I'm considering both Lipscomb and Belmont. I know they were both founded at around the same time, near the same size, and in the same city. Does anyone know any significant differences between the two or which one is supposed to better?
Belmont vs. Lipscomb
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I interviewed at both schools. I really liked both of them, and think each has a great future ahead of them.
That said, I prefer Lipscomb's program. Their facilities and technology are amazing! They really seem to be trying to produce well-rounded, competent students with hands-on experience. I like that the IPPEs start the first semester, and students go to a variety of interesting settings. Several local pharmacists were at my interview, and they had nothing but praise for Lipscomb.
Lipscomb also seems to be a little more prepared/on top of things than Belmont. I have found Belmont's admissions office to be rather unorganized and very slow to respond. To me, that reflects poorly on the school.
Good luck on your decision!
That said, I prefer Lipscomb's program. Their facilities and technology are amazing! They really seem to be trying to produce well-rounded, competent students with hands-on experience. I like that the IPPEs start the first semester, and students go to a variety of interesting settings. Several local pharmacists were at my interview, and they had nothing but praise for Lipscomb.
Lipscomb also seems to be a little more prepared/on top of things than Belmont. I have found Belmont's admissions office to be rather unorganized and very slow to respond. To me, that reflects poorly on the school.
Good luck on your decision!
Having gone to both interviews, I came out with mixed feelings from both.
My father went to Lipscomb and he said that he would go to Lipscomb no doubt, due to what he learned at that university both in and outside of the classroom. He said he came out of that university a better person, because of the great people at the university. The people at Lipscomb treat each other like family so the faculty cares for their students.
Lipscomb:
I personally believe that Lipscomb's strength is in their faculty.
- Faculty at Lipscomb is great, they really care. One thing that stuck me was the number of faculty had graduated from Lipscomb and went to University of Tenn to get their Pharm D.
At first I thought it was a bad thing, a university with barely any faculty diversity, however I realized it showed the loyalty of Lipscomb's alumni to come back to the university to educate the next generation of Lipscomb students. You have to really love a university to go back to it to teach.
Belmont:
What impressed me about Belmont is the campus and their money.
- Belmont has money. Seriously, their buildings are so much nicer and they have better facilities. Plus, they are building that new pharmacy building.
I personally would think that I would be happier at Belmont, b/c of the campus. Plus, they are a major music school and I love music, maybe I could get a chance to play piano once in a while when i'm not studying.
However, at Lipscomb I am sure that I will get an excellent quality of education. There is no way they would let anyone fail nor let anyone fall behind. At Lipscomb they still have all 75 of their original 1st class. At Belmont they have 73 of their 75. Although 2 is a small number, that is 2 spots wasted and maybe shows that Belmont isn't good at picking ppl or that their faculty doesn't care. But from Lipscomb's campus tour the whole campus looks really small and kinda old, it reminded me of the community college I went to during the summer to take my easy classes. I think I would be depressed after a while.
So I'm stuck. I got accepted to Lipscomb and Belmont should give me an answer sometime next week. I'll just see what happens.
btw, both schools are not that religious. Although they are Christian based schools, they aren't as religous as they used to be. You don't have to take bible class.
My father went to Lipscomb and he said that he would go to Lipscomb no doubt, due to what he learned at that university both in and outside of the classroom. He said he came out of that university a better person, because of the great people at the university. The people at Lipscomb treat each other like family so the faculty cares for their students.
Lipscomb:
I personally believe that Lipscomb's strength is in their faculty.
- Faculty at Lipscomb is great, they really care. One thing that stuck me was the number of faculty had graduated from Lipscomb and went to University of Tenn to get their Pharm D.
At first I thought it was a bad thing, a university with barely any faculty diversity, however I realized it showed the loyalty of Lipscomb's alumni to come back to the university to educate the next generation of Lipscomb students. You have to really love a university to go back to it to teach.
Belmont:
What impressed me about Belmont is the campus and their money.
- Belmont has money. Seriously, their buildings are so much nicer and they have better facilities. Plus, they are building that new pharmacy building.
I personally would think that I would be happier at Belmont, b/c of the campus. Plus, they are a major music school and I love music, maybe I could get a chance to play piano once in a while when i'm not studying.
However, at Lipscomb I am sure that I will get an excellent quality of education. There is no way they would let anyone fail nor let anyone fall behind. At Lipscomb they still have all 75 of their original 1st class. At Belmont they have 73 of their 75. Although 2 is a small number, that is 2 spots wasted and maybe shows that Belmont isn't good at picking ppl or that their faculty doesn't care. But from Lipscomb's campus tour the whole campus looks really small and kinda old, it reminded me of the community college I went to during the summer to take my easy classes. I think I would be depressed after a while.
So I'm stuck. I got accepted to Lipscomb and Belmont should give me an answer sometime next week. I'll just see what happens.
btw, both schools are not that religious. Although they are Christian based schools, they aren't as religous as they used to be. You don't have to take bible class.
I'm really glad that this topic was brought up. I'm basically in the same situation. I've interviewed at both schools and have been accepted to both programs as well. Study01 brings up some valid points. Before I began applying, I had my eyes set on Belmont for many reasons including it's notoriety and publicity (Not good reasons). I first interviewed at Lipscomb in January and was appalled with their whole setup. I was really impressed with the faculty and actually hit it off quite well with one of the members.I realized that they could definitely foster my development as a pharmacy student the next 4 years. The only thing that concerned me were the actual facilities and money situation. The environment doesn't feel like Nashville...it feels like a community college. Belmont's faculty on the other hand didn't really impress me much. The faculty seems to be sub-par compared to Lipscomb, but that is my opinion. So what do I like about Belmont? Well, the atmosphere seems more exciting at Belmont plus they are planning on building a state of the art facility which shows me their serious dedication to the pharmacy program. Unfortunately in this world, money talks and I feel that they will have more money to pool in the resources needed to make it a better program. In addition, a collaboration with Vanderbilt seems very appealing to me due to the fact that I'm interested in clinical pharmacy. Also keep in mind, the Dean of Belmont SOP has close ties with Vanderbilt which would allow offer more opportunities for students. That's the key for me...opportunities. Belmont, I feel, will offer me more opportunities in the end. As for the 2 students who "failed" out. I believe one of them had some personal matters (family illness) to attend to (according to one of the faculty members). In the end, a students' performance will not be determined by the faculty members or the schools environment, it's entirely up to the student's effort and willingness to succeed. That being said, I believe both schools are great and have some wonderful things in store. Some may disagree with my reasoning and I welcome any feedback because I am still in limbo as to which program to attend. Good Luck!
Thanks GammaICP for elaborating on my post as well as making good points about the money factor. I also didn't realize the connections Belmont's Dean had.
I agree completely with the fact that it is up to the students to determine whether they succeed or not. However, shouldn't a good interview process be able to pick out which ones who can't handle it? In my opinion Lipscomb's interview process allowed me to show more of who I was than Belmont's.
Basically I feel like when choosing the schools it's either Lipscomb's Faculty vs. Belmont's Facilities (from $, connections... etc).
I agree completely with the fact that it is up to the students to determine whether they succeed or not. However, shouldn't a good interview process be able to pick out which ones who can't handle it? In my opinion Lipscomb's interview process allowed me to show more of who I was than Belmont's.
Basically I feel like when choosing the schools it's either Lipscomb's Faculty vs. Belmont's Facilities (from $, connections... etc).
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If you're interested in reading about Belmont's current dean:
http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/006995.html
http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/006995.html
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I agree that Belmont's campus life is perhaps more "exciting", and its health sciences building is very nice. As a pharmacy student, however, the most important building to me is the pharmacy building, where I will be spending the vast majority of my time. While I'm sure it will be very nice, Belmont's pharmacy building will not be completed until fall 2010. In the mean time, classes are held in the library, which looked rather old to me. My tour did not show us the inside of the library or the pharmacy labs. So, I really have no idea what the facilities that are applicable to me are like.
Lipscomb's pharmacy building is old, but it has been completely gutted and renovated. They definitely didn't seem to spare any expense. The tour showed us all of the labs, which are state of the art. Lipscomb's facilities are a sure thing, that I will be able to utilize from day one.
I don't think you can go wrong with the facilities at either school. Both of them were far nicer than any other school I interviewed at. That said, if I was making the decision based on facilities vs. faculty, I would go with good faculty any day! I too preferred Lipscomb's faculty to Belmont's...and keep in mind that several of Lipscomb's faculty members also have positions at Vanderbilt, which will open doors there.
Lipscomb's pharmacy building is old, but it has been completely gutted and renovated. They definitely didn't seem to spare any expense. The tour showed us all of the labs, which are state of the art. Lipscomb's facilities are a sure thing, that I will be able to utilize from day one.
I don't think you can go wrong with the facilities at either school. Both of them were far nicer than any other school I interviewed at. That said, if I was making the decision based on facilities vs. faculty, I would go with good faculty any day! I too preferred Lipscomb's faculty to Belmont's...and keep in mind that several of Lipscomb's faculty members also have positions at Vanderbilt, which will open doors there.
