I wasn't going to "review" because I'm only a P1 so I can't say much about P2-P3 curriculum (which are more important anyways), but since you guys requested
Name of school: University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY)
Year you are in (if willing to share): P1
Curriculum: MAJOR CHANGES.
This year, a lot of our classes are together with UB undergrads (biochem, physiology, microbiology, to a certain extent pharmaceutical calculations & physical pharmacy, but those only pharmaceutical sciences people are allowed to take). However, next year, they're changing their curriculum so the P1 will have a medicinal chemistry, pathophysiology, and so on, all with just pharmacy students & taught by school of pharmacy faculty. So I can't comment on P1 curriculum at all, except I hope it'll be more specialized and catered to pharmacy students.
We have IPPE starting first semester, and I don't know about other schools but we have to look for our own IPPE's (contacting the list of preceptors on our own). It's not hard, but it takes some prior planning (aka don't wait 'till the last week of the semester to start cramming in 20 hours). IPPE P2 year is 100 hours, and P3 150 hours, for a total of 300 hours by the end of P3. Pretty standard.
Faculty: Hit and miss. I guess our pharmacy faculty is good, but since we have a fair share of classes with the undergrad, the professors aren't that great... I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, since professors within the school of pharmacy are good so far.
However, they do take student feedback seriously. If a professor receives too many complaints, he/she won't be teaching for a long time.
Reputation: Oldest pharmacy school in New York, and when I told people on the West Coast I'm going to New York for school, they just assumed it was Buffalo, so I guess reputation is good.
Study areas: Not much this year specific to pharmacy students, but next year we'll have a building of our own (it's really pretty and awesome) with lots of lounges and study rooms.
Social Scene: Not that great. Buffalo is not a major city the way NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. are, but if you want to do stuff, there's always Elmwood and downtown. Of course basic things like malls and movie theaters are abundant, but if you want great bars/clubs/museums, etc, there aren't that many. I suppose you can always go to Toronto (1.5 hours away).
Other thoughts: I actually really like the people here, they're friendly and willing to help, but for those of you from warmer climate (especially people from the West Coast), be prepared:
- For snow. The lowest it's gone down is 10 deg. but I heard it could go to 0. However, my roommate is from NYC and she said while it's definitely colder than NYC, it doesn't snow much more. Those of you from the East Coast should have little to no problem. (unless you're from Florida, that is
)
- Lack of good Asian/Hispanic food. There are a few options for Asian food, albeit not that great, but in terms of Hispanic food I'm only aware of Chipotle... If you learn how to cook...
In short: you just learn to adapt, for someone like me who doesn't go out much anyways (and not like you should go out too much during professional school), it doesn't really matter. Housing here is relatively cheap (unfortunately food isn't so), and hopefully I'll get in-state tuition next year, which is a really sweet deal. You can't do that in most states