Is it true

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...that your first year of pharmacy school is considered undergraduate as far as federal financial aid and student loans are concerned?

Originally Posted by UN4GETTABLE

...that your first year of pharmacy school is considered undergraduate as far as federal financial aid and student loans are concerned?

Since pharmacy school as a whol is a graduate program, I doubt that your first year is considered undergrad.

I just started my first year in pharmacy school, and my school counts your P1 and P2 years as undergraduate. Only your P3 and P4 year is considered graduate/professional. Their reason is that since the Pharmacy program is 6 years. The first 4 years are considered undergraduate to them as far as financial aid goes.

Originally Posted by cycloketocaine

Since pharmacy school as a whol is a graduate program, I doubt that your first year is considered undergrad.

For classification it is a graduate program. But in actuality there is a big difference between pharmacy school...or any professional program and a real graduate program.

I prefer the term "professional school" rather than graduate program.

Originally Posted by cycloketocaine

Since pharmacy school as a whol is a graduate program, I doubt that your first year is considered undergrad.

Thats wrong for most schools. Basically every school will consider you an undergrad for 1-2 years if you dont have a college degree, and some will consider you an undergrad for a year even if you have a college degree.

OP, contact the schools you are applying to and they can tell you.

My school (Idaho State) just changed their policy so that P2-P4s are considered grad level. Next year P1s will be included so that all 4 years will be considered grad for financial aid purposes. Unfortunately, I'm a P1 this year, which means that I'm stuck in a catch-22 - I'm not eligible for the grad level loans ($18,500), but because I already have a degree, I'm not eligible for grants, either. I was able to take out stafford loans at the undergrad level ($11,500), but I still had to take out a private loan so that I could eat and have a place to live.

When I toured one of my prospective pharmacy schools I was told by the director of admissions that your first two years will be conidered undergraduate IF you do not already hold a degree. If you do than you will be considered for graduate funding. She mentioned that almost all the students were able to get federal funding and that the only person that did have some difficulty already had a masters degree so this person had to get some private loans to help with tuition.

UIC considered all Pharmacy students, P1-P4, regardless if you have a degree or not, a professional/graduate student. You will get the higher loans and such.

I had a degree and my first two years were still considered ungrad!

Ditto