditional seat in the program which might lead to a super competitive and unfriendly environment…especially with all the premed kids. less appealing campus than neu and kind of ugly pharmacy classrooms.
did you make a decision? how?
So have you met all these super competitive and unfriendly premed kids at Pitt?
What do you mean by full ride? No cost at all at either school? Frankly, I’d prefer Boston to Pittsburgh. Yes Pitts pharm program is great, but NEU does as well in placing pharm grads.
Pitt is better regarded and flat out has better programs in all health sciences than Northeastern.
One thing I’ve never seen or heard about Pitt is it being “super competitive” or “unfriendly”.
And this statement is based on???
Will highly recommend Pitt. The Pharmacy school (USNWR # 14) is strongly aligned with the Med school, sharing of instructors, etc. UPMC is a haven for internships and getting relevant work experience.
Lived in the Kenmore Square area of Boston for a couple of years recently. Met and worked with kids from ÑEU, BU and other local schools, so well aware of the caliber of students from NEU. Boston has an edge over Pittsburgh, but school months are rough due to the winters at both places.
Disclaimer : my D1 goes to Pitt Med (USNWR # 16)
Over 15 years of experience in biosciences at universities in the Northeast, West Coast, and South…any health science ranking you look at…the fact that northeastern does not have a full complement of health science schools and facilities, nor an affiliated medical center (which speaks to environment and opportunity)… not have and not unimportantly, the comparative amount of funding coming into the bio and health sciences at these two universities. I won’t get into Northeastern’s reputation around academia for gaming rankings. As someone else said above, it isn’t even really close. The comparative reputations are quite disparate in these fields.
Boom!
My DS chose between Pitt and Northeastern. He’s now P2 at Pitt. If you have conditional acceptance, don’t worry about getting in. If you do the work, you’ll get in. It’s not competitive in a face to face kind of way as everyone doing pre-pharmacy is in the school of arts and sciences mixed with hundreds of others. So, no unfriendly competitive stuff going on.
And yes, not only is Pitt’s Pharmacy program rated higher but all health sciences are are highly touted. See the links below. If you search this forum, you’ll see several discussions comparing these two schools and specifically Pharmacy.
http://college.usatoday.com/2015/03/24/best-u-s-colleges-for-studying-health-professions/
And in the words of adkdad Boom! 
For the conditional pharmacy acceptance you have to get 3.25 gpa in prerequisite courses, take the pcat and interview. We did not get the impression that Pitt was a super competitive environment. If your willing to put in the work you should be able to succeed.
@BlueRX – you mentioned that you are planning to study pharmacy – does that mean you would be entering as a freshman (pre-pharm)? At Pitt I think the competitiveness that you may be thinking about may not be in the pre-pharm classes, but rather in the application process to the school of pharmacy in your sophomore year. It doesn’t appear that Pitt is a true 0-6 guaranteed admission to the pharmacy school even if you are admitted as a pre-pharm major. Pitt’s website states that you must apply AFTER your pre-pharm math/science courses are almost complete (by spring semester of the year of admission) and all others by the fall semester before the year of admission. Pitt also requires applicants to take the PCAT and uses the scores in the pharmacy school admission process in addition to GPA and recommendations.
Our DS (pharmD 2013) knew he wanted to major in pharmacy so he chose Northeastern over a number of other options. It was a great choice and almost 40% of his class entered fellowship or residencies of their choice. The co-op program which offered three four month options for paid work experience within the pharmD curriculum (beyond the APPE rotations) also made it much easier for the rest of the students to find jobs immediately after graduation. Northeastern has built a very strong relationship with many industry/clinical/research/retail partners to help match students with their choice of career interest.
Northeastern is a 0-6 freshman entry pharmacy program. If you are accepted as a pharmacy student as a freshman, you are guaranteed a seat in the program which awards both the Bachelor’s degree in pharmacy studies and the pharmD as the final degree as long as you maintain a 3.0 GPA. There are about 10 universities that offer the true 0-6 pharmacy program (not all include bachelors’ degrees)–no PCAT, no interview, just continuation through all 6 years if complete the required coursework with a minimum of 3.0 GPA in the first two pre-pharm years. Your tuition for freshman and sophomore years isn’t wasted as long as you do your part. If this interests you, check out
Florida A & M University
Massachusetts - Boston
Northeastern University
Ohio Northern University
Rutgers University
St. John’s University
St. Louis College of Pharmacy
University of Findlay
University of Rhode Island
University of the Sciences
The post-doctoral fellowships at Rutgers are highly selective and the chosen candidates come from many different pharmacy schools (you can look them up on the Ernesto Mario Rutgers Post-Doctoral Fellowship program.)
If a Pitt applicant is admitted to the Conditional Acceptance program, there is no “competitive” admissions process. This is essentially a 2+4 program (2 years pre-pharm + 4 years pharm) Yes, the conditional acceptance is just that, and requires completion of the required pre-pharm course with a satisfactory GPA. The PCAT requirement is a requirement to take the PCAT - there is no minimum score required. If you do your part, you’re in.
Now, yes if a student is applying to PItt Pharm as an open candidate, without having the Conditional Acceptance, then it certainly is competitive and requires a competitive PCAT score as well as a competitive GPA.
~35% of the graduating class of 2014 went into residency and/or fellowships.