Prestige matter for pharmacy?

<p>I did a lot of thinking and going over some stuff. After going from Law to Med School, with all the fierce competition, I have decided to go with a Pharmacy PHD program. (Simply due to factors like costs/job outlook/exc.) </p>

<p>However, Pharmacy Phd seems to be a lot less competitive and I am even wondering if prestige matters for this field? I am well aware that of course a better ranked school will always be better, however how much does this matter in this field?(It matters greatly for law and med) Once we finish the program, we get certification and get a job. I am use to looking at universities like NYU, Cornell, and such because of brand. The top ranked school for pharmacy is University of California--San Francisco (us news) which I never even heard of. </p>

<p>To the point, I would like to get this done as soon as possible. I was looking up accelerated programs (3 vs 4y) and the pharmacy schools that offer it hold accreditation, but there no name (unranked us news) pharmacy schools.</p>

<p>I could cut costs and finish sooner if I did this program, but it would be from a "no-name prestige" school.(unranked) UGA is ranked around 30 for a pharmacy school, but their program is a 4 year degree.(My local state college) Should I be trying to get into a top 10 pharmacy school and apply to a "t5" like "Ohio State University" (Ranked 5th) Does it really matter for this field? For law and Medical you can see a clear difference for job outlooks and starting salary, but I don't see any difference when it comes to pharmacy to be honest. (Ex. Clear difference between a J.D law from Stanford vs Emory law. Both great schools.) Am I just missing this? I am thinking it is one of those things where, "it really doesn't matter what school as long as it is a accredited program." </p>

<p>So what do you think?</p>

<p>I don’t know much about MS/PhD pharmacy programs, but this is my understanding of it all:</p>

<p>Are you talking about a MS, PhD, or PharmD? They are all different. To be a practicing pharmacist, you need to get a PharmD, which is a four year program after you have done all of the prerequisites, to put it simply. MS and PhD are academic/research degrees. You cannot practice with a MS (maybe you can in some states, but I don’t think this is the case). You can do a dual PharmD/PhD at some schools. I am guessing you can go for just a MS/PhD, but I’m not sure without doing any research.</p>

<p>Before pursuing a career as a practicing pharmacist, make sure it’s something you really want to do and not just a “well, this is easier right now” type of thing. You don’t want to do a program for a career and find out it’s not what you thought it would be like. Do you have any first hand experience in the field like shadowing, volunteering or work? If you have no knowledge of the industry, you will not get into a highly ranked PharmD program.</p>

<p>As far as the importance of prestige goes, I cannot help you there. I would guess that it helps, but is not a make it or break it type of thing. Maybe it’d be more important for a research program and not for a practicing. Talk to some pharmacists that work in types of pharmacy practices that you are interested in and ask them.</p>

<p>If you want to work as a pharmacist, as long as it’s accredited, the prestige of the institution will be irrelevant in terms of employment opportunities.</p>

<p>To find out if you would like to be a pharmacist (at least in a retail setting), you could take the pharmacy technician test (pretty easy, and you can study on your own) and get a part-time job at a pharmacy (they seem to be everywhere–Target, Wal-Mart, every grocery store). These pay pretty well and there is lots of demand. You can do a job like this part-time while you are in pharmacy school and full-time during the summer. I believe the fourth year of the DPharm degree is on-the job experiences for which you get paid (although not as much as a pharmacist). As to the prestige question, my best friend’s two children both went to no-name state university and both have excellent jobs. It might be different if you want to work for a drug research company.</p>

<p>You do not get paid your fourth year when you do rotations. At least at my school, you have rotations for both Summer, Fall and Spring semesters so it actually costs more because you have to pay for an additional semester that year.</p>