Washington State University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

[washingtonrxpharm]

• There are no breaks from exams throughout the semester. All four exams are on a SINGLE DAY on Mondays and there are a full day of classes the next day. Most pharmacy schools have their therapy, pharmaceutics, and physiology finals spread throughout the week, but not here. With Spring Break cancelled, there were no days off. Bring up how burnt out everyone is and you will be dismissed or brushed off by administration.
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• Go here if you want 4 exams in 1 day (4 times a semester), which end late on a Monday, & then you have to do pre-work (teach yourself from the lecture video, etc.) for a full day of classes the morning after. Your choice.
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• WSU pharm students were misled about the testing model/curriculum. The school withheld information and PURPOSELY did not inform any of its incoming and current students about the new testing model. Everyone found out on the first day of class, which is unethical.
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• There are 2 Comprehensive Exams for each block course. If you do not meet 80% competency for the Comprehensive Exam 1 (finals) covering weeks 1-7, you have to take an ELE (retake) exam at the very END of the semester instead of taking it right after. So you have to wait until after week 14 to re-take your finals. This doesn’t make any sense. How is this an example of “student success??”
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• The website is misleading and states “competency thresholds will be no less than 70%.” However, the competency for all the classes are 80%, not 70%, which you will find out on the first day of class. Meaning, you must pass all your cumulative (final) exams and overall course grade with an 80%.
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• There is a huge lack of transparency especially regarding the testing model. Everything is hush hush. The IORs (instructors of record) own the curriculum. Student concerns are immediately dismissed. Surveys being sent out for “recommendations” are skewed and for the administration’s liking.
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• There is a huge lack of transparency especially regarding the testing model. Everything is hush hush. The IORs (instructors of record) own the curriculum. Student concerns are immediately dismissed.

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[vevenaneathna]

Lol most of the current testing method has been constructed and changed dramatically because of student feedback. there is this impossible cycle of one class complaining about something so they change it and then the next class complains about the change and asks for it to be put back the other way.

Back when I went there we had 7 exams per class per semester, and retake exams the following week with ELE's at the end of the semester.
I still found the time to work 50+hrs/week on average, maintained perfect attendance for 4 years, and felt very prepared for my clinical rotations.

There are real things to complain about such as the localized saturation of pharmacists (starting wages 2012 58$/hr, 2016 54$/hr, 2021 48$/hr), or the completely spread thin clinical rotation opportunities, or the single digit match rate of actual accredited clinical residencies...

But you need to realize youre in a professional program which is advocating itself as the 2nd most important role in healthcare. you gotta go through some kind of hell to get there and the only thing unethical would be to remove some of that rigor and have pharmacists accidentally kill people.