UIC or DUAL ACCEPTANCE LOYOLA

Pre-Pharmacy & Pharmacy School
1

Hello everyone! I have recently been thinking about this decision way to much and I have decided to turn to here for help.
I have been accpeted to both UIC and Loyola and have been accepted into the GPPA program at UIC (which guarantees me a spot in their graduate program). I am not sure if their pharm program is a fast track one but I’m pretty positive they should have an option like that. For Loyola I have applied for the Dual Acceptance Program with Midwestern and I should be hearing back from them sometime this week. This program would allow me to finish school in 6 years (2 at Loyola and 4 at Midwestern). Now here’s the problem:

I have visited UIC and Loyola and I fell completely in love with the Loyola campus( I have also seen Midwestern’s and I love it as well). In contrast, I feel like I would not enjoy being on UIC’s campus. I’m not sure if its the location or the “vibe” of it but I feel like I would not feel happy going there. The thing holding me back is that I know it is a very highly regarded school in terms of pharmacy and medicine, something Loyola is not as famous for. Either path would lead me to become a pharmacist, but I am wondering if its worth it to sacrifice the love of the school and enviroment (Loyola/Midwestern) for the level of prestige the school (UIC) has for this profession?

Any advice would be highly appreciated :slight_smile:

2

What about cost? Is that a factor in your decision? I don’t know how the two schools compare in placing students in residencies if that is something you would be pursuing so that would be something to check out between the two. Otherwise, once you pass your boards, no one is really going to care where you did your schooling.

3

This is just my opinion, and I have absolutely no real evidence to back it up.

To me, majors like pharmacy and bio seem like ones where the prestige of a school doesn’t matter. Aside from that, Loyola and UIC are of the similar caliber, and to be honest, I wouldn’t label UIC as prestigious. Yes, it’s a good school, but I don’t think you should choose UIC just for its name.

In all, if cost didn’t matter, I would choose Loyola as long as it offered the same opportunities (ex: research)