<p>Hey everyone, I'm a high school senior soon-to-be college freshman and I'm having a hard time trying to decide whether to go to UF or FAMU for pharmacy school. FAMU gave me their full tuition and room and board scholarship over 4 years and UF gave me their presidential scholarship which is $8,000 over 4 years. I can afford either school because I have bright futures and florida prepaid and I feel more comfortable with the atmosphere @ UF but with FAMU I'm pretty much guaranteed acceptance into their PharmD program; however, college is 20% academic, 80% social and after visiting both campuses multiple times, I just seem to like everything about UF better than FAMU in terms of life outside the classroom (the only thing I like about FAMU is the pharmacy school). At UF I have to achieve a high PCAT and GPA and compete with many qualified and competitive applicants for a chance at a spot in their pharmacy school while at FAMU I'm in if I have at least a 2.75 GPA at the end of my first two years and do well on my interview because they do not require PCAT. The great thing about UF, however, is that there is so much more to do if I woke up one morning and said I don't want to be a pharmacist anymore. I wouldn't have even applied to FAMU if they didn't have the 0-6 pharmacy program which accepts you right out of high school based on GPA and SAT/ACT scores. Also, I am not 100% sure I want to be a pharmacist. I'm about 75-80% but that's only from talking to pharmacists and not actually shadowing one. But then again, I do not want to go to UF and realize that pharmacy is my true passion and not be able to get into their college of pharmacy while I could have been in at FAMU all along. I've always wanted to be a Gator, as you can tell by the screen name, but FAMU's pharmacy program is tempting. I appreciate any and all feedback.</p>
<p>UF all the way. You’ll be happier there.</p>
<p>Gator2014, how about you just go to UF, get awesome grades, and do very well on the PCAT and you don’t have to worry about getting accepted to UF’s PharmD program? I think the extra hard work is worth getting a degree from a very well respected top 10 pharmacy school in the country (ie UF’s). If you just want an easy ride to a PharmD degree, then I’d suggest just going to FAMU.</p>
<p>UF… nothing worse than a lazy pharmacist and going the easy route in school isn’t starting anyone off on the right foot. Not to mention you listed several other reasons UF is a better choice. Also I suggest that you do somehow get some experience in a pharmacy setting whether it’s volunteering or shadowing a pharmacist in your undergrad time. It’s pretty invaluable for your admission process… the pharmacy community is smaller than you’d think, everyone knows everyone and a lot of the pharmacists in the Gville area attended UF. Also it’s always a good idea to see what you’re getting into rather than just looking at the potential paycheck.</p>
<p>Well it’s been a year since my decision and I am extremely happy to report that I ended up choosing FAMU and I absolutely love it! The professors are amazing and I made straight A’s this past semester after making 5 A’s and 1 B in my first semester. My current cumulative GPA is 3.88 and I am applying to the professional pharmacy program (real pharmacy school) this Fall to begin in Fall 2012 because I only have 30 pre-pharmacy credits left to complete!!! There is no better place to pursue a career in pharmacy than FAMU, I now have no doubt in my mind that I want to be a pharmacist, and I strongly urge anyone interested in the field to seriously consider FAMU. Trust me, my friends that went to UF are not doing so well and it’s not because FAMU is by any means easier than UF because I can assure you that it is not and I know this for a fact because my friends that went to UF would call me asking for help with chemistry and I honestly knew so much more than they did. I think a huge advantage is that our class sizes are relatively no larger than 100 students, with most having a maximum capacity of anywhere between 30-50 students, unlike my Gator friends who literally had up to 1,000 students in some of their classes. This allows our professors to get to know each of their students and work with them to overcome their certain individual weak areas. Also, because I’m on full scholarship I get first preference with enrollment so I’m never void of a class that I need to stay on track with the pre-pharmacy curriculum. Life outside of class is also very fun but pharmacy is no joke and the courses that we’re taking are very rigorous and challenging so you must remain focused at all times if you want to get that Doctor of Pharmacy degree in 6 years! By the way, can anyone tell me how to change my username? lol</p>
<p>I am also currently doing a summer internship at a pharmacy owned by a FAMU grad which is furthering my knowledge of pharmaceuticals and expanding my interest and passion for the career as a whole. Additionally, there seems to be more FAMU pharmacy alums than UF ones in South Florida (I actually went to 5 different CVS’s/Walgreens’ in my area one day after school toward the end of my senior year of high school and I found a FAMU grad at nearly all of them and didn’t find a UF one until I got to the 4th pharmacy and this pharmacist told me, interestingly enough, that it took 8 years to complete her studies, which was a huge red flag and made my decision even more clear).</p>
<p>Note: Please always remember that rankings are just numbers that don’t mean everything…they really don’t mean anything because although FAMU may not be “ranked” as high as UF in these relatively meaningless numerical rankings that are biased anyway, FAMU’s pharmacy school is still one of the most highly regarded in the nation and grads from both schools and all accredited colleges of pharmacy for that matter get the same jobs, opportunities, and salaries based on their abilities and not from the name of the school that’s on their degrees.</p>
<p>Hi!
I’m so glad that I came upon your forum! I’m a junior in high school, and I am really thinking
about becoming a pharmacists. I am a true FSU fan at heart, but sadly FSU doesn’t have a School of Pharmacy. That leaves me with UF or FAMU. Reading your forum really helped me a lot! Are you still happy with your decision to attend FAMU? What is the atmosphere like? I’d really love to learn more about the school’s program! </p>
<p>Thanks for your time!</p>
<p>Hello everyone, this is the user formerly known as Gator2014. I can’t believe it’s already been 2 years since I started this thread, and I am beyond pleased to report that I am now officially a Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at Florida A&M University’s College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences as I have just recently been accepted to their professional PharmD program to begin my studies this Fall! I ended up completing FAMU’s pre-pharmacy program with a 3.89 cumulative GPA, getting a total of 25 A’s and 2 B’s in all of my prerequisites; and of course, I never had to pay a dime for any of it because of my full scholarship which will also cover my first two years of pharmacy school! How many people do you know who are only 19 going on 20 and just graduated high school two years ago, yet they’re already about to start their first professional year of pharmacy school?!?! Again, the choice should be quite simple to those coming after me: FAMU for pharmacy all the way, because you too can become a Doctor of Pharmacy by the age of 23 going on 24!!!</p>
<p>Thats great to here. I’m a junior going on to being a senior in the fall. I have to start applying for college also. I live in florida as well and I’m eligible for bright futures and currently have 1 scholarship for I think 12,000. I want to get into pharmacy and work my way through until I can get a Phd and maybe work as a pharm tech. I know a pharmacist that I’m going to talk to this summer and he owns his own pharmacy. I always wanted to go to FSU but now I’m considering UWF and FAMU. I’m also going to apply to UF. There’s supposed to be a FAMU pharmacy school built where I live but funding has slowed it down. Do you have any advice to share. What was your GPA in highschool and you ACT score? I have a 3.5 GPA and I made a 21 on ACT my first time but ran out of time a lot. I’m going to take the ACT a few more times and hopefully get a 29 or so and I have 100’s of community service hours ranging from relay for life and other events. I also dual enroll and have college credits such as general biology and economics.</p>
<p>Yolo
Aside from that, UF would be the general better choice right?</p>
<p>To the user that originally posted this I’m going through the same exact thing! I cannot decide between Berkeley ( which is my dream school) and UOP for which I got accelerated pharmacy program! I know that going to berkeley will cost more and it will be hard to keep my grades up, but I feel like college is a time where you finally become independent and I don’t think I’ll find that at UOP, also the school is in a dangerous location but the people I met when I went there were incredibly nice!</p>
<p>uf - hands down</p>