<p>And thank you everyone, but money really isn’t the issue, it’s more of comparing the two schools and their different paths in terms of employment</p>
<p>I would suggest that you start a new thread in the Parents Forum. Give more detail about the projected 8 year cost of tOSU and projected 6 year cost of Northeastern. Ask specifically about career placement for pharmacy from those two institutions, and be sure to give a clear title to your thread so that people who know this professional field will see it and respond. Maybe something like “OSU vs Northeastern: does it matter where I study pharmacy?”</p>
<p>One reason why your parents may want you at OSU is to give you better options in case you change your major. Ask them about that.</p>
<p>I’m a first year in the pharmacy program at Northeastern right now.
As long as you’re committed in the long run, going with the 6 year program is a good idea. You won’t have to worry about re-applying to pharmacy school for the professional years – admission into pharmacy school is extremely competitive and the average rates are like under 10% now. At Northeastern, straight shot 6 years and you’ve got a PharmD provided that you keep the GPA and do all the requirements and all that.
The co-op experience that is part of the curriculum is also a big bonus. 3 opportunities to go out into the real world and get job experience isn’t something that you can find easily at many places. (And the fact that most co-ops pay you can offset some of the costs of going to school as well)
Employment wise, I hear that it’s pretty good for the pharmacy students. Some of the ones who are about to graduate soon have gotten job offers already or so I hear. The licensing pass rate is also really high here at Northeastern so the curriculum prepares you well.
Honestly the institution’s name itself isn’t as important in pharmacy because most curriculum pathways parallel each other. What is important to look at (like I did) is what opportunities are at each place that can help to make you stand out after graduation and how well the school will prepare you to go out and work after graduation.</p>
<p>Our DS is graduating with his PharmD from Northeastern in three weeks and he has been extremely happy with his college experience. Last year’s NU pharmD graduating class had a 99.11% passing of the NAPLEX which reflect very well on the quality of NU’s pharmacy program. We live in CA, but DS chose NU since it is a 0-6 program that awards a B.S. degree after the 5th year when the didatic course work is completed and the pharmD after the 6th year of APPE clinical rotations. If you are accepted as a freshman and meet all of the academic standards every year, you are guaranteed to graduate in 6 years with a pharmD. Since the pharmD program is 4 more years, it would take 8 years to complete the pharmD degree (figure out those tuition costs!) Also, entering at the professional level at any accredited pharmacy school is going to be very competitive.</p>
<p>DS was also able to complete a minor in Business Administration while completing the pharmD program and participate in club sports and other activities – getting the full college experience at NU. There is tons to do to fill your social life in Boston and at Northeastern. With over 80 other colleges and universities in the area, he’s made friends with kids from many other schools.</p>
<p>With many of the public universities, you are not guaranteed placement in the classes you need each semester. At NU, you are guaranteed a seat in every class and lab each and every semester so you don’t have to stress out about matriculating in 6 years.</p>
<p>I agree with previous posters that NU gets a bad rap in the traditional evaluation of 4 year universities since the reason most students choose NU is for the experiential learning (COOP) program which combines 8 academic semesters with 18 months of work experience in your chosen field. You only pay tuition during the academic semesters which is the equivalent of 4 years of college. Most students on COOP get paid for their work and many get hired or are offered employment right after graduation by one of their coop employers.</p>
<p>Sparkeye might be an older person and not up-to-date with the status and quality of Northeastern University. Way back in his day, NU may have been a commuter school or lacking the prestige of OSU. However, as another poster mentioned, if you track the progress of Northeastern as a national research university and #1 university in experiential learning, you will see that it has just as valuable an educational opportunity to offer.</p>
<p>DS is our first family member to go to Northeastern. His paternal grandparents are U of Michigan grads, his maternal grandparents are Stanford grads, I am a UC Berkeley grad and my spouse is a University of Colorado grad. We know quality education when we see it and we are all very pleased with our DS choice of Northeastern for his education.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision–you can tell your parents that we highly recommend Northeastern! (You can have them PM us if they would like more details – which would not be random internet comments.)</p>