I'll make a quick list of things i've seen/noticed
Has the PCOM name on it which is considered to be in the top 3 for Osteopathic schools. (So they take their reputation seriously)
Combined with Osteopathic school so Pharmacy program has access to Cadaver's for anatomy practice and opportunity to do course work along side future Doctors
School is being looked at by Georgia Board of Pharmacy to be used for the Wet Lab Examination for your Pharmacy License in Georgia
Fully licensed pharmacy on site at the school
Just some of the basics of the school. Teachers are awesome and go way above and beyond what you would find at a lot of other schools. There have been plenty of nights at school where a teacher will stay until midnight before a test to answer questions and help out students.
The school is on a 3 term system instead of 2 term system. This means that there are 3 semesters instead of 2 semesters in a year. Each semester is 12 weeks long instead of 18 weeks like the bimester. The 3 term system means you take less classes per semester because you now have an extra semester. I find this gives you more time during the day to digest, learn and study the material more efficiently. Tests are also every week. Normally about 1 test each week instead of every 4 weeks you have all of your test in the same week.
The school has candidate status but what a lot of people don't realize is how difficult it actually is to open a school and enroll students. From what I've read if a school is allowed to open, it is ALMOST always going to succeed. The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education is not going to allow a school to open and enroll students unless they legitimately believe that the school will most likely succeed into full accreditation. They do realize that is wouldn't be fair to the students that spend the money for these schools only to not have nothing to show after their 3 or 4 years. The hardest part of the entire process is opening a new school. But if worse comes to worse and a school does NOT become accredited after 2 graduating classes take the boards then the students are transferred other accredited schools of pharmacy. One of the requirements for a new school is to have a backup plan for the students in case the school does not become accredited. Just because a school is new doesn't mean it won't be a great school. The best thing I can recommended is to actually do research on the history of the institution and see what type of school they strive to be because that is how they are going to approach all of their new programs. Example: If Harvard were to open a Pharmacy school, would anyone care that it was only Candidate status? On the flip side, if the University of Phoenix opened a pharmacy school how skeptical would you be of them being successful?
